Warrant: Selma suspect showed gun to friends before homicide

Arnold Anthony "Tony" Teague, of 415 Davis Mill Road, faces first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon charges in the Nov. 18 death of Linwood Ray Pilkington, 42, of 3368 U.S. Highway 301 North.

In the warrant, investigators say Teague traded 40 Percocet pills to friend Jerry Lynn Messer for a 9 mm handgun the week before Pilkington was found with gunshot wounds to the head and back.

Teague was allegedly showing off the gun to friends, saying he was going "to kill a couple people with it and then throw it in the river," the warrant states.

Jerry Lynn Messer, who told investigators he gave the gun to Teague in exchange for pills, agreed to wear a recording device to capture a conversation with Teague after Pilkington's death, warrants state. Before the prearranged meeting between the two men, however, the equipment failed.  

In a second conversation, Messer told investigators, Teague admitted to shooting Pilkington twice and said that he had gotten rid of the gun, the warrant alleges. He added that Teague told him "he would have done the same thing, too, if a man tried to have sex with your wife."

Teague's wife, Minnie Pearl Teague, was charged with accessory after the fact.

Messer said that she called him on Nov. 18 to say that her husband was being set up for killing someone and that someone saw him leaving the victim's house, warrants state. Messer told investigators that she asked him not to tell anyone he had sold a gun to Teague.

Several witnesses reported seeing a white car, similar to Teague's Ford Taurus, outside Pilkington's house in the hours before his body was discovered, the warrant states.

Investigators searched the Teagues' home and vehicles on Nov. 22, seizing five cellphones, a gun permit belonging to Minnie Pearl Teague, pills and pill bottles, a bag filled with scales, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, a pocket knife, four tires with rims and two towels, among other items.

Teague also faces burglary and larceny charges for a home break-in on the day Pilkington was shot. Investigators say he broke into a home on Campground Road, near Selma, and stole money, medicine, electronics and food.

Teague has a 2007 conviction for being an accessory to armed robbery and is on probation for a conviction for attempted possession of a firearm by a felon last September, according to state Department of Correction records. His criminal record dates to 1995 and also includes convictions for passing worthless checks.