A $2,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the capture of two Louisiana fugitives police believe killed an Ohio man who was in Vicksburg on business earlier this week and found dead Wednesday near an Alabama motel.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is offering $1,000 and Madison County (Tenn.) Crime stoppers is offering another $1,000 for information leading to the arrests of Ricky Wedgeworth, 36, and Darian “Drake” Pierce, 33, who are believed to be at-large in the West Tennessee area, TBI spokesman Kristin Helm said Friday afternoon.

“We do have reason to believe they are in our perimeters we have set up,” she said. “Our main focus is finding the fugitives.”

The TBI said they have not had any reports of crimes related to the two fugitives.

Wedgeworth and Pierce escaped March 4 from a Louisiana State Police Headquarters compound, where they were on work detail. They are believed to have carjacked and kidnapped 53-year-old David M. Cupps in Vicksburg Monday and killed him sometime after in Bessemer, Ala.

The medical examiner said the cause of death was strangulation and estimated Cupps had been dead about 24 to 36 hours before his body was found.

Vicksburg police Lt. Bobby Stewart returned Friday from Bessemer after a meeting with Alabama police, Louisiana officials, U.S. Marshals and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in the multi-state investigation.

He said the U.S. Marshals office has set up a task force at their regional headquarters in Birmingham.

“There is still a manhunt going on,” he said.

Stewart said Vicksburg authorities plan to file carjacking and kidnapping charges today for the two, and Bessemer officials will seek homicide charges.

Officials are asking anyone with information to call 601-636-2511, Stewart at 601-831-1168, or TBI at 1-800-824-3463.

Wedgeworth, a Memphis native, was convicted of armed robbery in Louisiana in 2006. He is white, 5-foot-8 and about 145 pounds with reddish brown hair and brown eyes. He has tattoos on his arms, chest and abdomen.

Pierce, of Bogalusa, La., was serving a sentence for attempted second-degree murder. He is white, 5-foot-11 and about 145 pounds with brown hair and eyes and tattooed fingers on his right hand.