Third drive-by suspect in jail

$1M bond set for Christmas attack

After 17 days on the run, Rico Reynaldo Fleming, the third and final suspect in the Christmas Day drive -by slaying of 16-year- old Derica Patterson in Marshall County, was in custody Thursday in Holly Springs.

Bond was set at $1 million at an afternoon appearance before Justice Court Judge Mae Garrison. A Rico preliminary Fleming hearing was slated for Feb. 29, “and he’ll be held unless he makes his bond,” Sheriff Kenny Dickerson said.

Meanwhile, said the sheriff, “we’ll proceed with a petition to Circuit Court to deny a bond. They have authority to do that.”

Fleming, 22, also known as Rico Pool, was returned from Missouri to Mississippi shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, and he was booked and processed at the Marshall County Jail following his arrest Tuesday afternoon in St. Louis at the home of a distant cousin. Though Fleming reportedly said he wouldn’t be taken alive, he was apprehended without a struggle by officers of the U.S. Marshals Service and the St. Louis Safe Streets Task Force.

Patterson was riding in the rear seat of an auto that was shot at multiple times Christmas Day on U.S. 72 near the Slayden Travel Center north of Holly Springs. Three others in the car with Patterson were injured; authorities believe the shootings were gang-related.

Also in custody in Marshall County are Christopher K. Collins, 16, of Rossville, and Corey Albright, 31. They and Fleming are charged with murder and multiple counts of drive -by shooting.

Fleming, also wanted by authorities in Fayette County, Tenn., was listed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s 15 Most Wanted list .

“Bond was revoked in a robbery-assault matter there,” Dickerson said.

Until Tuesday, Fleming had eluded a state, local and federal manhunt.

The shooting occurred during a holiday period, but “officers worked steadily to resolve the case,” said Dickerson, who praised work by his Investigative Division led by Maj. Kelly Mcmillen and by the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force of the Marshals Service.

It was a busy time for crime -fighting: “Between Dec. 20 and Dec. 30, we put in 1221/ hours,” Mcmillen said. “We’re ready for a little break.”

He also gave investigative credit to the Fayette and Shelby sheriff’s departments and to Memphis police. “We appreciate all the cooperation,” he said. — Henry Bailey:

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