Multi-state killing spree: News 13 investigates trail of violence local man left across Southeast

By Jennifer Emert

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — “He really had no remorse. He was unapologetic for the crimes he committed,” Major John Ledford, with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office Enforcement Division, said when News 13 sat down with him to look back on a 2021 murder in Arden.

The Buncombe County man who entered a plea in that case is also charged in connection with murders in four Southeast cities.

A News 13 investigation found that after Alfred Louis Logan Jr.’s arrest, he was considered too dangerous to hold in the Buncombe County Detention Facility.

The Arden case was settled after two years by a special prosecutor in the state Attorney General’s Office. News 13 investigated why and the wild story behind the multi-state crime spree.

2021 Arden murder The crime scene in the parking lot of Southwood Apartments in Arden in 2021 was disturbing.

“He was killed that night, and so he was discovered the next morning with the motor of his vehicle still running. He was seated in the front seat of the car,” Ledford explained.

Twenty-nine-year-old Kedrick Green was shot at close range.

Ledford remembers Nov. 18, 2021, well.

“We didn’t have enough major case units that were going to be able to handle two homicides simultaneously,” Ledford said.

As the investigation into Green’s case unfolded, a technology we all carry led investigators toward someone Green planned to see.

“It was an arranged meeting they were known to meet that day,” Ledford said. “We were able to use cell phone information from the victim’s phone to identify Mr. Logan as a suspect and actually tracked that phone, the victim’s phone, back to Mr. Logan’s residence.”

That gave investigators probable cause to arrest Logan.

“By the time we had the information in line to be able to bring these charges, Mr. Logan had left our jurisdiction,” Ledford said.

Logan and his sister Crystal Logan, who was charged in connection with the Green case, were familiar to police. WLOS covered the brother’s and sister’s crimes 15 years ago.

“Hitting the Market Center, the ABC Store on Tunnel Road, the Quality Inn and Days Inn on Tunnel Road and this Quality Inn in South Asheville,” Holly Hedrick said, reporting in 2009 about crimes Crystal Logan was charged in.

In January 2009, the siblings were charged and convicted of a Charlotte bank robbery.

“Officers caught Crystal and her Brother Alfred Logan Jr., who was driving, after a short chase,” Headrick said.

Law enforcement claims Logan Jr. was still on federal probation from the robbery when Green was killed in 2021.

After leaving Buncombe County following the murder in Arden, Logan Jr. and his girlfriend Lindsay Calton were charged with kidnapping and assaulting a 64-year-old man in Jefferson County, Alabama. The victim was shot and later died. Logan Jr. was also wanted for a homicide in a drug overdose death in York County, South Carolina, south of Charlotte, about the same time.

“These were just people that were unfortunate enough to encounter him,” Ledford said.

Logan Jr. was arrested Dec. 12, 2021, in Elizabeth City. Considered too dangerous for the Buncombe County jail, he was held on a safe-keeper order in Central Prison in Raleigh.

“We felt like for the safety of the other inmates in the jail and for our jail staff, we drew a safekeeping order, and he was subsequently transferred to Central Prison,” Ledford said.

In October 2022, Logan Jr. was charged with first-degree murder in Wake County in the stabbing of another inmate.

“This is a man that needs to be locked up for a really long time,” Attorney General Josh Stein said.

Stein’s special prosecution section secured a plea from Logan Jr. after Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams reached out to the Attorney General’s Office to handle the case because his office was short-staffed. Williams sent several letters requesting assistance from the special prosecution section.

“To bring these complicated, long, big murder cases, it takes everybody working together, local law enforcement, state law enforcement, federal law enforcement state prosecutors, we can all work together,” Stein said.

Logan Jr.’s case was the first of more than 10 Buncombe County asked for help with.

While the motive for Green’s death wasn’t presented to a jury, investigators broke it down for News 13.

“We believe they were engaged in criminal activity, possibly together,” Ledford said.

While exactly what was said in the vehicle may never be known, investigators said what was left behind spoke volumes.

“A search of the vehicle produced 160-some grams of a white powdery substance we believe to be methamphetamines,” Ledford said. “We felt like we’d done a solid job and that we were prepared for trial for it. The fact that we were able to obtain a plea here in Buncombe County simply clears the way for potential trials for even more substantial penalty, potentially the death penalty in Alabama.”

According to the Jefferson County, Alabama, Clerk of Courts Office, there are active warrants in Jefferson County, Alabama, for Logan Jr. The Wake County charges are set for trial next year.

The Attorney General’s Office special prosecutor also handled the charges against Crystal Logan and Lindsey Calton.

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