Governor’s Office offers reward in cold case

Published 9:16 pm Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Gov. Robert Bentley’s office is offering a reward to help solve a cold case in Dallas County.

Bentley issued a proclamation in late June that would reward $5,000 to anyone with information that would lead to an arrest and conviction in the case of Samuel Payne, a North Carolina man that was found dead Dec. 31, 2014, in Dallas County.

Payne was visiting his ailing father and went out with a friend to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but didn’t return, according to his stepfather Ivory Perkins Jr. The 49-year-old’s body was found in a creek in Dallas County several months later.

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“He left with his friend but my son didn’t come back home,” said his mother Rachel Perkins. “About three months later is when they found him in the river in Selma.”

District attorney Michael Jackson said he contacted the governor’s office, asking if they could provide any type of reward in the case.

“It always helps if you can offer money for the information,” Jackson said. “This is the kind of case where the only way the situation is going to be solved on what exactly happened to him is if somebody comes forward.”

Perkins, is hoping that’s the case.

“Maybe somebody will come forward when they see that they put up $5,000,” Perkins said.

The case remains under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call SBI at 1-800-392-8011.