Detroit Murder Suspect Caught in West Virginia After Nine-Month Manhunt

A Fugitive's Trail Ends Hundreds of Miles From Home

A Detroit man wanted in connection with a homicide at an "unauthorized after-hours" barbershop has been captured in Huntington, West Virginia, according to federal authorities. The arrest closed the book on a nine-month manhunt that stretched across state lines — a case that began with a senseless killing inside a school and ended on a residential street far from where it started.

Dalvine Nickerson, 20, of Detroit, was taken into custody at approximately 5 p.m. in the 800 block of 25th Street in Huntington on Tuesday, August 12. His arrest was carried out by the U.S. Marshals Service Southern District of West Virginia CUFFED Task Force.

A Shooting Inside a School's Grounds

Nickerson allegedly shot and killed a 21-year-old man who was getting a haircut at an "unauthorized after-hours" barbershop operating on the grounds of the Charles Wright Academy of Arts and Sciences in Detroit. Nickerson faces charges stemming from that deadly shooting on Nov. 14, 2025. The detail that the victim was simply getting a haircut — at what was essentially an informal, after-hours operation inside a school — makes the circumstances of the killing all the more jarring.

Following the shooting, Nickerson and his brother fled from police on foot. After Detroit Police found Nickerson and his brother at a friend's apartment, they immediately left. Investigators say Nickerson's brother was taken into custody, but Nickerson got away. That split-second escape bought the 20-year-old months of freedom — but it also set the full weight of the federal fugitive apprehension system in motion.

How Marshals Tracked Him Across State Lines

The U.S. Marshals Service Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team investigated the case and found that Nickerson had left the metro Detroit area and traveled to Ohio and West Virginia. That kind of multi-state tracking is exactly what the Marshals Service's specialized task forces are built for — following fugitives wherever they go, regardless of jurisdiction.

In 2025, U.S. Marshals Service-led fugitive task forces arrested over 73,000 federal, state, and local fugitives and cleared nearly 88,000 warrants. The Nickerson case is a small but telling example of how that machinery works — coordinating between local police departments, regional task forces, and federal investigators to close cases that might otherwise go cold when a suspect crosses a state line.

What Comes Next for Nickerson

Nickerson is being held at the Western Regional Jail and is awaiting extradition back to Michigan. The extradition process will return him to Detroit, where he will face the full weight of the murder charges filed against him. The victim's family, who have waited since November 2025 for answers, now know that the man accused of that crime is finally in custody.

Cases like this one underscore a broader reality: fleeing a crime scene and crossing state lines rarely provides the safety a fugitive hopes for. The reach of coordinated federal-local task forces has grown considerably, and the digital and investigative tools available to agencies like the U.S. Marshals make geographic distance less and less of an obstacle. For Nickerson, nearly nine months on the run ended on an ordinary street in Huntington — proof that the pursuit rarely stops until someone is caught.