On November 30, 2023, deputies from the Smyth County Sheriff’s Office assigned to the USMS Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, along with the USMS arrested Jeffrey Dean Spence and Karen Elizabeth Spence for the 2022 murder of a Mississippi man.
The USMS received a request to attempt to locate these individuals who had active Capital Murder warrants from Tippah County, Mississippi for the murder of Kirby Carpenter. This investigation into the whereabouts of Jeffery and Karen was a collaborative effort between multiple law enforcement agencies spanning the east coast, ultimately leading to their arrest in the Sugar Grove area of Smyth County, VA. Smyth County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and Patrol division provided vital support throughout this investigation.
Jeffrey and Karen are being held at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail -Abingdon Facility while they wait for extradition back to Mississippi.
Caitlin Spence, the girlfriend of Carpenter at the time of his murder, was also arrested in Pennsylvania per a report from WTVA.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
