Lexington man charged with murder after victim’s body found inside a burning vehicle
A Lexington man has been charged with killing a city resident after the victim’s body was found burning inside a vehicle in Bourbon County, according to multiple police agencies and court records.
Cecil T. Russell, 36, was arrested Wednesday and charged with the murder of Lazarus Parker, according to Kentucky State Police and the Lexington Police Department.
Russell was arrested at a home in Lexington, according to jail records. Lexington police assisted state police in the arrest, and officers used armored vehicles and riot shields while attempting to get Russell to leave the house.
Russell was taken to the Lexington-Fayette County Detention Center and was arraigned Thursday in Fayette District Court. His bond was set at $1 million, according to court records.
Russell’s alleged victim, Parker, was found Feb. 9 inside a burning car, according to state police.
State police said in February that the car was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived after being alerted by a passerby who saw the fire at about 5:30 a.m.
Parker, 38, had been indicted on a murder charge in 2014. But the charge was reduced to reckless homicide, and Parker accepted an Alford plea in 2015, according to court records. In an Alford plea, defendants don’t admit guilt but acknowledge enough evidence exists to convict them.
The victim of the shooting was 31-year-old Brian Lee Hodge, a Kentucky resident who had a 2-year-old son, according to his obituary. Parker was sentenced to one year in prison.
Lexington police confirmed that the victim in the latest killing was the same man indicted in the 2012 killing. Police said that their investigation revealed Parker and Hodge got into a “verbal altercation” about selling narcotics before Parker shot Hodge and fled the area.
When Parker was arguing for a lower bond at the time, he said in a motion that prosecutors had no physical evidence linking him to the crime and that the prosecution’s witnesses were “extremely unreliable” and didn’t identify him early on in the investigation, according to court records. Parker’s defense also claimed another person admitted to others that he, not Parker, was responsible for Hodge’s murder.
Parker was successful in arguing the judge should prohibit the prosecution from telling jurors he was a drug dealer. “There is absolutely no evidence of the alleged conduct and the mention of such during trial would be highly prejudicial.”
State police wouldn’t comment on investigation details when asked if there was any connection between Parker’s and Hodge’s deaths.
Before Parker’s body was identified, Facebook posts from Parker’s mom, Dora Burgess, indicated that his family hoped to find him alive..
“Please stop putting out false information because at this moment he is missing... not dead,” Burgess wrote in a post on Feb. 19.
Russell, who was charged with evidence tampering in addition to murder, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Fayette District Court Tuesday, according to court records.
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 12:32 PM.