CLAY COUNTY — A 39-year-old Salem man is the third person arrested in connection with the September death of 80-year-old Roger Courson in his rural Edgewood home.
(Source: IDOC)
Jamie Charlton was arrested on a Clay County warrant charging him with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of residential burglary. Charlton’s bond had been set at $750,000.
Two others, 27-year-old Christopher Gallatin of Centralia and 30-year-old Walter West of Edgewood were charged Monday with two counts each first-degree murder and one count each residential burglary. Bond was set at $2.5 million for each man.
A relative discovered Courson’s body on September 27. According to prosecutors, 20 guns, a safe and a television were taken from the Courson home.
Illinois State Police was assisted in the investigation into Courson’s death by the Clay County and Marion County Sheriff’s Departments and Centralia Police Department.
Charlton is currently on parole from the Illinois Department of Corrections for 2018 convictions out of Marion and Richland counties for being a felon in possession of a firearm and theft respectively. He was scheduled to be discharged from parole in April 2022.