Six Face Charges Related to Washington County Jail Death

Updated 1/14 at 6:55 p.m. ET: Jonathan Pearson was located and arrested this evening in Kingsport.

JOHNSON CITY – A joint investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has resulted in the indictment of six men in connection to the death of an inmate.

On December 17^th, at the request of 1^st District Attorney General Ken Baldwin, TBI Special Agents joined investigators with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in investigating an assault that occurred at the Washington County Detention Center. On that day, corrections officers were alerted to an altercation in one of the cell blocks. Upon arrival, inmate Joseph M. Lockner (DOB 12/22/88) was found unresponsive. During the course of the investigation, authorities developed information that six inmates, five of which were Lockner’s cellmates, conspired to carry out the assault. On December 20^th, Lockner died as a result of the injuries he sustained.

On Thursday, the Washington County Grand Jury returned indictments charging all six men in connection to the assault.

John Zachary Woodard (DOB 1/19/95): One count Reckless Homicide, one count Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death, one count Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death.
Wesley Edwin Clouse (DOB 8/7/95): One count Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death, one count Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death.
Cody James Albu (DOB 12/14/95): One count Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death, one count Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death.
Steven James Necessary (DOB 11/4/75): One count Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death.
Glendon Raye Wilkerson (DOB 1/6/79): One count of Accessory After the Fact to Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death.
Jonathan Robert Pearson (DOB 3/4/80): One count Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death, one count Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault Resulting in Death.

Woodard, Clouse, Albu, Necessary, and Wilkerson were served in the Washington County Detention Center, where they were already being held on unrelated charges. Jonathan Pearson has not been arrested. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND or the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 423-788-1414.