By NC WANTED Staff

Posted: Jan 6, 2009
Updated: Jan 6, 2009

ALL COUNTIES — For the past two years, NC WANTED has been dedicated to bringing you crime news on the web and in-depth coverage of wanted fugitives, missing persons and unsolved murders on television. As we look forward to continuing that work in 2009, we also reflect on the top crime stories of 2008.

February 7, 2008

One of our viewers called in to our tip line and provided information that led to the arrest of Terry Demetrius Lee, who was wanted for robbery and shooting charges. Lee, 16, was believed to be involved in the January 20 shooting of a 44-year-old man on Gurley Street. Three men approached the victim demanding money. When the victim said he had no money, one of the robbers shot him in the leg.

Authorities said Lee was a documented gang member who is known for evading officers. This was the 11th capture in North Carolina resulting from NC WANTED's ongoing coverage of fugitves and unsolved cases in our state. It took the courage of a local resident to come forward and provide the information that helped police bring Lee to justice.

Keep those tips coming!

March 5, 2008

One month after NC WANTED celebrated the capture of a dangerous fugitive, tragedy struck. Eve Carson, 22, student body president at the University of North Carolina, was found lying in the middle of a Chapel Hill road, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The story shocked and devastated our state and grabbed national headlines.

Within days, police had circulated surveillance photos that showed two suspects, Lawrence Lovette, 17, and Demario Atwater, 21, driving Carson's car and using her ATM card. Authorities believed Carson was the victim of a carjacking and robbery gone wrong.

The community mourned the loss of this shining star, and Lovette and Atwater were swiftly brought to justice. Continuing investigation of the case linked Lovette to the murder of Duke grad student Abhijit Mahato. Both men face first-degree murder charges and are awaiting trial.

March 13 -- August 1, 2008

The arrest of Lovette and Atwater in the slaying of Eve Carson sparked controversy surrounding the state's probation system. Both men were on probation at the time of the crime. Atwater, in fact, was due in court two days before Carson's murder, but his court date was postponed because of a clerical error.

The community cried out for a review of the state's probation system because many believed probation officers were not monitoring Lovette and Atwater closely enough.

Meanwhile, NC WANTED investigated the state's criminal justice system as a whole and garnered public attention to severe staffing and funding shortages that have trickle down effects to many of the state's programs, including probation. On August 1, the division of community corrections released a report that cited staffing and funding shortages in Wake and Durham counties for the oversights in the Lovette and Atwater cases.

March 19, 2008

William Simon, 61, was reported missing March 19. A few days a week, Simon drove a taxicab, which was discovered near a radio tower off Rosser Street in Spring Lake Friday, March 21. Other than his Bible, left in the front seat, there was no sign of Simon. Within three days, county authorities announced they were treating the case as a homicide investigation.

“We feel confident he has not disappeared of his own free will,” said Lt. Charle Disponzio of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. “There are grandchildren who want to see their granddad again.”

“Little by little, we are establishing what we think are the last hours of this cab driver’s life,” he said, adding investigators hope the public will help them do that. “We are looking for anyone who saw him in Spring Lake.”

The case remains unsolved, and although investigators are working many good leads, what they need to close this case is to find Simon's body.

If you have any information about the unsolved murder of William Simon, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.

April 16, 2008

On this day, Cesar Laurean was arrested in Mexico, ending the international manhunt for a Marine accused of murdering a pregnant colleague and burying her burned remains in his backyard.

Maria Lauterbach was reported missing in December 2007. She was 8 months pregnant. By the time her remains, and the remains of her unborn child, were discovered in a shallow grave in Laurean's backyard, the suspect had fled to Mexico. In letters to his wife, Laurean claimed that Lauterbach had committed suicide by slitting her own throat and that he had buried her out of fear.

The autopsy, however, concluded that Lauterbach died from blunt force trauma to the head.

U.S. and Mexican officials worked together to capture Laurean, who is currently fighting his extradition back to the United States. Under that extradition order, Onslow County authorities had to agree not to seek the death penalty against him.

May 5, 2008 

The body of Irina Yarmolenko, 20, was found on the bank of the Catawba River in Mount Holly in May. She had been asphyxiated. Police quickly learned that the UNC-Charlotte student from Chapel Hill was a special person, well-liked and kind. The bumper sticker on her car displayed the phrase, “Coexist” with each letter symbolizing a different religion as a gesture of religious tolerance.

In the initial days of the investigation, police released information about the crime scene, that someone else had tried to drive Irina's car down a steep enbankment, perhaps in an effort to drown crucial evidence. But then the media coverage went dead -- for months.

Last month, police arrested and charged Mark Bradley Carver and Neal Leon Cassada with first-degree murder and felony conspiracy.

July 1, 2008

July 1 was the unofficial start date of the 287g program in Wake County. North Carolina has become a pilot state for 287g, a controversial federal program that trains and equips local law enforcement agencies to identify illegal immigrants and mark them for deportation.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison noticed a growing trend of officers being unable to determine the true identities of foreign-born arrestees. He feared Wake County was setting criminals free with no way of running an accurate background check on foreign nationals.

287g allowed detention officials at the Wake County Jail to utilize federal immigration databases to determine the true identities of illegal immigrants processed there.

The 287(g) program, Harrison said, has been valuable in Wake County for identifying repeat offenders who have committed crimes and been deported numerous times in the past, using aliases and false identification to escape justice.

July 12, 2008

Nancy Cooper was reported missing by her friend on July 12. Her husband told police that the mother of two from Cary went jogging that morning and never returned. Her half-naked body was found two days later in an undeveloped subdivision two miles from her home. The autopsy report concluded she had most likely been strangled.

What followed was a media circus, as new details emerged as part of a custody battle between Nancy's husband Brad and her parents and sister. Cary police remained tight-lipped about the criminal investigation, but the custody dispute soon revealed that Brad Cooper was the prime suspect in his wife's death.

He was arrested October 28.

August 2008

Gang violence became a regular topic of news coverage in August, with frequent shootings, a now infamous melee at Triangle Town Center, a shooting on the campus of N.C. State and a brawl at a popular Capital Boulevard nightclub.

If the headlines give the appearance that gang activity is on the rise, hard figures bear that impression out: a 2008 assessment noted about 14,500 gang members in NC, and that number could grow to 48,000 in the next five years.

Raleigh’s police chief has publicly discussed the city's “significant”  gang problem and the Department of Justice has promised the full prosecutorial force of the federal government against gang members. Groundbreaking new legislation was signed into law last summer that defines street gangs and toughens penalties for gang-related crimes.

September 4, 2008

Kelly Morris has been missing from her Granville County home for four months and although investigators publicly say this is still a missing persons case, search warrants tell a different story.

Warrants returned November 4 state that Kelly Morris’ disappearance is being treated as a homicide, and inconsistent statements made by her husband have placed him at the center of the investigation.

Kelly never showed up at work on September 4, 2008. Shortly after 11 a.m., a 911 caller reported that the house in Stem that Kelly shared with her husband, Scott, and two daughters was on fire. The fire was pretty quickly determined to be arson.

Searchers and police are continually looking for Kelly's body. Until then, the case remains unsolved. If you have any information about the disappearance of Kelly Morris, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.

September 11, 2008

Wilmington police received positive lab identification on September 11 that the remains found in Wilmington in April are Allison Jackson-Foy. It is unclear whether police are treating the case as a homicide.

NC WANTED profiled Allison Jackson-Foy's disappearance in July 2006 as a missing persons case last year. The discovery of her remains has helped her family gain some measure of closure, although they now hope the person responsible for her death will be brought to justice.

Two sets of remains were found together in a wooded area off Carolina Beach Road in April 2008, which were identified as Foy and Angela Rothen in search warrants released earlier in September. Lisa Valentino, Allison's sister, believes both were killed and dumped there by the same person.

November 4, 2008

Michelle Young was a pregnant mother when she was beaten to death in her own home in Wake County. The crime happened November 3, 2006 and quickly became a hot topic for cable news media. The case also made the cover of People Magazine.

On November 4, 2008, a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michelle's mother Linda Fisher was released to the public, stating that Jason "willfully and unlawfully killed his wife." Jason Young never filed a response to the suit, and a Wake County judge sided with Linda Fisher, ruling Jason responsible for his wife's death. He has not, however, been criminally charged, although it has been clear that he is the focus of the investigation.

Search warrants released in November 2008 document Jason's lack of cooperation with investigators, his extramarital affair with one of Michelle's sorority sisters, phone and email records, and his relationship with the couple's 4-year-old daughter Cassidy.

If you have any information about the murder of MIchelle Young, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.