Anchorage Daily News

At the heart of the deadly shooting outside the Sports Authority more than a week ago is a mysterious missing necklace, rumored to be worth $100,000.

Police say the stolen necklace may have been the motive for a $10,000 hit that left Joe A. Young Jr. dead in the parking lot of the Dimond-area big-box store.

A defense lawyer says three men currently under arrest just wanted to get the necklace back to the man it was stolen from last month -- an ex-con with some connection to a well-known rapper.

Pictures on the rapper's MySpace page show a gaudy medallion dangling from a golden chain -- a circular jeweled face and gold border surrounding stones that spell out the words "3rd Wall ent." Police think that's the necklace in question.

So far, however, no one involved admits having the coveted charm. A friend of Young's told police Young stashed it in a safe-deposit box before he was shot to death.

"I'd like to put my hands on it," homicide Detective Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz said.

As Young lay dying, he told authorities "Cole" shot him, according to court records.

Police say Cole is Naron Celestine and that he may have put a $10,000 price on Young's head for snatching the medallion from him near Club Elixir on Fifth Avenue back in May.

Pictures of the necklace and of Cole wearing it are posted on a MySpace page belonging to Sean P, an Atlanta-based "crunk" rapper of some national prominence. Who actually owned the necklace, what its true value is and the connection among the players, however, remains unclear.

"I really haven't figured out all the affiliations there," said homicide Detective Mark Huelskoetter, adding that federal investigators were "in the loop" on the case. "It is something we're still looking into, obviously."

Sean P, also known as Sean Paul, performs solo and with a group called the YoungBloodZ, who in 2003 reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with their song "Damn!" YoungBloodZ also made the charts with the song "Presidential."

Cole is wearing the necklace in two of the 55 pictures posted on Sean P's MySpace page. Another person pictured there is Rawbeatzz, a producer for 3rd Wall Entertainment -- the Kansas City-based label named on the necklace. According to his own page, Rawbeatzz is from Anchorage.

In one picture on Rawbeatzz's page, the necklace appears around Sean P's neck as he and Cole pose with a box of Patron tequila and what appears to be a brown, hand-rolled smoke.

A page for Rawbeatzz Productions posted on SoundClick, a music-based social community similar to MySpace, claims 3rd Wall Entertainment has done production work for both Sean P and the YoungBloodZ. Efforts to reach a publicist for Sean P were unsuccessful Monday.

Police maintain they have information that Cole may have put a hit on Young, or possibly that the three men charged with his murder -- Dawud Azizi Johnson, 31, Ajamu McCoy, 33, and Jerry Lynn Taylor Jr., 20 -- were trying to steal the necklace from him that day.

State court records show Celestine, 38, has a relatively minor criminal history, including driving violations, failure to appear and a misdemeanor assault charge from this February.

Archived federal court files, however, reveal a darker past. In 1992, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 35 months in federal prison.

In early 1995, Celestine, who at the time was also known as Keith Madden and "Cold," was indicted on federal charges of maintaining a place for drug trafficking, possessing cocaine -- more than a kilogram -- with intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He was only convicted of the gun charge, possessing a 9 mm pistol, but was sentenced to 75 months in prison, the records say.

Johnson's attorney, Rex Butler, disputes that there ever was a hit on Young. He says the suspects were just trying to talk to Young to get the necklace back. But because Young had stolen the necklace, he was paranoid about retaliation and, Butler says, started the shooting. It was only after he fired, hitting Johnson, that another man opened fire with a weapon similar to a MAC-10, killing Young, he said.

"I know the government is sticking to its talk about a contract," Butler said. "But the people that we've run into in our investigation are saying this guy (Cole) couldn't put two nickels together, much less $10,000."

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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