Second trial possible in 2011 murder
By John Joyce
Published in News on November 3, 2014 1:46 PM
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Ann Metzger
The wife of recently convicted murderer Gary Metzger might soon learn her own fate if a trial date is set Wednesday.
Ann Metzger, 37, is charged with the 2011 first-degree murder of Jean Metzger Hubbard, 66, the same crime for which Metzger was sentenced to life in prison without parole earlier last month.
Several of the same witnesses who testified against her husband appear on the witness list in Mrs. Metzger's case, including the lead investigator in the homicide, Det. Dwayne Bevell of the Goldsboro Police Department.
According to court records and testimony heard during the first trial, the Metzgers bullied and coerced tens of thousands of dollars out of Mrs. Hubbard, Gary Metzger's adoptive sister, for years.
When the money ran out, an argument inside the Metzgers' home turned violent and Mrs. Hubbard was killed.
Her body was first wrapped in a sheet and concealed in a closet, then later moved to a wooded area behind the Country View mobile home park where the couple lived.
When Mrs. Hubbard did not return to work the following Saturday, her co-workers became concerned.
When she missed church on Sunday and again failed to report for work on Monday, her employer, the Goldsboro News-Argus, reported her missing.
Bevell and other investigators set about uncovering the trail of bank receipts and ATM footage showing two individuals withdrawing money from Mrs. Hubbard's accounts.
The people captured on video were identified as Gary and Ann Metzger.
Gary Metzger confessed to the killing during the course of the investigation, but later pleaded not guilty and opted for a diminished capacity defense citing years of childhood abuse and trauma as an excuse for murder.
The jury, unmoved, found him guilty.
Metzger told police his wife had nothing to do with the killing and only learned of his strangling his sister to death a day later.
Testimony during the trial tied Mrs. Metzger to several instances of forcefully withdrawing money from Mrs. Hubbard's bank accounts and attempting to help cover up the murder.
When police came to search the wooded area behind the Metzgers' home back in 2011, both of them fled into the woods and hid for more than six hours.
Ann Metzger's name appears on the Wayne County Superior Court murder calendar set to be heard Wednesday, at which time a trial date might or might not be set.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Ricks, scheduled to prosecute the case, was not available for comment.