BALD HEAD ISLAND-FIRE
Four homes destroyed in fire on North Carolina island
BALD HEAD ISLAND, N.C. (AP) — Officials say three condominiums and one home were destroyed in a weekend fire on a North Carolina island. A news release from the Village of Bald Head Island said public safety personnel were dispatched at around 8 p.m. Saturday to a structure fire. Strong winds helped spread the fire to adjacent homes and threatened the surrounding area. The StarNews of Wilmington reported Alan May, public safety director for the Village of Bald Head Island, said one house was occupied at the time of the fire, but the people inside were able to get out before firefighters arrived. Officials say four firefighters suffered minor injuries.
SCHOOL FUNDS MISUSED
Former N. Carolina school superintendent to repay district
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (AP) — A former North Carolina education administrator has reached an agreement with his former school system to pay back more than $30,000 of unauthorized travel expenses he accumulated during his time in office. The Telegram of Rocky Mount reports the Nash County Board of Education announced last Thursday in a written statement that it reached the settlement with former Superintendent Shelton Jefferies. The Nash County board learned in the spring of 2019 that procurement cards and district vehicles were misused. The report from the Office of the State Auditor said Jefferies violated multiple policies related to the cards and his vehicle. Jeffries resigned that August.
MISSING MAN-DEATH
Missing North Carolina man found dead; woman charged
SHELBY, N.C. (AP) — Police say a North Carolina man reported missing more than two weeks ago has been found dead, and the woman he lived with is charged in his death. The Gaston Gazette reports Kings Mountain police reported finding 60-year-old Keith Adams on Thursday off a road in Cleveland County. On Friday, police charged 63-year-old Darlene Black, with first-degree murder. Police found Black in South Carolina and Kings Mountain Police Chief Lisa Proctor says she’s awaiting extradition to Cleveland County. Adams and Black lived together, but police did not offer any details about their relationship.
TIGER-KING-CANCER
‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic moved to North Carolina facility
BUTNER, N.C. (AP) — A defense attorney says the former Oklahoma zookeeper known as “Tiger King” Joe Exotic has been transferred to a medical facility in North Carolina for federal inmates after a cancer diagnosis. Defense lawyer John Phillips says Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was taken from a federal medical center in Fort Worth, Texas, to a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, last week. Maldonado-Passage is prominently featured in the Netflix documentary “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.” In July, a federal appeals court ruled that Maldonado-Passage should get a shorter prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot and violating federal wildlife laws.
MOBILE HOME FIRE
Sheriff: Child killed in North Carolina mobile home fire
KINSTON, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say a child has died in a fire that broke out in a mobile home in North Carolina. A news release posted on the Lenoir County Sheriff Office’s Facebook page says emergency medical workers treated three other people at the scene of the fire in Kinston early Sunday. Officials didn’t immediately release the name and age of the child who died in the fire. WRAL-TV reports that the mobile home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived around 1:30 a.m. Lenoir County officials are investigating the fire with assistance from the State Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
BC-NC-FATAL CRASH-POLICE OFFICER
Man charged in crash that killed police officer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina grand jury has indicted a man on charges stemming from a car crash that killed a police officer last month. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told The News & Observer on Saturday that 40-year-old Dedric Romero Privette will be held on a $2 million secured bond after his indictment. Officials said Knightdale police officer Ryan Hayworth died at a Raleigh hospital after Privette slammed his 2011 Mercedes-Benz into two stopped police cars on Interstate 540 on the morning of Oct. 17. Online court records show Privette was indicted on charges including driving while impaired, felony death by vehicle and aggressive driving.
LENOIR RHYNE SHOOTING DEATH
Lenoir-Rhyne football player fatally shot in Hickory
HICKORY, N.C. (AP) — A college football player was shot and killed this weekend outside of an apartment complex in North Carolina, officials said. According to WBTV-TV, Omari Drovon Alexander, 19, was shot multiple times early Saturday as he sat in the driver’s seat of a black 2015 Chevrolet Camaro in Hickory. Officers found him around 12:50 a.m. Saturday with the engine still running in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Alexander was a tight end for the Lenoir-Rhyne University football team. According to the university’s website, he was from Charlotte and went to high school at Mallard Creek.
JAIL DEATH
Woman found dead in cell is jail’s fourth death in 2021
ASHVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a prisoner at a North Carolina jail. The Asheville Citizen Times reports that 57-year-old Faith Denise Cox is the fourth inmate who has died this year at the Buncombe County Detention Facility. According to a Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office news release, Cox was found dead on the floor in her cell early Friday while officers were conducting supervision rounds. The release said she apparently died of natural causes. An autopsy was planned. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will investigate her death.
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