Man killed roommate over rent money and watch in 2012, feds say. Now he’s been arrested

A man accused of killing his roommate in a fight over rent money and a watch has been arrested more than 10 years after the fatal shooting, according to federal authorities.

Martino Giles has been wanted since September 2015, nearly three years after his roommate, DeAndre Jackson, was killed in their Cleveland home, WKYC reported.

While authorities have spent years looking for the fugitive in the fatal shooting, they unknowingly had him in custody at one point, according to an April 24 news release from the U.S. Marshals Service.

“Over the past seven and a half years the (Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force) has followed leads throughout Ohio and into other states looking for Giles,” officials said. “Most recently the case has been assigned to the Cold Case Division of the NOVFTF.

“Giles has been known to use aliases and was even arrested under a fictitious name,” authorities continued. “He was released before his true identity was known to law enforcement.”

In the last several weeks, investigators said they closed in on where Giles was hiding.

They found him in a Bloomington, Illinois, apartment on April 24 and arrested him without incident, authorities said.

“Investigators here in Cleveland never let up on this case,” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said in the release. “The victim’s family deserves justice and hopefully this arrest is the first step in the process. I would also like to thank the outstanding work from U.S. Marshal Brendan Heffner and his team in Central Illinois.”

Giles will be extradited to Cleveland, where he’ll face charges connected to the homicide.

This story was originally published April 24, 2023 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Man killed roommate over rent money and watch in 2012, feds say. Now he’s been arrested."