Catawba County

On April 17, 2007 approximately 3:15pm a 911 phone call was made from inside my brothers house saying that he was dead. When the 5:00 news came on I seen my brothers house and at that time I was in Charlotte, NC. I called 911 and told the dispatch that I had just seen my brothers house on the news and that i needed to know if my brother was the person that was found dead. It was all I could do to breathe. The dispatch that answered the 911 phone call was extremely nice to me. She talked to me, asked my full name, and tried to comfort, calm me down as she connected me from Mecklenburg to Catawba County. The person that i spoke to in Catawba County asked me for my name then number and told me that someone would call me back. By the time i recieved the phone call I was inside my car and on my way to my brothers Catawba County home. One of the detectives at the scene of the crime called me back, asked me for my full name, who I was, and how i found out. I replied to him stating that i just saw my brtohers house on the news. I was very upset as anyone else would be in my shoes. I was asked my birthday, my brothers birthday, his full name, and much more information as well. Not one time did anyone from CATAWBA County try to comfort me or even understand why i was upset. I was upset because I did not know if the person found dead was my brother or not.Also that i had given the detective on the phone all of my information and my brothers information and they still had more questions to ask. After answering everything they had asked me I kept saying ” is it my brother” and they told me yes while I was on the road. Needless to say when I arrived at my brtohers house there were people everywhere. I arrived at the crime scene around 5:35. Almost as soon as i stepped out of the car the person that was with me and I were split up and taken to seperate police cars. Once I was in the police car I was asked numerous questions. I was even questioned as a suspect and I was told that by detective Steve Turner. The thing that was most shocking to me is that the person that made the 911 phone call was not at the crime scene or the police department. I really did not understand why, I would think that the person that made the 911 phone call from INSIDE of my brothers house would have been taken to the police department and questioned. Yet that is not what happened, the police let him go at the scene of the crime. Also I was asked if I wanted my brothers dogs by Lt. Roy Brown. I said what was i supposed to do with 33 pitbulls. I also brought it to their attention that my brother was laying in the house dead and that they needed to put his dogs down. A few days later I was once again speaking to Roy Brown over the phone . While I was talking to him I asked him ” aren’t you the detective that asked me if I wanted my brothers dogs. He then replied “I did not say that to you.” I said “don’t you have white hair and don’t you wear a white shirt with cuffs?” He responded “yes.” I said “why would i choose you out of all the detectives at the crime scene and you weren’t even the detective that i was dealing with.For the record I have no problem taking a polygraph.” During the conversation he also said that i was “stoned” at the crime scene and I told him that he needed to be careful by what he said because it sounded like defamation of character and slander. I then informed him that I was NOT “stoned” and that i would be more than willing to take a drug test. At that point he asked me “what is that going to prove?” DUH it’s going to prove that I wasn’t on drugs. Throughout our conversation he said “I was a hard person to get along with and that he wasn’t a therapist.” I then informed him that I didn’t need him to be a therapist I needed him to be a cop. When I was at the crime scene I was told that I would be able to identify my brothers body when he was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. I sat outside the crime scene til well after dark, watched them carry my brother in a body bag to a blacked out van, and preceeded to follow van to the hospital. While following the van my phone rang, the person that was driving me answered my phone and was told that I was not going to be able to view his body. Five days later I was able to view my brothers body once I had paid a funeral home to pick him up. I went to the funeral home, got to view my brothers body after my brother had an autopsy,  had been dead for five days, and was totally gutted.

To Be Continued…