Sand Mountain Reporter

GADSDEN – Two men have been charged with the murder of Sardis High School student Jeffrey Blake Stone.

Nathaniel Wayne Lee, 19, of 1176 Littleton Cut-Off Road, Attalla, and Troy Andrew Smiley, 22, of 1084 Anna Drive, Attalla, have both been charged with the first-degree murder of Stone.

“It appears this senseless murder of this 15-year-old had been planned for weeks,” Sheriff Todd Entrekin said.

“And once they got him over there, they executed their plan for no other reason than to get the rush from killing somebody.”

Entrekin said it is believed Stone, who had been reported missing on March 24, was killed the day he went missing.

Entrekin and District Attorney Jimmie Harp both expressed their desire to see that Lee and Smiley receive the most severe penalty possible

“It scares me to death to think that people are out there killing people around this state just for the thrill of it,” Harp said.

Entrekin said information suggested a body was in Lee’s home, about a quarter of a mile from Stone’s parents home where he lived.

Information leading them to the site of an empty shallow grave on a logging road in Gallant near Rocky Hollow Road at about 3 p.m. Tuesday led investigators to obtain a search warrant for Lee’s house.

It was there investigators found a body – believed to be Jeffery – wrapped in a tarpaulin inside a Tupperware container inside a chest-type freezer.

Entrekin said it appeared the boy was killed at Lee’s house by more than one gunshot to the head and buried in the shallow grave.

Within the last week it was, for a yet unknown reason, moved to the freezer.

Entrekin and Harp credited the diligence of Jeffery’s parents with helping to solve the case by providing information suggesting Lee and Smiley had something to do with Jeffery’s disappearance.

Entrekin said a statement reported to have been made by one of the suspects concerning the killing allowed the investigation to focus on the pair and eventually obtain a confession.

Harp said a bond hearing would be held within 72 hours, with the case being given to a grand jury in September.

Although the pair is only charged with the one count of first-degree murder, Harp said, the investigation is continuing, and other charges are possible in the future.

“Unfortunately at this time a kill for the thrill is not a capital offense,” Harp added. “If convicted the pair could face 99 years to life.”

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Serving Albertville and the Sand Mountain region

Publisher: Ben Shurett

1603 Progress Drive
Albertville, Alabama 35950

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