Two men will face death penalty
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on April 7, 2005 1:48 PM
Two men will face the death penalty if convicted of murdering a man and a woman on New Year's Day 2004 as the man's 7-year-old daughter watched from a closet.
Assistant District Attorney Claud Ferguson announced in Wayne County Superior Court that he will seek the death penalty against Telly T. Cox and Christopher Lee Brown. A trial date has not been set.
Cox, 23, of Greg Drive, and Brown, 21, of Forest Knolls Road, are accused of gunning down Michael Shawn Maynard, 30, and Christie Nicole Jones, 25, in Maynard's mobile home at 176 Garrick Lane, in Casey's Country Court, near the intersection of Sheridan Forest Road and N.C. 111 South.
Investigators say robbery was the motive for the shootings, which happened shortly before 4 a.m.
Cox and Brown were charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping and one count each of armed robbery and attempted first-degree rape. Both men lived near Maynard's home.
Members of Miss Jones' family said she was celebrating New Year's Eve with the Maynards, who were family friends.
The girl, who lives with her mother in Maryland, was visiting her father over the holidays, investigators said. The girl said she heard two men barge into the home, and then she ran to a closet as the shooting started. After the intruders left, she called 911.
Officers with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office spread out through the neighborhood and developed Brown and Cox as suspects. Brown was picked up that night near off Elm Street. Cox was arrested a few hours later, just after midnight, at his home.
Later the next day, a woman, Alonza Sonya Bedell, 20, of Hunters Creek Drive, was arrested and charged with five counts of being an accessory after a felony. She has been held in custody under $1 million secured bond.