JACKSON COUNTY, Fla (WMBB) – More details were unveiled behind a 2021 double murder and the circumstances that led to the arrests of the suspects.
One of the suspects, 22-year-old, Jeremiah Castro made his first court appearance on Thursday morning in Jackson County. Castro was extradited from Polk County, Georgia on Wednesday. The judge ordered him to be held without bond. Adrian Middleton, Castro’s attorney is requesting a bond hearing and asking Castro to be moved out of the Jackson County jail, officials said.
Wiltay Young, the other suspect in this murder is being held in the Gadsden County Jail. Castro and Young have been charged with two counts of murder.
Castro and Young were hired to kill Stephon Gaines and Nicholas Hollis, according to an arrest affidavit.
On October 19, 2021, Castro and Young picked up Gaines and Hollis at the victim’s house to buy marijuana, according to the arrest report. Castro, who was driving, allegedly shot Hollis, who was sitting in the front seat. Young then shot Gaines.
Each victim was supposedly shot twice.
Suspects allegedly buried the bodies in a field off Jackson Road and Woodcrest Road in the town of Jacob City, investigators said. The crime was pieced together with information from two confidential informants, said Jackson County authorities.
One of the informants claims Castro told him they were hired for the hit by a man named Jerry Upshaw and paid $20,000. Upshaw is in the Jackson County Jail, for unrelated charges. It’s unknown if he will be charged for this case.
The medical examiner’s office has not released any details about Gaines or Hollis’s autopsy.
