WATKINSVILLE, Ga. — A former UGA player was arrested this week in connection with the March 2021 killing of Oconee County RaceTrac clerk, Elijah Wood.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office announced via a Facebook post Wednesday morning, ‘WE GOT HIM!’ about Akhil Crumpton, who played football for UGA in 2017 and 2018 and was a student until 2021.
The post says the office received information in Feb. 2022 after a search of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network matched shell casings from a homicide scene in Philadelphia to shell casings found at the RaceTrac.
Investigators in Philadelphia told Oconee County they believed Crumpton was the shooter in their case and established a link between the two cases. He was arrested this week for the murder of Wood.
“For the past year we have seen the pain, agony, and frustrations this murder has brought to Elijah’s family, friends, and to our community. We all know this arrest will not bring Elijah back, but we hope his family, friends, and this community can now begin the healing process. We also know that the fight is not over. We must now successfully prosecute the case in a court of law,” wrote the sheriff’s office.
CASE HISTORY
The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. on March 19, 2021, at the RaceTrac on Macon Highway in Oconee County.
The shooting left the clerk, 23-year-old Elijah Wood, dead. Only surveillance footage and an illustration of the alleged shooter was available until now.
In one day, a fundraiser for Wood’s family raised over $30,000.
"I enjoyed our conversations, they made a long ride home a bit easier," one community member said about his interactions with Elijah at RaceTrac.
"Elijah was a great man. Huge in statue and in heart," said his brother-in-law, James Lemmonds.
By July 2021, the reward for information in his killing was up to $50,000 and the following month a sketch of the suspect was released.
Nearly a year to the day after Wood's death, an arrest has been made.
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