Suspect in Rocky Mount homicide arrested

Police have arrested a Wendell man wanted in the slaying of a woman whose body was found Wednesday in a Rocky Mount motel room.

A cleaning crew found the body of Melissa Jo Wise, 38, in room 104 of the Executive Inn, at 1821 N. Wesleyan Blvd. The cause of her death hasn't been determined.

Wise was reported missing Tuesday after she did not show up for work in Franklin County, police said.

Police named Ronald Carlton Ricks Jr., 41, a suspect in her death, which has been ruled a homicide, on Thursday. That evening he was admitted at Wake Medical Center for medical issues and the staff recognized him from media reports, police said. Rocky Mount police were contacted and Ricks was placed into custody after he was released from WakeMed Friday morning.

Ricks was being held without bond at the Nash County jail on Friday.

Authorities said Wise's truck remains missing. It described as a 2002 Ford F-150 with North Carolina license plate VRC-7985.

Anyone who sees the truck or has information in the case is asked to call the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411 or Crime Stoppers at 252-977-1111.

Ricks has 1990 convictions for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in Wake County, according to state Department of Correction records. He served 4 years in prison and probation for those charges.

DOC records show that Ricks was also put on probation Maryland for assault in 2001.