SALISBURY — Rowan County authorities say they are looking into how a county detention center inmate obtained a cellphone.

The inmate, who is in jail charged with first-degree murder in the 2013 death of firefighter Marcus Kauffman, had the phone hidden in a sock.

Jaylend Daquann Turner, 23, of Statesville, was charged Friday with felony possession of a phone or communication device by an inmate.

He is in jail under a $3 million bond.

On Tuesday, Rowan County detectives were notified that detention center officers found a cellphone during a search. A report said Turner had the sock on him with the phone inside it. He also had a homemade battery pack hooked to it.

Turner has been in the county jail since his December 2013 arrest.

Rowan officials have said Turner and Khari McClelland, who is serving a prison sentence for his role in Kauffman’s murder, went to Kauffman’s Chenault Road home to break in, thinking no one would see them. Kauffman arrived home with his then-pregnant wife, Maryann, after having breakfast with his parents.

Kauffman dropped Maryann off at a neighbor’s house and went back to his house. Officials said Turner and McClelland had their car’s hood up under the guise that it was disabled.McClelland, authorities said, fired a shot into Kauffman’s vehicle as he tried to drive away. Kauffman was shot in the back of the head while on the phone with 911. He crashed his vehicle in a cornfield.

Officials say Turner and McClelland stole Kauffman’s gun and laptop, as well as other items. The laptop was tracked to a Statesville home.

Turner’s case is pending. Others charged in the case have accepted plea agreements and are either serving time or have served time in jail.