A fight at a Mt. Vernon gas station Friday night led to the arrest of a 32-year-old Kentucky man wanted for murder and the recovery of four endangered juveniles who were the subject of an Amber Alert.
Richard Samuel Gray of Bardstown, Kentucky was arrested on an outstanding Kentucky warrant charging first-degree murder and unlawful imprisonment with bond set at a half-million dollars. He has also been arrested on Jefferson County charges of resisting/obstructing arrest, obstructing identification, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a stolen firearm, criminal damage to property and aggravated battery.
Bardstown Police say they were called to a home in Bardstown late Friday afternoon for a welfare check and wound a woman dead on the kitchen floor. A neighbor reportedly saw Gray take the four children in the Jeep found in Mt. Vernon and flee the scene. Gray’s relationship to the children was not immediately clear.
Mt. Vernon Police, in a Facebook post, say after breaking up a fight at the Mach One Gas Station in the 1400 block of South 42nd Street, one of the males later identified as Gray, would not cooperate with officers and began resisting commands leading to his arrest.
Police later ran the registration on a vehicle that was reportedly driven to the gas station by the male in custody and learned the registration was tied to an Amber Alert issued in Kentucky in connection with a murder and four missing children considered endangered. As the investigation continued police were able to confirm Gray’s identity.
Police say Gray allegedly had a loaded stolen handgun on his person.
The children were located safe in the vehicle and transported to the Mt. Vernon Police Department where the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services were called to reunite them with their family.
Gray was incarcerated at the Jefferson County Justice Center pending court action on the cases.
