On-the-Run Pair Arrested Across the Country Weeks After Man's Roommate Was Found Slain in Woods

Stephen Walker, 37, was reported missing from his sober living house on Dec. 19, police said

A Colorado man vanished nearly three weeks ago from his sober living house, and now his roommate is accused of killing him and another man, say authorities.

On Jan. 3, the El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal announced that the body of Stephen Walker, 37, of Cimmaron Hills, had been found in a wooded area outside of El Paso County.

His roommate, Johnny Rankin Morris, 46, of Cimmaron Hills, was arrested in Pearl River County, Miss., on a warrant issued on Dec. 31, 2024, and charged in connection with Walker’s death, Roybal said in a release.

Morris is charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence in connection with Walker's death, police said.

He was arrested in Mississippi on Dec. 30 on unrelated charges. He is awaiting extradition from Mississippi and is being held without bond.

The investigation began on Dec. 19, when Walker was reported missing from the house where he was living on Pima Drive in Cimmaron Hills, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Deputies responded to the house and came upon  “large quantities of blood in multiple locations throughout the residence,” the sheriff said.

The sheriff’s office began searching for Morris as a person of interest in Walker’s disappearance.

They said he was with a woman named Hailey Cole, 43, and was traveling with her to Mississippi, where they are from, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said.

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On Dec. 24, police were called to a home on Campfire Road in Park County, Colo., for a welfare check and found the body of Timmy Huston, 65, the Park County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies found Walker's car about a mile from Huston's house, police said.

Two days later, the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi received a call about a man allegedly matching Morris’ description trying to break into the caller's vehicle, the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

Deputies searched the area and found Morris and Cole camping in a shed. They were arrested on outstanding warrants in Mississippi for failure to appear and receiving stolen property.

Mississippi authorities learned that the pair were persons of interest in a death/missing persons investigation and contacted the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office said.

Morris and Cole are both facing first-degree murder charges in connection with Huston’s death, authorities said.

Walker was living in a sober living house when he vanished, his family and friends said, KRDO reports.

“He got sober,” an unidentified friend told KRDO. “He actually helped me get sober. We were sober together in Arizona for a while. He was just a big inspiration.”

It is unclear whether the suspects have attorneys who can comment on their behalf.