An Escambia County grand jury has handed up capital murder indictments against two Atmore men in the April shooting death of Donta Demorris Russell, as well as an indictment against a Huntsville man who is charged with the November 2016 slaying of Danny Fox.
Chief Deputy Mike Lambert of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday that Darrell Brown, 29, of an MLK Drive address, and Yeldon Devonta Rostchild, 23, of an address on West Owens Street, are being held without bond in the Escambia County Detention Center.
Brown and Rostchild are accused of shooting Russell, who was 20 at the time of his death, as he drove his Crown Victoria along MLK Drive, around 10:15 p.m. on April 26. Initial reports were that he was also shot several more times after his car crashed into a tree in the drive of an Old Ship Circle residence.
A capital murder charge carries upon conviction the possibility of the death penalty or life without parole. No date has been set for their arraignments.
The grand jury also indicted Jeffery A. Armstrong, 56, of Huntsville in the death of Danny Fox, whose body was discovered by family members November 1, 2016 in the front yard of his Ewing Drive home. The local man was killed by blunt trauma to the head; his pickup was missing from the site.
Armstrong was driving Fox’s truck when he was arrested for driving under the influence the next day in Chipley, Fla. He was arrested by authorities there and charged with theft of a vehicle, but was extradited to Alabama to face the murder charge.
Armstrong, who is charged with one count each of murder and first-degree theft, remains in the county jail under a $250,000 bond.
Lambert said the investigation into Fox’s death is ongoing. No arraignment date has been set.