Two Men Sentenced Today in 2018 Robbery and Murder…
Arie Callaway, 21, was sentenced today to two consecutive Life sentences for his role in the August 14, 2018 Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, and Murder of Gulf Food Store clerk, Alpeshkumar Prajapati. Video evidence of this event showed that Jeremy Kendrick, also 21, waited by the front of the store while Prajapati, who had already given over all the store’s cash, was taken to a back room where Callaway shot and killed him in cold blood. Callaway was previously found Guilty after a jury trial in July 2021.
As jury selection was about to begin, rather than face a retrial for his role in this incident, Jeremy Kendrick, Jr., pled guilty to Armed Robbery and Aggravated Assault. Kendrick’s first trial in July 2022 resulted in a hung jury. For his actions, Kendrick was sentenced to 30 years and will have to spend the first 10 years in confinement without the possibility of parole.
Both Callaway and Kendrick were 16 years old at the time this deliberate and heinous crime was committed.
A third suspect, Vernon Ashley is still awaiting trial.
“The immigrant population in Macon is too often seen as an easy target. The life of Alpeshkumar Prajapati mattered, and his death was senseless. We hope today’s developments provide a measure of justice to his loved ones.” DA Anita Howard
The Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office especially thanks the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for its diligent work in the investigation of this case.
