MORGANTON, N.C. — A Morganton teen accused of supporting ISIS has been linked to the murder of an elderly neighbor.
A grand jury in Burke County indicted Justin Sullivan, 19, in connection with the murder of John Clark, 74, in December of 2014.
Officers went to Clark’s home and found the door to his residence unlocked. They also found what appeared to be a blood trail and drag marks coming out of the house. A more thorough search of the property led to the discovery of Clark’s body buried in the yard. His apparent cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to the head from a small-caliber firearm.
Sullivan, a self-proclaimed Islamic convert, also faces federal charges. The federal charges allege that he attempted to provide material aid to the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). He was arrested on those federal charges on June 19th
Sullivan is charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIL, receipt of a silencer in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, receipt and possession of an unregistered firearm, concealment and storage of a stolen firearm, use of interstate facilities in the attempted commission of a murder-for-hire, and two counts of making false statements to FBI agents.
“Justin Sullivan had elaborate plans to kill hundreds of innocent people to show his support for the terrorist organization, ISIL,” said Special Agent in Charge Strong. “During the course of our investigation evidence was uncovered linking Sullivan to John Bailey Clark’s murder six months earlier. Any loss of life is tragic; due to the work of the FBI and our law enforcement partners, other planned attacks were thwarted preventing more violence.”
Sullivan is being housed at the Buncombe County Detention Center in Asheville on the federal charges without bond.
