Alabama murder suspect reportedly shot man in head at motel, then fled to Mississippi casino

Published 4:15 pm Wednesday, January 31, 2024

An Alabama man was arrested in a Mississippi casino where investigators said he fled after killing a man in an Alabama hotel room.

Police in Chickasaw, Alabama, were called to the M Star Hotel Tuesday where they found a man later identified as Christopher Ryan Martin, 38, with dead from a gunshot wound under his chin.

Surveillance video showed a man enter Martin’s hotel room at 3:40 a.m. and a gunshot heard on the video one minute later.

The video showed the suspect leaving the scene in a dark SUV. Investigators identified the man as Cornelius Layette Smith, 48.

Police called Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigators and the U.S. Marshal Service to help locate Smith.

He was found and arrested at the Island View Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi.

He is charged with murder.