A Chattanooga man who has served decades in prison is accused of homicide in connection with the stabbing death of a 65-year-old man and kidnapping a 14-year-old girl within a four-day span.
"I'm not going back to prison, they will have to kill me," Antonio Wright, 50, allegedly said to a witness, according to a sworn law enforcement affidavit in his case.
Chattanooga police on April 6 found a man dead with multiple stab wounds in a home on the 1700 block of Jackson Street, the affidavit states.
Someone had called police after going to the residence and being unable to contact Ralph Jarrett, who was later identified as the victim, the affidavit states.
Officers found the side door to Jarrett's home open, and he was dead in the living room. Officers also found bloody footprints going from Jarrett's body to the open side door.
Officers established the last known contact with Jarrett was a phone call shortly before 3 a.m. that day, the affidavit states.
(READ MORE: Man charged in connection with Jackson Street homicide)
A witness allegedly said Jarrett's side door was open at about 11 a.m.
Detectives obtained video footage, which showed a silver Chevrolet Malibu pull up and park in front of Jarrett's home at about 5:30 a.m., the affidavit states.
"A heavy-set Black male wearing a white T-shirt exited the driver's seat of the vehicle," the affidavit states. "There did not appear to be anyone with him when he arrived."
The vehicle left the scene a few minutes later at what appeared to be a high rate of speed, the affidavit states.
Detectives reviewed additional video footage from different sources. It showed the Chevrolet had a spare tire and distinctive damage on its rear passenger side.
The footage later showed a red Ford F-150 drive past Jarrett's home and pull back up. The passenger door appeared to briefly open.
Four days later, detectives found a silver 2012 Chevrolet Malibu parked on the gated back lot of the Police Department, the affidavit states.
"The vehicle had heavy damage and appeared to have a spare tire on the rear passenger side," the affidavit states.
Wright was the owner of the car.
He was allegedly involved in a police pursuit and crash on April 10 following a kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl, the affidavit states.
Wright is accused of hitting, strangling and abducting the girl, who later escaped by jumping from his moving car.
The alleged homicide and kidnapping cases do not appear to be related, according to their respective affidavits.
Detectives later interviewed a witness, who was the driver of the red Ford F-150 spotted at Jarrett's house.
The witness told authorities Wright confessed killing Jarrett, the affidavit states.
"They stated Wright told them he got into an argument with the victim over paying for narcotics, picked up a knife from the victim's kitchen counter and stabbed the victim," the affidavit states.
The witness allegedly drove Wright to and from Jarrett's home and attempted to convince Wright to go to the police station to share his side of the story, the affidavit states.
Wright also had a bag of narcotics after leaving Jarrett's residence, according to the witness.
Detectives interviewed Wright, who was already in custody after the alleged kidnapping. He initially denied going to Jarrett's house but changed his story once he was confronted with video footage.
Wright allegedly admitted going to Jarrett's house to buy narcotics and confirmed it was him getting out of the silver Chevrolet Malibu.
"After Wright left the victim's residence, the victim was not seen alive again," the affidavit states.
In 1995, Wright pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a 20-year sentence, according to the Hamilton County Criminal Court website.
Wright was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2011 after being accused of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated burglary and especially aggravated kidnapping. He pleaded guilty to lesser offenses as part of an agreement with state prosecutors.
He was being held at the Hamilton County Jail on a $50,000 bond in connection with the kidnapping case, but it has since been raised to $750,000, according to the Sheriff's Office website. He is expected to appear May 16 in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.