The 23-year-old son of the man who was beaten, stuffed in the trunk of his own car and driven from BridgeMill to Alabama has been arrested, the spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said today.

U.S. Marshals in Miami arrested Lyndon Ahlik Smith of Atlanta in connection with the March beating of his father, 46-year-old Lyndon Baines Smith.

He was transported to the Cherokee County Detention Center on June 8, where he is being held on a $121,600 bond on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

It is not clear why Smith was in Miami and how authorities knew he was in the area.

"He was arrested in Miami for the outstanding charges in Cherokee," Baker said in email exchanges with Canton-Sixes Patch. "He faces no charges in Miami that I am aware of. As his charges indicate, he is one of the suspects in the beating."

So far, authorities have made five arrests in the case, and the victim's other son, 17-year-old Alonte Lyndell Smith, was one of them.

• Alonte Smith of Canton was arrested May 12 on charges of kidnapping with bodily or ransom, aggravated assault and aggravated battery. He is being held at the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond.
• Will Cortez Robinson, 24, and Robert Silva Jr., 22, both of Atlanta, were arrested March 29. Robinson and Silva, who are acquaintances of the Smith brothers, remain at the county jail without bond on charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and kidnapping with bodily injury. Robinson is an Atlanta rapper whose stage name is Scrapp Deleon. He is a former member of the teen group Da Raz Cruz.
• Melvin Floyd, 22, of Atlanta, was arrested March 8 on charges of kidnapping with serious bodily injury, aggravated assault and battery. He was released from the Cherokee County Detention Center on March 17 on a $88,800 bond, Baker said.

He said he didn't know why some of the suspects were being held without bond and others were not.

And despite the arrests, Baker said authorities still have not established "a clear definitive motive for the assault," which occurred at a home in Canton's BridgeMill community on March 4.

That was the day that the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office in Alabama pulled over the father's gold 2004 Mercury Sable for a routine traffic stop. Melvin Floyd of Atlanta was behind the wheel. After noticing suspicious behavior, authorities searched the car and found Lyndon Baines Smith's badly beaten body in the trunk.

He was taken to an area hospital with broken facial bones and broken ribs, while Floyd was taken into custody in Cleburne County.

Before Floyd allegedly stuffed Lyndon Baines Smith in the trunk of the car and drove him across state lines, authorities said Floyd kicked the victim repeatedly until he lost consciousness.

"Accused continued to kick victim after he lost consciousness," according to an arrest affidavit.

Floyd kicked Lyndon Baines Smith so hard, he "maliciously caused bodily harm to the person by seriously disfiguring him," an investigator wrote in the affidavit.

Cleburne County officials told Cherokee authorities that they believed the beating happened at 4140 Gold Mill Ridge, where Smith's sons lived. Evidence obtained through a search warrant confirmed as much.

More arrests are possible, Baker said.

Related content

• Man Beaten in BridgeMill, Stuffed in Trunk.
• BridgeMill Suspect Back in Cherokee.
• After Man Lost Consciousness, Kicks Continued.
• After Beating, 2 More Arrests.