SMITHFIELD – On Monday, January 22, 2024, a Johnston County Jury found Jonathan Lynn Jenkins of Clayton guilty of the murder of Elton Whitfield of Beulaville, North Carolina.
On March 20, 1999, Whitfield’s family reported him missing to the Clayton Police Department. The family told law enforcement they had not seen or heard from Whitfield since January 17, 1999. Clayton Police unsuccessfully searched for Whitfield for weeks. On April 22, 1999, a citizen discovered a badly decomposed body in a wooded area off Lake Myra Road in Wake County. A day later the body was identified as Elton Whitfield; however, Clayton Police Department was unable to make an arrest at that time.
In April 2006, Jenkins pled guilty to the October 1998 murder of Richard Vestal in Clayton and received an active prison sentence. DNA evidence linked Jenkins to a mask that was left at the scene of the Vestal homicide. The Whitfield murder remained unsolved.
After Jenkins was released 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 for Human Trafficking, Sexual Servitude, and Possession of Firearm by Felon. Jenkins immediately made requests to speak to Pate about the human trafficking charges and offered to give him information about a “body.”
The next day Jenkins confessed to murdering Whitfield by strangling him and then dumping his body in the woods. Jenkins told Pate and Clayton Police Department Detective Jason Linder that he killed Whitfield because Whitfield was also involved in the Vestal murder and was on the verge of going to the police to confess in March of 1999. Jenkins decided Whitfield “had to die” to prevent him from implicating Jenkins in the Vestal murder.
Federal prosecutors adopted the human trafficking charges, and on August 4, 2021, Jenkins was convicted of Sex Trafficking in federal court and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. Jenkins appealed those convictions.
The Johnston County District Attorney’s Office believed it was important to prosecute Jenkins for the murder of Whitfield to help provide justice to the victim’s family for this senseless act of violence. Assistant District Attorneys Jason Waller and Morgan Bridgers represented the State.
After two weeks of trial that involved many witnesses who had either retired, moved away, or died, Jenkins was convicted of the first-degree murder of Elton Whitfield.
The Honorable Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory sentenced Jenkins to the mandatory prison term of Life Without the Possibility of Parole.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Jason Waller stated, “The Johnston County District Attorney’s Office is grateful 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. 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.”
Pure evil. That’s all I have to say. Pure evil.
Good job to all law enforcement involved. It is a shame that this man is not put to death in a painful way. He has no right to live for his crimes against humanity.