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4th suspect charged in Crescentville execution-style slaying

A fourth suspect has been charged in a 2014 abduction and execution-style slaying in Crescentville as authorities search for a fifth man wanted in the killing.

Police are looking for Deforest Johnson in connection with a 2014 abduction and shooting in Crescentville.
Police are looking for Deforest Johnson in connection with a 2014 abduction and shooting in Crescentville.Read morePhiladelphia police

A fourth suspect has been charged in a 2014 abduction and execution-style slaying in Crescentville as authorities search for a fifth man wanted in the killing.

Christopher Corley, 29, is facing murder, robbery, kidnapping and other charges in the shooting of two men, one fatally, on April 17, 2014, according to court records.

Corley is the fourth man charged in the incident that left 29-year-old Carl Johnson dead and a 26-year-old man wounded.

Police are now looking for 29-year-old Deforest Johnson, the final suspect on the loose in the slaying.

Police say Corley and Deforest Johnson, along with two men also charged this week and another who has been in custody since September 2014, abducted Carl Johnson and the other man, bound their hands and heads with duct tape, then shot them several times before dumping their bodies on Newtown Avenue near Godfrey Avenue.

The two Johnsons are not related.

Carl Johnson, who was shot in his face, back and leg, died at the scene. The other man survived the gunshot wounds to his back and forearm.

Authorities said the motive for the shooting was robbery.

Also charged in the case this week were 27-year-old Brandon McKelvey and 27-year-old Nysare Oneil O. Alston.

Ken Thomas, 25, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges in January, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday.

Thomas, Corley, Alston and another man are all also facing federal charges for allegedly robbing five Philadelphia check-cashing businesses at gunpoint between February and August 2014. The spree netted them nearly $125,000, according to federal prosecutors in Philadelphia.

Corley has been in federal custody related to those charges since August 2015, court records show.

He was denied bail during an early Friday arraignment in Philadelphia Municipal Court for the murder case and was being transferred back to federal custody. A preliminary hearing in the Crescentville slaying is scheduled for March 23.

All four men federally charged in the robbery spree had been scheduled to face trial later this month, but that has been postponed indefinitely.

Deforest Johnson, who is not implicated in the federal case, is known to spend time in North and North-Central Philadelphia, according to police.

He is described as a black man who is 6 feet 5 inches tall and about 400 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information can call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or -3335, or the Homicide Fugitive Unit at 215-686-3068.