Arrests made in murder of UNF IT employee killed in home invasion

Arrests have been made in the murder of a University of North Florida IT employee who was set to testify in a burglary trial.

Action News Jax uncovered Thursday that Joe Brenton was set to testify in a trial on Wednesday, the day he was killed.

Brenton was supposed to testify against the man accused of breaking into his home on Sept. 21, 2014. He was killed two years to the day of the burglary.

Joe Brenton

Police began looking into the visitations and jail calls of 23-year old Jecorian McCray, one of the suspects arrested in the original burglary, said Lt. Steve Gallaher.

Listening to his jail calls, investigators learned that McCray was very concerned about being convicted and possibly going to jail for, in his mind, 15 to 30 years, Gallaher said.

McCray started calling his brother, 17-year-old Dakarai Maxwell, and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Teirany Shelton. He told them that they needed to convince Brentons to change their story or not testify.

PHOTOS: UNF employee shot, killed in reported home invasion

On Monday, two days before the trial, McCray became more anxious. McCray convinced Shelton to go to the Brentons' residence and she went there on Tuesday around 5 p.m. Shelton made contact with Brenton's wife and tried to bribe her to get them not to testify, Gallaher said.

Brenton's wife said that was not possible, as they had already gone on record with what had happened. After Shelton met with Brenton's wife, McCray called his brother Maxwell and told him he needed to kill the Brentons.

According to a JSO arrest report for McCray, "The jail phone calls revealed Maxwell asking the suspect, 'You still want that (expletive) done?' And the suspect answers, 'Hell yeah, call 'Peanut' (Demetris Ford) right now. Yeah, I'm in the need bro, I go to trial tomorrow. I ain't playing no games; tomorrow is the day."

McCray walked Maxwell step-by-step through what to do to kill Brenton and at 2:45 a.m. Wednesday, the murder happened just as Maxwell was instructed by his brother, Gallaher said.

-Teirany Shelton, 21, Jecorian McCray's girlfriend, has been arrested and charged with tampering with a witness.

-Dakarai Maxwell, 17, McCray's brother, has been arrested and charged with murder.

-Demetris Ford, 19, has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a capital felony.

-McCray has also now been charged with murder.

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JECORIAN MCCRAY'S EXCHANGE WITH ACTION NEWS JAX'S LORENA INCLAN:

Lorena Inclan: Was this planned?

McCray:

I don't know what y'all are talking about. God bless their family though.

Inclan:

What do you want people to know about what happened?

McCray:

Ain't nothing to talk about.

Inclan:

Did you do it?

McCray

: That's funny

Inclan:

What's that?

McCray:

I said that's funny

Inclan:

Why is that funny?

McCray:

I plead the fifth.

Cox Media Group