When police found 19-year-old Jayden Nelson dead on the side of a New Richmond road, they initially believed he was killed in a hit-and-run.
Investigators quickly learned Nelson’s true cause of death: a single gunshot wound to the head. Prosecutors say a “complex” homicide investigation led to felony charges against a teenage triggerman and two alleged accomplices.
Caythen Grundy, 16, Nolan Wright, 17, and Dakarai Campbell, 20, each face multiple charges in Clermont County Common Pleas Court, including aggravated murder.
Grundy and Wright were first charged in juvenile court, but are now being prosecuted as adults.
Testimony and digital evidence paint a picture of what prosecutors say was a planned robbery disguised as a marijuana deal that ended
in Nelson's death. Court records say the suspects sought to "flip the script" by falsely portraying themselves as robbery victims before stealing Nelson's money.
The case also includes allegations of gang activity and that one of the teens sang along to a song about "violence and killings" as the group drove away after the fatal shooting. An attorney representing one of the teens is challenging prosecutors' assertions about gang involvement.
In transferring the cases against Grundy and Wright to adult court, Clermont County Juvenile Judge James Shriver found the evidence showed a plot to kill Nelson from the beginning, describing the crime as “cold-blooded in nature.”
Digital records helped identify suspects in killing
Nelson’s body was found by the Ohio State Highway Patrol lying on the side of Bethel-New Richmond Road early in the morning of March 8. Authorities quickly noticed irregularities suggesting his death wasn’t from a hit-and-run, prosecutors said.
An autopsy performed the next day revealed that Nelson was fatally shot.
Clermont County Sheriff’s Office Detective Eric Benkelman was assigned to investigate the shooting. He uncovered digital records showing Nelson planned to meet someone for a nearly $3,000 marijuana transaction around the time of the killing.
The records identified Wright as the person Nelson was talking to, Benkelman said in court, adding that a cellphone tied to Wright’s Snapchat account was placed just outside Nelson’s apartment around 3:30 a.m.
A search of Wright's home uncovered evidence of drug trafficking, including more than 600 grams of raw marijuana and sealed boxes of THC vape cartridges, according to testimony.
Court filings state Wright traveled with an associate to Michigan the day before the killing to buy drugs for trafficking.
Wright returned to Greater Cincinnati the same day and met with Grundy and Campbell, Benkelman said. He added that Snapchat data showed Grundy traveling with Wright to the homicide scene around the time of the killing.
Police later found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun matching the weapon used to kill Nelson inside a nightstand drawer at Grundy’s home in Hamilton, the detective said, noting the gun was bought by Wright’s mother.
Surveillance video also showed the three together shortly before the shooting in the garage of an apartment complex in Cincinnati where Wright’s brother lived, according to court filings.
A criminal complaint states that social media records helped authorities place each suspect at the scene; however, Campbell’s statements filled in the missing pieces for investigators' narrative of what happened.
Alleged accomplice details planning of drug-deal robbery
Campbell testified that he and Grundy became friends while attending a court-ordered drug class. They began talking on Snapchat and spending time together regularly.
He said that Grundy introduced him to Wright just a few weeks before the killing.
Late on March 7, both teens reached out to Campbell and they planned to rob someone. He told them to come over.
They met at Campbell’s home in Hamilton before leaving together. Wright drove them to several drug deals organized via Snapchat and then went to his brother’s apartment complex, Campbell said, where the teen swapped vehicles with a valet.
Wright then arranged a meeting with Nelson, court filings state, adding they talked in the car about the planned robbery and “what could potentially happen.”
Docs: Teen sang along to song about ‘violence and killings’ after shooting
They eventually met up with Nelson near his apartment, Campbell said, detailing how a meeting that started with a brief exchange of handshakes quickly escalated to deadly violence.
While standing outside the car, he said, Wright accused Nelson of trying to rob them. Wright put his hands in the air, saying he didn’t want to get robbed, a tactic Campbell described as an attempt to “flip the script” and advance their own robbery plan.
Campbell recalled that he and Grundy sat nervously in the backseat as the situation unfolded.
Nelson left his cellphone and money in the front passenger seat and walked to the back of the car, Campbell said, adding that Wright got back in the driver’s seat to speed off with the man’s belongings.
According to the court filings, Nelson entered the vehicle, grabbed the steering wheel with one arm and used the other to push himself into the vehicle as Wright tried to drive away.
Seconds later, Grundy fired a handgun, fatally striking Nelson, the records state.
Campbell said Grundy sang along to a song by a Chicago hip-hop artist about “violence and killings” as they drove away from the scene.
Wright threw Nelson’s phone out the car window as they drove to his residence, where they wiped down the vehicle and collected a shell casing from the back seat, Campbell said. He added that they all returned to Hamilton around 4 a.m. and divided the money.
Campbell testified that Grundy warned anyone who "snitched" to police would be killed, repeating a threat he'd made earlier in the car.
Prosecutors say teen gunman was part of gang tied to drugs, guns
Shriver, the juvenile court judge, said in his ruling that the circumstances surrounding Nelson’s death raise “more than a mere suspicion” that the plan was to kill him.
All three suspects were armed when they went to meet Nelson, the judge added, noting evidence of Wright providing Grundy with the weapon used to kill Nelson sometime before the plan was carried out.
He said the teens’ actions after the shooting appeared to be “boasting and celebration,” pointing to Grundy’s singing and a video Wright created of himself two days later, in which a song played with lyrics about “shooting a person in the head.”
Prosecutors said the investigation uncovered an extensive drug-trafficking operation that crossed county lines and involved several other people. Police recovered guns and a safe while searching the home of Wright’s associate. The safe contained $59,000 in cash separated into envelopes by the type of drug sold.
During an earlier court hearing, prosecutors said that Grundy was involved in a gang dealing in drugs and guns.
Attorney says charges stem from a ‘drug deal gone bad’
Greg Cohen, Grundy’s attorney, said prosecutors lack evidence to prove that his client's alleged involvement in the killing was gang-related under state law.
“This is kind of a sad case,” Cohen said, calling it a “drug deal gone bad.”
Clyde Bennett II, Campbell’s attorney, said that his client is presumed innocent of the allegations and he’s ready to take the case to trial if necessary.
“Based on my familiarity with the evidence,” Bennett said in a statement, “my client’s alleged role in this matter was, at most, very minor, if any.”
Wright’s attorney didn’t respond to an email and phone call from The Enquirer.
Court records indicate the teens are being held in custody on $2 million bonds awaiting trial. Campbell is being held at the Clermont County Jail on a $2.25 million bond.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A 'flip the script' robbery plan and a teen left dead on the roadside
