“Clayton Man Found Guilty in 25-Year-Old Murder Case of Elton Whitfield in North Carolina”

SMITHFIELD, N.C. (WNCN) – A Clayton man has been convicted in connection with a 25-year-old murder case this week.

A Johnston County jury found Jonathan Lynn Jenkins of Clayton guilty of the murder of Elton Whitfield of Beulaville on Monday.

According to the Johnston County District Attorney’s Office, Whitfield’s family reported him missing to the Clayton Police Department on March 20, 1999. After an extensive search for Whitfield, a civilian discovered a badly decomposed body in a wooded area off Lake Myra Road in Wake County on April 22, 1999. The body was later identified as Whitfield.

In April 2006, Jenkins pleaded guilty to the October 1998 murder of Richard Vestal in Clayton and received a prison sentence. Prosecutors stated that DNA evidence linked Jenkins to a mask left at the scene of the Vestal homicide. Following his release from prison, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office named Jenkins as a suspect in a human trafficking case.

On January 19, 2016, Lieutenant Donald Pate arrested Jenkins and charged him with human trafficking, sexual servitude, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

“Jenkins immediately requested to speak to Pat about the human trafficking charges and offered to provide him with information about a ‘body,'” read a news release from the Johnston County District Attorney’s Office.

One day later, Jenkins confessed to murdering Whitfield by strangling him and then disposing of his body in the woods, according to prosecutors. Jenkins claimed that he killed Whitfield because he believed Whitfield was also involved in the Vestal murder and was about to confess to the police in March 1999.

“Jenkins decided that Whitfield ‘had to die’ to prevent him from implicating Jenkins in the Vestal murder,” the press release added.

On August 4, 2021, Jenkins was convicted of sex trafficking in federal court and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. After a two-week trial involving multiple witnesses, Jenkins was found guilty of first-degree murder in the Whitfield case on Monday. He received a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Jason Waller expressed gratitude to the Clayton Police Department and Detective Jason Linder for their unwavering commitment to solving this 25-year-old homicide case.

“We also appreciate Johnston County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Don Pate’s investigation into the human trafficking case, which ultimately led to Jenkins’ confession to the Elton Whitfield murder,” Waller said in a released statement. “The jurors took their job very seriously, and their verdict will finally put an end to the cycle of violence that Jenkins inflicted upon multiple victims in Johnston County since 1999.”

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