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Murder Suspect Arrested In Atmore Without Incident
October 9, 2009
Murder suspect Bruce Edward Day surrendered peacefully to authorities in Atmore Thursday night, ending a two day manhunt across two states.
Day’s father, William Fore, called Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff Grover Smith about 8:30 Thursday night and told the sheriff that he wanted to talk to him “now” at his Atmore residence, according to Chief Deputy Mike Lambert. When the sheriff arrived about 8:45 p.m., Day surrendered without incident.
“He was then cuffed and transported by Sheriff Smith to the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center in Brewton,” Lambert said. He was reportedly covered in scratches from running in the woods after fleeing U.S. Marshals Tuesday at the Gulf Power Crist Plant in Pensacola.
Day, 42, is being held in the Brewton jail on an open count of murder. He will have a bond hearing before Judge David Jordon as early as this morning.
A murder warrant for Day’s arrest was issued Monday, accusing him of killing Woodrow “Token” Allen, 25, of Nokomis in 2001. Allen was last seen alive in December 2001, just a short time before he was scheduled to testify against Day in an attempted murder case.
When U.S. Marshals tried to serve the warrant on him Tuesday at the Crist Plant, he took off, prompting a massive manhunt and a campus lockdown of the University of West Florida.
Day was arrested on attempted murder charge for shooting three times into a vehicle on James Road in Nokomis on October 28, 2001. The vehicle was occupied at the time by Allen, 25, and his juvenile niece. Allen’s mother reported him missing on December 17, 2001, claiming that she has last seen her son on December 13, 2001.
Lambert would not say exactly what evidence prompted the Escambia County district attorney to issue the murder warrant on Monday, other than the sheriff’s department presented the DA with “solid evidence”.
“We recently received information that supported that Day committed the murder,” Lambert said. “We presented it to the DA, who felt like it was sold enough to obtain the warrant.” Authorities have not located Allen’s body, Lambert said.
The entire 2001 incident took place in the area of James Road and a trailer park on Nathan Road — the location of another murder on September 24. Two suspects, Clarence Luker, 37, and Lorraine Gray, 50, were arrested within hours of the shooting death of Kenneth Porter, 32. Both are being held in the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center on open counts of murder in that case.
Day and at least one of the suspects were known to be acquainted with each other in 2001, but the recent murder and arrests in no way led to the warrants being issued Monday for Day, Lambert said. “It was just the luck of the draw,” he said, that arrests came within two weeks of each other the 2001 and 2009 murders in the same area.
Click here for the related story “Where was murder suspect Bruce Day for the past two days”.
Click here for more details on the 2001 case.
Comments
16 Responses to “Murder Suspect Arrested In Atmore Without Incident”
I WILL BE PRAYING THAT JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED IN THIS CASE AND IF THIS MAN IS INNOCENT THEN I PRAY HE WILL BE SET FREE HOWEVER IF HE IS GUILTY THE BIBLE SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE RIGHT. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THIS HORRIBLE TRAGEDY.
Our hearts too goes out to both familys, this is something that distroys many innocent people and if there is a chance that Bruce didnt do this he has already been found GUILTY by people that dont know him and some that do,but in this country we have a thing that says YOUR INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY..
There is a chance he didnt kill anyone and if he did it would be hard for those of us they have known Bruce to understand, Bruce has made mistakes ,who hasnt? But to KiLL is something to be proved, then he is GUILTY.
People this could be your son, brother,friend or your grandchildrens daddy be kinda of those that suffer for they are innocent as the Allen family they too will loose in the end if he did do this, his children are INNOCENT, and he is innocent till they prove other wise, our prayers go out to both familys, BUT most of all our prayers are that you are INNOCENT Bruce and can prove it for your childrens sake and family.God bless
well I know both families and I think it is very sad for you both but put your faith in God;s hand and all things will work out for the best. the Allen family is in my prayer and so is the Day family. why people get on here and make someone out to be a something they are not without knowing them is very sad never no when they might need someone to pray for them are one of their family members.so with that said i would like to say God bless both of the families and there are in my prayers.
Im sorry but I like to see when a country person shows that we have skills also. Like we cant find our place in the woods.
Way to go Northescambia.com!!!! You all do a fantastic job of reporting news as it happens! No one compares to you! This is the first website I check when I get to work in the morning!!!! Yay to you!
The helicopter held him away from the campus where he might have hurt/kidnapped/whatever someone else. Pull up a Google map of the area. There’s a whole lot of really THICK woods in that swamp. It would be like finding a needle in the haystack.
Brenda,
I believe I heard on another news source that UWF agreed to fund the use of Escambia County FL helicopters because of the close proximity and possible danger to the campus.
Just goes to show that the helicopters are not the end-all, save-all pieces of equipment so many have made tham out to be. Certainly not valuable enough to justify the annual opertaing costs of $850,000 that previous administrations some how justified. Yet another fine decision by Sheriff Morgan and it is good to know that they are still available if we need them in cases of emergency such as this.
I have known Bruce all his life, he is a good man but even good men do evil things, I’m not saying Bruce is guilty and I can’t say he’s not but I will say the root of all evil is MONEY and/or DRUGS and without a doubt that’s where his trouble began!!!
Day surrendered.
Smart move for a murder suspect. Find a safe jail cell and a lawyer and prepare to work the system.
Convicting a murder suspect without a body is more difficult than one might imagine.
What if he were innocent until proven guilty. Then a judge can sentence him properly.
Due process is a wonderful thing.
I know my husband will be relieved to find this out in the morning. He was stopped tonight by an Escambia Alabama deputy, in what amounted to a felony takedown – hands out the window, spotlight shining in his eyes. Turns out he drives a truck exactly like Bruce Day’s truck, except my husband’s is 4 wheel drive. Thankfully.
I guess the scripture signs on the tailgate weren’t enough to convince the deputy that my husband wasn’t Bruce Day. All I can say is YOU GUYS ROCK! Good job and I’m not being sarcastic. That deputy had his eyes open and did what he was supposed to do.
Whoa there, wait just a minute. The helicopters in Escambia County, FL were GROUNDED when David Morgan became sheriff. So I will assume that Escambia County, AL helicopters were used for this manhunt.
boy oh boy…you can run , but ya cant hide…ya play, ya pay….shame shame shame bruce!
we are keeping ya kids in our prayers…lord knows they are gonna need um.
I am also happy he’s locked up! I hope he gets the chair if he’s guilty!
northescambia.com is amazing. You beat ALL of the tv stations, the PNJ, the Atmore & Brewton papers, everybody! Northescambia is my homepage for darn good reason!
I sure am glad he is in jail. I heart he was around rockaway creek road in florida this afternoon. That was too close for me!
Way to go sheriff’s department!
And way to go northescambia.com! Once again you beat EVERYBODY with the story. I don’t know how you do it, but I sure know that’s why me and everybody else reads it!