CHIPLEY — The slaying of a Washington County man whose body was discovered near his family’s old farmhouse Sunday morning was a crime of opportunity, authorities said Monday.
James Shores, 66, of 2754 Dauphin Road, was found at his family’s homestead, located at 2842 Johnson Road., after the Washington County Sheriff’s Office received information from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation that a vehicle connected to the Saturday shooting of an Alabama state trooper was registered to Shores.
Zachary Taylor Wood, 23, of Hartford, Ala., and Dillon Scott Rafsky, 21, of Enterprise, Ala., were arrested Saturday in connection with that shooting, and are being held in the Genvea County, Ala. jail.
Officers discovered Shores’ body while performing a welfare check of his property and believe the suspects in the trooper’s shooting are responsible for Shores’ death as well, Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said. Authorities said they will face charges in Washington County for the slaying.
“Shores came to the farmhouse around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon to find (Wood and Rafsky) on the property and a ‘95 Jeep Grand Cherokee stuck in the yard,” Haddock said. “He advised the men they needed to leave, and if they needed assistance in leaving, he would call the sheriff’s department.”
Haddock said it’s believed the suspects were riding dirt roads in the county when they spotted the farmhouse and saw it as a crime of opportunity. Shores was unaware the men had just burglarized the homestead and had loaded stolen items into the Jeep, which had been reported to Alabama law enforcement as being taken without permission by Wood’s girlfriend the previous Thursday.
At Shores’ continued insistence that they leave, Woods and Rafsky reportedly began to beat him, finally subduing him and binding his wrists and ankles before grabbing a hoe and continuing to beat him on the head and shoulders. The suspects began to flee the scene in Shores’ 2001 Toyota Camry but returned with a gun from Shores’ car, shooting him in the head, authorities said.
The suspects then traveled to Alabama where State Trooper Marcel Phillips attempted to stop them for speeding on Geneva County Road 57 less than two hours later. After a brief pursuit, the suspects stopped the car suddenly and shot Phillips, who was later treated and released.
“I feel like they thought they were being stopped for what they had done (in Washington County),” Haddock said.
Shores himself was a retired law enforcement officer, having served most of his career as a game warden for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Haddock said while law enforcement officers know the job risks, Shores’ manner of death is difficult for him to reconcile.
“They wanted to make sure he was dead,” he said. “And they used whatever was available to do it — first their hands, a garden hoe, and then Shores’ own gun.
“I’ve been knowing (Shores) my whole life, and as a law enforcement officer of 36 years, you expect things to happen during your tenure,” Haddock said. “But to have something happen as you just come by the old farm house where you were raised — where you should have refuge — I just don’t have the words to describe that.”
An autopsy was performed on Shores Monday, and the WCSO Crime Lab is continuing the investigation with the assistance of the FDLE Crime Lab.
Woods and Rafsky are charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer in Alabama and will each be charged in Washington County with grand theft auto, burglary and an open count of murder, authorities said.