The second suspect in Kinston's first murder of the year turned himself in to police Thursday night after seeing on TV that he was wanted.

Marquice Antwan Bell, 18, is being held in Lenoir County Jail on suspicion of taking part in the murder of 29-year-old Terrel Jackson on Wednesday. Investigators say Bell and 21-year-old Marius Jamal Starke shot and killed Jackson at Jackson's home. Starke is also in Lenoir County Jail and has been denied bail.

Starke and Jackson once were roommates.

"We found Starke about 4 a.m. Thursday morning," Kinston Public Safety Cmdr. Greg Thompson said. "We had witnesses and physical evidence that helped us put the puzzle together."

Bell and Starke went to Jackson's house to rob him, Thompson said. Jackson was shot in the head during the course of the robbery. Investigators have not recovered the murder weapon.

A man who lived next door to Jackson called police. The man heard a shot and went to check it out. He saw Jackson lying on the floor and called 9-1-1. When investigators arrived, they had to break a glass pane in the door to enter the house.

Thompson said some of Jackson's property was missing, but declined to identify the items.

The two suspects are still being interviewed, he said.

Police notified area news outlets Thursday about their interest in Bell. Thompson said it is not unusual for suspects to turn themselves in after seeing on the news that they're wanted.

The city's murder rate has declined recently. Kinston had been averaging five to six murders a year.

"We've had some shootings that could have gone that way [murder] but the medical folks in Greenville helped us out," Thompson said. "There's no way to figure out what (the decline) means. Murder is one of those crimes that it's hard to be proactive about unless you have a particular type like gangs. I want to attribute to it to proactive police work but I've got nothing to back it up."

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