19-year-old pleads guilty in connection with 2020 Winston-Salem murder

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A 19-year-old pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder in a 2020 Winston-Salem homicide, according to a release from the Forsyth County district attorney’s office.

The District Attorney’s office said Jeremiah Elisha Nickerson also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in a courtroom on Monday. 

Police arrested Nickerson in connection to the fatal shooting that happened on Sep. 15, 2020. 

Police found while Nickerson did not shoot the victim, 19-year-old Jalen Mack Claboine, his phone records revealed he had the gun before and after the murder.

Investigators said Nickerson attempted to get rid of the gun after the shooting. Police recovered the weapon, but the murder investigation is ongoing.

“It is not only morally reprehensible to refuse to identify a killer and cooperate with law enforcement in a murder investigation, but it is also a crime,” District Attorney Jim O’Neill said. “This office will hold all those involved with a murder criminally accountable that includes those who would hide evidence like this defendant.”

Nickerson was sentenced to 10 to 14 years in prison for the accessory to murder charge as well as the other drug charges. The District Attorney’s office said while on pretrial release for the murder investigation, Nickerson was found to have possessed a trafficking amount of fentanyl on three occasions in 2023. 

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