Second suspect in double homicide in Manatee charged with murder

MANATEE -- The second suspect in the Jan. 19 slayings of Karl Tuxford and Jordan Finlon was arrested Monday morning and charged with murder, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Ahmad Leon Dunbar, 38, was being held in Manatee County jail without bond.

"He was recently arrested in Columbus, Ga., and was transported to the Manatee County Jail today," sheriff's office spokesman Dave Bristow said Monday afternoon.

Bristow said Dunbar, of Manatee County, is being charged in Tuxford's death. Bristow, who spoke to the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, said Dunbar was arrested March 2 in Georgia.

"He's not been charged for Finlon yet but he's obviously a suspect in that one," he said.

On Jan. 19, Tuxford was found shot to death in his vehicle in the 1100 block of Eighth Avenue East, Bradenton. Shortly afterward, Finlon was found dead with several stab wounds on the side of Bishop Harbor Road in northern

Manatee County.

Investigators with the sheriff's office have said the victims were targeted and their deaths were drug related.

Dunbar is a convicted felon, who was in prison for four and a half years on an armed robbery conviction.

He was released in January 2002, and then served another nearly two years for a conviction of cocaine trafficking, and was released again in November 2007.

An attempted murder charge filed against him in June 2005 was dropped in October of the same year.

In that homicide case, a witness told deputies that on Nov. 20, 2004, she and another woman met the shooting victim at an East Bradenton park at 1:30 a.m. and went back to the witness's residence to hang out.

She said the victim was talking on his cell phone and seemed to have a problem or disagreement with someone on the other end.

The three were sitting and talking in the living room and nearly falling asleep, when they heard someone knock at the door.

The witness answered it and Dunbar was there, and she told him and the victim, "If there is a problem they needed to go outside."

Dwayne E. Cummings, 38, was the first to be arrested and charged in the deaths of Tuxford and Finlon with two counts of armed kidnapping on Jan. 21, followed by murder charges on Jan. 25.

He is being held in the Manatee County jail without bond.

Kate Irby, online/political reporter, contributed to this report.

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Second suspect in double homicide in Manatee charged with murder ."