Suspect in NCCU student's slaying gets back attorneys

Robert Lee Adams Reaves dismissed his court-appointed attorneys, George Kelly and Margaret Lunden, earlier this month after deciding to defend himself on a first-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of Latrese Matral Curtis.

Motorists driving along I-540 near Louisburg Road found her body on the morning of Jan. 30. An autopsy found she had been stabbed nearly 40 times in the head, neck, chest and stomach.

Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens also postponed Reaves' trial, which had been scheduled to begin Sept. 21. Jury selection is now set for Sept. 28.

Wake County prosecutors have said Reaves killed Curtis in a jealous rage over his roommate, Stephen Randolph, with whom Curtis was having an affair.

When Randolph refused to have a homosexual relationship, prosecutors say, Reaves followed Curtis from his apartment, forced her to pull over and killed her in a jealous rage.

Reaves, who at the time was a minister at Cedar International Fellowship in Durham, has said he was at a church function the night Curtis was killed. Prosecutors have said police can prove he was not there.

Reaves, who preached for more than 20 years in at least three states, has twice been charged with sexual misconduct with young boys.

He was convicted of sex charges in South Carolina in 1988, while charges filed in New York in 2002 did not result in a conviction.