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Fort Ann, New York — Two Black suspects have been arrested and charged with the murder of two teenagers—one White and one Hispanic—in a small rural town near the border of Vermont.
Two Albany residents—20-year-old David M. Larose and 18-year-old Jordan P. Johnson—have been arrested and charged in the fatal shooting of 19-year-olds Adam M. Darrah and Marcus J. Macaulay, both of Glens Falls.
The shooting occurred around 9:00 p.m. on May 22, 2025, along Clay Hill Road in Fort Ann. Passing drivers came upon a stopped vehicle and discovered two young men inside, both suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The drivers attempted to render aid before contacting police. Emergency responders arrived shortly after and transported the victims to Glens Falls Hospital, where both were later pronounced dead.
According to reports, Darrah remained unconscious from the time he was found until his death. Macaulay, by contrast, was initially described as “alert” in the moments following the shooting.
NBC 5 in Burlington, Vermont, reported that inclement weather conditions prevented air transport for the victims. The scene of the crime lies approximately 15 miles from the Vermont state line.
State troopers arrested Larose early on May 23 in Troy and later apprehended Johnson that same evening in Albany—both cities are located roughly 50 miles from the scene of the shooting.
Both suspects face two counts of second-degree murder and weapons charges, with Johnson additionally charged with tampering with evidence.
According to News 13 NBC in Latham, the victims had arranged to meet Larose in a secluded and wooded area along Fort Hill Road before the shooting.
According to court documents obtained by the Justice Report, law enforcement believes that the two teens were killed in the commission of a robbery.
As of now, both suspects are being held without bail at the Washington County Correctional Facility. Prosecutors have also secured a stay-away order barring the defendants from contacting a witness.
On May 29, Justice Dane Clark of Fort Ann told the Justice Report that the two men were indicted by a grand jury and will be tried in Washington County Court at a date that is yet to be determined.
Neither of the suspects have prior criminal records in Albany City or County courts, per WebCriminal Supreme searches.
Johnson was once honored by the Albany Police Department with a small parade celebrating Johnson’s triumph over leukemia. The Albany PD wrote that Johnson “wants to be an Albany police officer one day.”
“This is the third year we’ve helped Jordan, who wants to be an Albany police officer one day, celebrate his birthday with a parade,” Albany PD wrote on Facebook in 2022, four days before Johnson’s 15th birthday.
Macaulay’s aunt, Joanne Collins, described her nephew to News 13 as a selfless and caring young man who was just weeks away from his 20th birthday.
“He was the kind of young man who would do anything for anyone,” she said. “My nephew Marcus was 19. He would be 20 in two weeks. He had his whole life in front of him.”
According to his obituary, Macaulay had ambitious plans to merge his certifications in scuba diving and welding into a specialized career in underwater welding. He was also passionate about cars and enjoyed weightlifting in his free time.
Darrah, the son of Angelique and Phillip, was remembered in his obituary as a young man with a sharp sense of humor and a “heart of gold.” His friends recalled him as someone they could always count on: “Adam always had our backs!”
Darrah was also portrayed as a hardworking individual who loved fishing and hunting with his father. His bond with his mother was especially close—Angelique was described as Adam’s “soft spot,” and he, her “safe space.”
This double interracial homicide marks the latest tragedy for the small town of Fort Ann and its 6,000 residents. Just six months earlier, the community was shaken by the closure of one of its largest employers—Great Meadows Correctional Facility.
The loss deeply impacted many locals, including Rich Straub, owner of the ‘Time Served’ bar located directly across the street from the prison. So profound was his reaction that he held a mock funeral to mark the facility’s shutdown.
“It’s a funeral because that’s what it’s gonna feel like to all these COs that are working over there,” Straub told News 10 ABC in November 2024. “It’s not a celebration of life. It’s… this is over for them.”
Fort Ann sits in the heart of Washington County, a predominantly rural area near the Vermont border. White residents comprise 92.7% of the county’s population, while Black residents account for only a mere fraction of a percentage.
Homicides are exceedingly rare in Washington County, but their frequency has increased in recent years. Between 2001 and 2015, law enforcement agencies across the county reported just five homicides. However, from 2017 to 2023, that same number of homicides occurred in less than half the time. Data for 2024 homicides has not yet been processed.
Nearly all of the FBI’s homicide data for Washington County predates the 2019 Uniform Crime Reporting overhaul, therefore, it contains no data on race.
Overwhelming White rural areas such as Washington County are typically protected from interracial homicides by their distance from multiracial urban areas with large Black populations.
However, in recent years distance no longer serves as an effective deterrent, with Black on White homicides increasingly occurring even in rural towns like Fort Ann.
Last September, the small town of Lyons—home to just 3,594 residents and located midway between Rochester and Syracuse in western New York—was terrorized by gunshots that left a White father dead. A Black man was later arrested and charged with murder and weapons offenses in connection with the shooting.
Last summer, in the remote town of Judsonia, Arkansas—home to fewer than 2,000 residents—the body of a 17-year-old White teenager was discovered riddled with gunshot wounds, hours after his death. His remains were only found after being struck by a passing vehicle.
Police later arrested four male suspects—one Asian and three Black—not in connection with the murder, but for an unrelated crime during a high-speed chase. While three of the suspects were initially released, all were eventually rearrested.
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