Suspect in two slayings arrested

Man sought in 2019 Camden deaths found in California

CAMDEN — A fugitive suspect in a double slaying who has lived in hotels in the outskirts of Los Angeles for the past five months under a stolen identity will be driven back to Arkansas by local police as soon as California authorities clear him to be extradited, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

After a brief chase, the U.S. Marshals Service apprehended Jory John Worthen on Monday at a motel where he had been staying in Burbank, Calif., Camden Police Chief Boyd Woody said during a news conference Tuesday.

Camden police say Worthen, 25, is the main suspect in the June 2019 deaths of his girlfriend, Alyssa Cannon, and her son, Braydon Ponder. Their bodies were found on June 25, 2019, in Cannon’s home, several days after police say the killings occurred.

Police discovered the bodies after Cannon’s family reported her missing. Officers declined to provide details on how the victims died.

Cannon was 20. Her son was 4.

Worthen was placed on the Marshals Service’s 15-most-wanted list in July.

“I did speak to one of the officers who was involved with his apprehension, and he did say that when they confronted Worthen at the motel, he did give them a brief foot chase, and, at one point, he even climbed the roofs of some houses,” Woody said.

In a photo provided to Camden police by the U.S. Marshals, Worthen can be seen with a torn shirt and bloodied knees.

He was medically cleared, then taken to the Los Angeles County jail, the police chief said, adding that he believes Worthen was unarmed when he was arrested.

Worthen is being charged with two counts of capital murder.

“He will have to go in front of a judge in California for a hearing there and will be extradited back to Camden,” Woody said. “There is no time frame on it yet. The day he is signed over, we will go get him.”

Once back in Arkansas, Worthen will be held in the Ouachita County jail, Woody said.

Worthen lived alone in the motel and did not have a job, Woody said, adding that he used an assumed name, Ronald Kleigler. It is unclear whether anyone was helping him.

“We won’t know if someone was helping him until we get him back here with all of his property, then we can determine that,” Woody said. “There could be additional charges if we find out someone was aiding him with the knowledge he was a fugitive.”

Camden police identified Worthen from photographs showing his tattoos. Worthen later confirmed his identity to California law enforcement, Woody said.

Police said they hope Worthen’s personal effects will reveal where he has been since the slayings. They said the first sign of Worthen was when the victim’s car was found in Seattle, Wash. They believe he drove it there, ditched it and fled.

Police said they had considered that he might have died by suicide. Over the past 16 months, they said they received tips across the country of possible sightings. A note was left pertaining to the slayings, however police declined to elaborate on its contents.

“There was a lot of speculation that Worthen had killed himself,” Woody said. “We would never give up here until we had him physically, whether his remains or alive. We would not give up until we had that.”

“This is not over for us,” Woody said. “We still have a case to pursue.”

It is a case that has taken a toll.

During interviews, Lt. LaRhonda Moore, the chief investigator for the murders, broke down in tears several times. She said she was with Cannon’s family members in 2019 when her colleagues informed her they had discovered the bodies.

“I had to take every ounce of breath that I had not to just completely break down in front of the family,” Moore said. “I had to hold my composure.”

“Sometimes it has just been really hard to gather myself so much,” she said. “I was not going to give up, not until we got him.”

“It has been so hard.” Moore said she has responded to every tip the Camden Police Department has received about Worthen’s possible whereabouts.

“There has not been a day that has gone by that I have not made a phone call, have not looked at records, have not sent an email,” she said. “It seemed like he was just a complete ghost.”

Worthen has a history of domestic violence, according to court filings.

In October 2017, he was arrested and appeared in court for domestic battery and terroristic threatening against his girlfriend who, that same month, filed for an order of protection against Worthen.

In an affidavit, filed Oct. 19, 2017, Cannon described Worthen as becoming “more controlling and possessive.”

Cannon cited one incident at her place of work where Worthen attacked her, pulling her hair and hitting her. She wrote that he threatened to kill her “by driving me down a dirt road and slicing my throat and killing himself.”

“This is not the first time he has threatened to kill me,” Cannon wrote.

“He was always controlling where I went, what I did, what I wore, who I talked to, and controlled my money,” she wrote. “I’m scared to be by myself, scared to be out in public.”