Charlotte Voices
Search warrants paint grim picture, say suspect admitted to stabbing pregnant boss
Prosecutors are charging Mark Anthony Cox with two counts of murder for the slaying of a pregnant woman Jan. 13 at the Stonecrest shopping center in South Charlotte.
Meanwhile, police search warrants released Monday, Jan. 23, indicate that a miscommunication between a 911 dispatcher and Danielle Watson’s fiancé came at least an hour after the woman’s alleged killer had already fled the scene.
Police released copies of a search warrant Monday, Jan. 23, in which authorities say Cox’s sister Chelsea told them her 22-year-old brother admitted to stabbing Watson to death and dumping her body behind a trash bin at the shopping center. Police say they found blood all over Cox’s home when they arrived Saturday sometime after 5:21 p.m. – when the search warrant was issued – as well as a large butcher knife resting in a mug on the kitchen counter, according to the warrant. They also found blood at the Flying Biscuit, where money was missing from the restaurant’s safe.
The warrant helps define a timeline of events in the south Charlotte murder, and answers what’s been a troubling question in the mind of Watson’s fiancé, Keith Smith.
Smith told police Watson had called him from work around 10:15 p.m. Friday night, but before they could talk Smith heard a commotion over the phone and was abruptly hung up on. Smith called and texted Watson for the next two hours asking if she was OK, but by midnight hadn’t heard back. He called police at 12:15 a.m., telling a dispatcher he thought a robbery was taking place at Flying Biscuit, where Watson was manager. But an error by the dispatcher sent police looking for the Plum Biscuits, a restaurant that didn’t exist, and authorities never arrived at the restaurant until they responded to a larceny call Saturday morning, finding Watson’s body a short distance away.
In the 911 call, Smith clearly says the robbery is occurring at the Flying Biscuit, but what address he gives isn’t exactly clear – either 3930 Rea Road, or the restaurant’s actual address, 7930 Rea Road. Police went to 3930 Rea Road – a private home – and after finding nothing there, searched the nearby area for Plum Biscuits. Smith said no one from the department called him after police couldn’t find the “Plum Biscuits” early Saturday morning, and no one has called him from the department since to discuss the mistake.
The dispatcher who took the call was put on administrative leave while police looked into their policies on handling 911 calls. Police did not respond to a reporter’s call asking if the dispatcher was still on leave prior to South Charlotte Weekly’s press deadline.
In the days after her death, Smith had to keep telling himself the miscommunication between himself and the dispatcher hadn’t contributed to Watson’s murder, he told South Charlotte Weekly last week. And, even if police had arrived at the Flying Biscuit shortly after midnight, he believed they likely couldn’t have saved his fiancée. Now, statements in the search warrant indicate Watson was dead long before Smith called 911.
In the warrant, Chelsea Cox told police she arrived at her home at 5017 Blockhouse Court around 10:50 p.m. that night and was quickly called by her brother, who asked her to open the door. Mark Cox, who also lived at the home, then told his sister he had stabbed Watson multiple times during an argument, police quote Chelsea Cox as saying. She then told police she also had found her brother’s work uniform soaked in blood and hidden in a trash bag in her closet, according to the warrant.
After leaving the home, Cox traveled to the home of Colin Bramlett, a co-worker at the Flying Biscuit, according to the warrant. Bramlett told police Cox arrived at 11 p.m. with a stack of money in his lap, driving what Bramlett later identified as Watson’s car. Smith didn’t call 911 until more than an hour later.
Police didn’t arrive at the Flying Biscuit until around 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, responding to a larceny call. An employee had found the business unlocked when he arrived to open, then noticed money was missing from the safe. It wasn’t until almost 9 a.m. when Watson’s body was found behind a trash bin by a sanitation worker.
Cox was arrested Jan. 16 without incident at the home of an acquaintance in Fayetteville. The search warrant does not indicate if Cox’s sister told police Saturday where her brother was heading.
Cox will soon be indicted on two counts of murder – one for Watson and one for her unborn child. This is the first time the new Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which protects unborn children, has been used in a homicide case, prosecutors say. Smith said he’s happy prosecutors decided to go after both counts of murder in an e-mail to South Charlotte Weekly, saying prosecutors had reached out to him about their decision.
Within the next 45 days of the indictment, prosecutors must inform a Mecklenburg County judge if they intend to go after the death penalty in this case. A prosecutor said it was too early to discuss the issue when reached by a South Charlotte Weekly reporter Monday, Jan. 23.
WBTV.com, South Charlotte Weekly’s news partner, contributed to this report.
A saga involving North Carolina and state funding for Planned Parenthood is going another round after a federal district court judge late Friday granted the abortion group a temporary injunction, blocking implementation of that portion of the state budget until a court case is finalized.
Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina sued the state in July, claiming legislators are punishing the group for its views and violating its free-speech rights. In June, the Legislature overrode Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the law stripping Planned Parenthood of funding. Under the temporary injunction, the group will continue receiving $200,000 from taxpayers until the lawsuit is decided.
U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty Jr. did not address the abortion issue specifically in his ruling, noting North Carolina law already prohibits state funding of abortions. Rather, Planned Parenthood’s public funds are earmarked for prophylactic devices and sexually transmitted disease tests for low-income women; Special Deputy Attorney General Mabel Bullock said the state has “no indication” Planned Parenthood has mingled its funding streams.
Earlier this year, Indiana and Kansas also passed laws defunding Planned Parenthood.
VIDEO: House Protects Unborn Victims of Violence
(Anthony Greco, carolinajournal.com, 03/25/11)
RALEIGH — The parents of two pregnant women who were recently murdered attended the House session at which Ethen’s Law passed 74-35. Under the legislation, anyone attacking a pregnant woman could be charged with additional crimes if the attack causes a miscarriage.
Opponents say it is the first time North Carolina law will define life as starting at the moment of conception, a point that was not disputed by backers of the law.
Opponents also argued the bill would open doors to charge someone with murder who may only have caused a traffic accident resulting in a mother’s miscarriage. Supporters said that was not the case. A murder charge would require prosecutors to prove intent or reckless disregard for life.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
A West Virginia man says he may use a parcel of land in Gastonia as a place to allow people with terminal illnesses the opportunity to end their lives.
Rev. George Exoo says he bought a $30,000 parcel of land in Gastonia back in 2007.
At first, he says he wanted to use it as a rental property.
But then he said he always envisioned the possibility of using the smaller house on the back of the property as a hospice for terminally ill people.
“This is an idea, yeah it’s in my brain, I’ve started to take some steps towards getting funded but it’s not anything written in ink,” he says.
But he adds that he has always wanted to help those who are suffering and in pain with the “chance to go in peace.”
Exoo says he thinks turning the house into a hospice where terminally ill patients could go and end their lives is over a year away, and that’s only if he gets enough funding to renovate the house which is currently sitting empty on West Circle Road in Gastonia.
He has already helped a woman in Dublin commit suicide and says that he chose Gastonia in part because of its proximity to Charlotte Douglas International Airport and laws in North Carolina.
NewsChannel 36 crews called Exoo on Monday afternoon and asked if he thought he would face any legal hurdles for what would become the first-ever assisted suicide hospice in the U.S.
“The law is silent on the question,” says Exoo. “It would be nice to have such a place somewhere.”
Neighbors on West Circle Road say they had heard of Exoo’s plans but aren’t worried about what might become of the residence.
Joshua Hightower lives next door to the property.
“If he wants to do what he wants to do, you know, that’s fine,” he says. “People ought not to have to die alone, particularly if they are in terminal situations.”
CRTL Note: More to follow as the community reacts
(06/01/10) Abortion expansion and the rationing of medical treatment remain hot topics as Pro-Life advocates move forward in opposition to the federal health care legislation passed in March. The Rasmussen Reports survey conducted May 28-29 of 1,000 likely voters shows 60% of Americans favor repealing this massive bill.
States have been quick to respond with efforts to challenge the law in court or through legislation. We’re told thousands of North Carolina residents have signed petitions in opposition to the law, HR 3590. A North Mecklenburg state house member reports receiving 400 responses from his email alert asking the North Carolina attorney general to join other states in the legal challenge. In a letter to the governor, Attorney General Roy Cooper stated North Carolina would not be joining the the suit, unlikely to succeed because congress has broad authority to regulate interstate commerce. Others point to the Tenth Amendment and say the new law, requiring citizens to purchase health insurance, exceeds the constitutional authority of the federal government.
An Illusory Promise?
(3/22/10) “This piece of paper is merely an illusory promise that ultimately won’t stand and may not even stand for a week.” That from Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), an occasional guest on Charlotte radio to talk “Obamacare,” on the executive order to remove federal funding for abortion from the package passed by the House Sunday night 219-212.
The group of pro-life Democrats that seemingly held the fate of health care reform in their hands dropped their insistence that language be included in the bill to prevent federal dollars from covering any of the cost of plans providing abortion. During a press conference, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) said they would have preferred to have the statutory language but that the votes in the Senate were not there (this amendment failed in the Senate last December).
Strong reaction came from pro-life groups over the weekend concerned that such an order could not correct the numerous problems with the legislation opening the door to federal funding of abortion, increased rationing, and the possibility of discrimination against health care entities that do not perform or refer for abortion. Representative Dan Lungren (R-CA), the state’s former attorney general said the legislation “destroyed the consensus that has been the law for 34 years” referencing the Hyde language included to restrict federal funding of abortion in the Medicaid program beginning in 1976. Reacting to the news of the order in a press conference, Lungren and others echoed the fact that an executive order “cannot supersede the plain language of a statute” and that “unless there is a specific limitation on (abortion) funding, it is presumed abortion will be provided.”
All Republican representatives voted against the bill along with North Carolina Democrats Health Shuler and Mike McIntyre. Representative Larry Kissell, who generally does not side with pro-life legislators, voted ‘no’ because of the Medicare cuts. The future of Medicare Advantage, the private insurance seniors can buy under Medicare that provides the same or more services than the traditional government benefits, is a major concern for pro-life forces who want to prevent rationed care. This means 9% of the Democrats voting against the bill were from North Carolina (3 of 34). In a Sunday interview, Boone’s Virginia Foxx said “we would have worked with the Democrats” expressing her dismay with the sweeping package and the way it was ushered through. “It’s one of the most offensive pieces of social engineering legislation in the history of the United States.”
North Carolina Public Schools Proposed Curriculum: Roe Lifted “Oppressive Government”
(02/04/10) The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is requesting feedback from both schools and the general public on proposed curriculum, Draft 1.0, from the Essential Standards writing teams by February 15th (extended to March 2).
For Civics and Economics courses, the State Board of Education has included Roe vs. Wade along with Brown vs. the Board of Education and Korematsu vs. the United States as support in “explaining how the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld rights against oppressive government.” Continued from the document ˃ This “Assessment Prototype” corresponds to the Essential Standard to “Analyze the foundations of democratic government in the United States” with a clarifying objective of “Attributing individual liberties to ideals (e.g. natural rights/unalienable rights, popular sovereignty, civil rights, equality) derived from founding documents.”
Charlotte Right to Life expresses great concern that the court ruling which denied continued legal protection for unborn life at any point during pregnancy would be highlighted in the classroom as ending “government oppression” — as if the thousands of taxpaying parents and future taxpayers who advocate for abortion alternatives and a Culture of Life in North Carolina don’t exist. We urge the writing team to exclude any such political statement from the second draft to be put together later this winter.
Essential Standards Draft Copy, Feedback Form, Individual Survey: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/phase2/
Election 2009: Where they stand on Life (10/21/09) Local candidates from Charlotte, Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews, Mint Hill and Pineville completed the Charlotte Right to Life general election questionnaire. Contact us for the candidate comparison on local and state issues.