The confession
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on October 16, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Goldsboro police Investigator Dwayne Bevell watches the footage of his interview with accused murderer Gary Metzger during trial on Wednesday.
It started with an argument -- a sister making racially charged comments about her brother's children.
It escalated into a violent exchange.
Then, "everything went black."
The state rested its case Wednesday against a man charged with first-degree murder for his alleged involvement in the 2011 death of his sister, Jean Hubbard.
But before Assistant District Attorney Matthew Delbridge turned the trial over to defense attorney Bill Gerrans, he asked Goldsboro Police Department Investigator Dwayne Bevell to read, to the men and women who will soon decide Gary Metzger's fate, the confession the man made to lawmen shortly after Ms. Hubbard's body was discovered under a pile of leaves and shrubbery in a wooded area off Millers Chapel Road Aug. 4, 2011.
Metzger, Bevell told the court, indicated when he was being taken into custody, that his wife, Ann -- Mrs. Metzger has also been charged with first-degree murder and will be tried at a later date -- had "nothing to do with" the crime.
And moments later, inside a GPD interrogation room, he told the detective exactly what happened the day Ms. Hubbard failed to show up for her late-night shift at the Goldsboro News-Argus.
"Jean and I got in an argument. She was continually telling everybody I was crazy -- calling my sons (racial slur). She slapped me, scratched me on my neck, kept slapping me, grabbed my arm. I told her to stop calling my kids names. I begged her to stop," Metzger told Bevell. "She slapped me again and I grabbed her by the neck. Everything went black for a few minutes. We stared at each other. When I realized what I was doing, I turned loose."
Metzger than detailed how he disposed of his sister's body -- how he told his wife about what happened only after Ms. Hubbard was dead, moved and covered.
But the defense has noted Mrs. Metzger's participation in the alleged crime several times during the proceedings.
And as Gerrans started to make his case Wednesday afternoon, it became clear that Metzger's alleged mental state would be a central element of the defense.
Gerrans called two doctors to the stand to testify about the defendant's alleged 2010 suicide attempt -- how doctors at both Wayne Memorial Hospital and Waynesboro Family Clinic diagnosed him with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia.
Delbridge was not moved by their testimony.
During cross-examination, he asked them if either had conducted psychological testing on Metzger before they made their diagnoses.
Both told the court they did not -- that they based them on what Metzger told them about "hearing voices" and wanting to "harm himself."
The defense is expected to wrap up its case today and, after closing arguments, the jury will be charged with decided whether Metzger spends the rest of his life in prison -- the mandatory sentence for a first-degree murder conviction in North Carolina.
Wednesday's witnesses included:
State Witness No. 15, Goldsboro Police Department Investigator Dwayne Bevell: Told the court, during an extensive testimony that lasted several hours, about the investigation into the disappearance of Ms. Hubbard -- and the arrest of Gary and Ann Metzger on first-degree murder charges.
He testified that he became aware of the case Aug. 1, 2011 -- three days after Ms. Hubbard failed to show up for a late-night shift at the Goldsboro News-Argus. "I was already way behind the eight ball," he said. So he conducted a records search in hopes of finding a place to start and came across a no-contact order the woman had taken out against her sister-in-law, Mrs. Metzger. The document contained Mrs. Metzger's address, so Bevell drove there -- only to find that nobody was home.
After canvassing the neighborhood, he learned that Ms. Hubbard's car, a blue Chevrolet, had been seen outside the Metzger's trailer the Saturday she failed to show up to work. Bevell left the trailer park after passing out his business card to several neighbors and urging them to contact him in the event the Metzgers returned home.
His next stop was Ms. Hubbard's home, but again, nobody was there. So he took to the neighborhood -- hoping to find some answers He testified that one of Ms. Hubbard's neighbors had a key to her home -- so, without a warrant, he used it to make a "welfare check." When it was clear that nobody was inside, he left the residence to avoid contaminating a potential future crime scene.
Later that day, he received a call from one of the Metzgers' neighbors. The couple, the caller said, had returned home. So after lunch, Bevell went back to 146 Country View Drive.
He told the court that when he arrived, he was informed that they had just left -- that they had walked toward a nearby church. Bevell and another officer traveled there and saw, through a window, the Metzgers inside.
The detective testified that when he entered the church and greeted Mrs. Metzger, "she looked shocked." And as he interviewed the couple, her husband "kept interrupting" to "control the situation."
Bevell said that Metzger told him that his sister was having car trouble and stopped by to get him to fix it -- that he ultimately replaced the battery and left the car in the Walmart parking lot for Ms. Hubbard to recover after her late-night shift at the News-Argus was complete, so shortly after his conversation with the Metzgers, Bevell went to Walmart and found the blue Chevrolet.
The car, he said, was unlocked and he opened the door -- hoping to find something that would indicate where Ms. Hubbard might be. He testified he found two ATM receipts in the middle console. Bevell also told the court that he noticed mud on the car's tires and decided, at that point, to search the area around the Metzgers' trailer.
"We didn't find Jean," he said.
From there, he went to AutoZone to inquire about Metzger's purchase of a battery. The salesman confirmed, after looking at a picture, that he was in the store -- but that he used the name "James Lewis."
Bevell told the court he then called the State Employees' Credit Union to request surveillance footage from the two transactions reflected on the ATM receipts he found in Ms. Hubbard's car. And he viewed video footage of the Metzgers' activities at Walmart the night they left Ms. Hubbard's car in the store's parking lot.
Bevell testified that during his next conversation with Metzger, the man claimed that his sister was a crack and cocaine dealer -- that she was dating "a black man from LaGrange" and was involved with bad people.
"And I was told that Miss Jean was a thief," Bevell said. "That she boosted property from Walmart -- that she was selling pills and cocaine."
Bevell also told the court that Aug. 3, 2011, he executed a search warrant at Ms. Hubbard's home and that evidence was collected from inside -- that on the same day, the Metzgers came to the Goldsboro Police Department headquarters to give their first official statements.
Metzger reiterated the story about why he had Ms. Hubbard's car -- and her involvement in the drug world.
Bevell testified that the following day, Aug. 4, 2011, a search was conducted near the Metzgers' trailer for Ms. Hubbard's body after police received a tip about activity in a wooded area off Millers Chapel Road.
He talked about the "obvious police presence" there that day -- and how the Metzgers fled the scene and were later taken into custody after a several-hour manhunt.
When Ms. Hubbard's body was discovered, he obtained arrest warrants for both Ann and Gary Metzger and, later, served them.
Bevell told the court that as he approached the handcuffed Metzger, he said, "Bevell, she had nothing to do with it man."
When asked by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Delbridge what Metzger was referring to, Bevell said the man was saying that his wife had nothing to do with Ms. Hubbard's murder.
The detective testified that he then took Metzger to the GPD headquarters -- that during the interview that followed, the man confessed to killing his sister.
Defense Witness No. 1, Wayne Memorial Hospital Emergency Room Dr. Lloyd Smith: Told the court that he has been practicing emergency medicine for 33 years in North Carolina. He testified that Gary Metzger was admitted to Wayne Memorial Feb. 21, 2011, because he was having "suicidal thoughts."
Smith said he was told by Metzger that he wrote a suicide note, walked into the woods and tried to kill himself. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and psychosis, which Smith defined, for the court, as a "loss of contact with reality."
The doctor also said that he admitted Metzger March 18, 2011, because he, again, said he was having thoughts of harming himself. Metzger also allegedly told the doctor that he was suffering from hallucinations.
Smith told the court he thought the patient was suffering from schizophrenia.
During cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Delbridge asked the doctor if any psychological tests were conducted on Metzger during his stay at the hospital. Smith said there were not -- and told the court that he based his diagnosis solely on what Metzger told him during his stay at Wayne Memorial.
Defense Witness No. 2, Waynesboro Family Clinic Psychologist Dr. James Smith: Told the court that Gary Metzger became a patient at the clinic as a result of a referral from Wayne Memorial Hospital after the patient's alleged suicide attempt. He testified that Metzger was seen at the clinic four times in July 2010 and twice in March 2011.
Smith said that he concluded, after his sessions with the patient, that he was suffering from bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia.
"I got some history of trauma in his life," he said, adding that he was told by Metzger that during his childhood, he was beaten by an alcoholic grandparent.
Smith also told the court that during his March 16, 2011, session with Metzger, the man's wife, Ann, and children were in attendance -- that he sensed their family dynamic was "very dysfunctional."
During cross-examination, Smith acknowledged that he did not conduct any psychological testing -- that Metzger could have lied about his symptoms.
"I am lied to quite often," Smith said, adding that he also told the court that in Metzger's health file, it was stated several times that the patient had filed for disability due to his mental health issues.
Smith told the court, in response to a question from Assistant District Attorney Matthew Delbridge, that it would not be out of the question to assume the unemployed Metzger fabricated his alleged condition to get more money from the government.