JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has charged a 27-year-old Jacksonville man in a November murder on Myrtle Avenue.
Devonte Ledbetter was already in custody at the Duval County Jail for unrelated burglary charges when he was re-arrested on the murder charge Thursday, JSO said.
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On Nov. 6, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded just before 2 a.m. to a reported shooting on Myrtle Avenue, about five blocks north of Kings Road. When officers arrived, they found a 31-year-old man dead behind a home in the Durkeeville neighborhood.
According to the arrest report, the family 31-year-old man told JSO that he and Ledbetter had an ongoing feud that escalated into a physical confrontation a few weeks before the shooting.
The report said a woman told detectives she and the 31-year-old man stepped outside to have a smoke when Ledbetter joined them. She then went back into the house.
She didn’t see the shooting but when she went back outside, she saw the man was shot in the head, and Ledbetter had left.
Ledbetter was identified as a person of interest and was initially arrested in February on unrelated burglary charges, police said.
According to JSO, over the following months, detectives built a case against Ledbetter that led to his arrest on the murder charge. News4JAX has learned that detectives took a DNA sample from Ledbetter while he was in jail. It’s unclear if that was connected to his arrest.
“This significant development marks a crucial step forward in the pursuit of justice for the victim and their grieving loved ones,” JSO said.