An investigation into a break-in turned into a homicide investigation in Gloucester County over the weekend that led sheriff’s deputies to discover a body buried on a vacant property next to the York River.
The Gloucester sheriff’s office received a report of a break-in at a residence in the 8600 block of Back Creek Road which referenced “several” related incidents from Saturday night into Sunday morning. Three people were searching for 36-year-old Kayron Tyrone Long and had multiple “adversarial” interactions with two other individuals over the course of the night, according to Major Ryan Cookson, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
Authorities said Long was killed inside the home sometime Friday. His body was not discovered until Sunday, about 15 miles south from the home.
The sheriff’s office said the group of three people forced their way into the Back Creek Road residence, where Long had been staying. They were armed with weapons and assaulted the two people inside the home and then fled. The two people inside the home called 911, Cookson said. Less than an hour after deputies arrived at the scene, the group returned in a vehicle but tried to leave when they saw law enforcement, he said.
The deputies stopped and arrested 35-year-old Kathryn Elizabeth Wright, 19-year-old David Isiah Ford and a 17-year-old juvenile. Deputies found firearms in their vehicle. The three are charged with offenses related to the armed break-in, but Ford is additionally charged with malicious wounding.
Further investigation led to the discovery of Long’s body in the 2900 block of Carmines Island Road in Hayes. The body was buried in dirt, as opposed to the swampy surrounding area, on a vacant property on the the southern most of the main two islands that make up Carmines Islands, Cookson said.
The two people who were inside the residence prior to the break-in, Edward Lee Hodges and Winfrey Carlton Henry, have since been charged in Long’s death. Hodges, 33, and Henry, 24, made the 911 call to report the initial break-in, according to Cookson.
“It sounds unusual but you have to remember, at this point they’re being invaded and the people invading them are possessing firearms so at that point it’s kind of amped up to a degree where they felt like they had to get us involved,” Cookson said.
Cookson added that, while all five of the people involved know each other, the situation was not domestic in nature, but he declined to elaborate. Investigators haven’t been able to pinpoint an exact address for Long, as he had apparently “bounced from place to place,” Cookson said.
Henry is charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and concealing a dead body. Hodges is charged with concealing a dead body and being an accessory to a felony after the fact.
Next of kin identified Long’s body, but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is still in the process of making a positive identification, Cookson said.