Reeds Jewelers' heist in Fayetteville linked by DNA to Mississippi robbery

By Nathan Hardin

Investigators have matched the DNA of one of the men charged with robbing a Reeds Jewelers last month in Fayetteville to a piece of skin found after a similar jewelry heist in Mississippi earlier this year, court records show.

The Mississippi State Crime Lab told Fayetteville police on Nov. 4 that DNA from 24-year-old Brandon Phillip Wilkerson matched a piece of skin found after three men smashed Rolex display cases at a jewelry store inside a mall in Tupelo on June 23, according to a search warrant affidavit filed Monday.

Wilkerson and two others - Darion Savon Thompson, 21, and Dajuan Cortez Marcellus, 25 - were taken into custody Oct. 22 after Fayetteville police detectives said the trio used sledge hammers to smash a display case filled with Rolex watches at Reeds Jewelers at Cross Creek Mall.

The three men were traveling in a Chevrolet Tahoe when lawmen stopped them in Dillon, South Carolina, and charged each with robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy stemming from the Reeds Jewelers heist.

They are in the Cumberland County jail, each with $100,000 bail.

According to affidavits, Fayetteville authorities used a GPS tracking device attached to one of the stolen Rolex watches to monitor the trio's whereabouts.

A federal affidavit filed Oct. 30 said the the three men have been charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and conspiracy to transport stolen contraband across state lines.

Marcellus, Wilkerson and Thompson have not been charged in the Tupelo robbery.

Mississippi officials said DNA taken from the Tupelo robbery was submitted to the national DNA index database, court records show. The Mississippi State Crime Lab said the submitted sample matched Wilkerson's DNA, but officials requested Fayetteville police take a second sample to confirm.

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Reeds Jewelers' heist in Fayetteville linked by DNA to Mississippi robbery