In the quiet morning of April 20, 2016, in Alexander City, Alabama, 49-year-old Elbert Clyde Wilson, a Black male, was engaged in the routine task of mowing his lawn on a riding mower when his life was abruptly ended by a single gunshot. The initial investigation into his death appeared to have a witness in his neighbor, Franklin Nathan Price Jr., who recounted a detailed story to the police about a red truck stopping on the road and someone inside firing the fatal shot.
However, as
investigators delved deeper into the circumstances surrounding Wilson's murder, the probe took a dramatic turn, and the man who claimed to have witnessed the crime became the primary suspect. Just two days after the shooting, on April 22, 2016, Franklin Nathan Price Jr., then 51, was arrested and charged with the murder of his neighbor. In addition to the murder charge, Price also faced two counts of burglary. He was subsequently booked into the Tallapoosa County Jail on a $350,000 bond.
The legal proceedings that followed saw Price indicted on felony murder charges in early 2017. In April 2018, the family of Elbert Clyde Wilson, represented by his daughter as the special administrator of his estate, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Price. The case against Price was one of a number of homicide cases awaiting trial in Tallapoosa County.
Ultimately, in September 2018, Franklin Nathan Price Jr. appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the reckless murder of Elbert Clyde Wilson. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. The sentence also included an order for Price to pay a yet-to-be-determined amount of restitution to Wilson's family.
