A Greenville woman has been arrested and charged in Craven County related to the overdose death of a Rocky Run Road man in Dec. 2023.
Amy Sue Gunter, 47, was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 9 after an investigation by the Craven County Sheriff’s Office.
In late December 2023 a man was found deceased in his vehicle at a Rocky Run Road residence. The death appeared to be the result of an overdose, and the North Carolina State Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed the death was from a fentanyl overdose.
Officials say that an investigation revealed the victim had purchased narcotics from Gunter prior to his death.
Gunter has been charged with the following:
Felony Sell and Deliver Schedule II Controlled Substance
Possession with Intent to Manufacture, Sell, and Deliver Schedule II Controlled Substance
Gunter was being held at the Craven County Detention Center on a $100,000 secured bond as of Jan. 9.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A Wilmington man was arrested Monday in connection with a deadly overdose in Raleigh earlier this month, a warrant shows.
According to the warrant issued by the Raleigh Police Department, 23-year-old Martin Lawrence Mulkins Jr. sold fentanyl and cocaine to Jeffrey Warren on Jan. 5, which led to Warren’s death.
Mulkins is charged with death by distribution/sale, a felony offense, according to the warrant.
Court records show Mulkins received a $5,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in Wake County Court on Tuesday.
A man holds a poster showing Wilson County residents who have died as a result of fentanyl. Families shared their stories outside the Wilson County Courthouse in September to bring awareness to the dangers of the drug. Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina will hold a town hall meeting in Wilson on Feb. 1 at the Foundation YMCA of Wilson. Drew C. Wilson | Times file photo
Event organizers are sounding the alarm on the fentanyl crisis that continues to claim lives. The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina will hold a town hall meeting in Wilson from 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, at Foundation YMCA of Wilson at 233 Nash St.
The purpose of the event, organizers say, is to spark public safety conversations about the dangers of illicit fentanyl, particularly when it’s found in counterfeit pressed pills like Adderall, Xanax and Percocet.
Organizers will also be distributing naloxone, which goes by the brand name Narcan, and train those attending on how to administer the lifesaving antidote. Local families will also share their heart-wrenching stories of how their loved ones have died from fentanyl poisonings. The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE
Barb Walsh, founder of Fentanyl Victims Network, has been working with Wilson families who are reeling from the loss of their own children who have died as a result of unintentional fentanyl deaths. The hope, she said, is to bring awareness to a problem that is plaguing the country, the state and Wilson.
“This is a public safety problem we want to address,” Walsh said.
Walsh is holding several town halls throughout the state.
“I chose Wilson because there is a pocket of very active families,” Walsh said. “We have two death by distribution cases going on (in the court system).
Local elected officials, public health professionals, advocates, parents of fentanyl victims, first responders and representatives from the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition and the Wilson County district attorney’s office will be in attendance at the Feb. 1 town hall meeting. Local law enforcement members have also been invited, organizers said.
“I think it’s important for people to see these numbers and realize how many people are dying,” said Lisa Bennett, co-organizer of the event. Bennett lost her son, 22-year-old Mason Bennett, in February 2023. He died after taking what he believed was a Percocet, a prescription painkiller, but it was laced with fentanyl, she has said. Since her son’s death, Bennett has been working with Walsh and her nonprofit.
Walsh said 18,457 people in North Carolina have died as a result of fentanyl over a 10-year period.
From 2013 to October 2023, there have been 138 fentanyl deaths in Wilson County alone, according to state data Walsh has compiled.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
Walsh founded the Raleigh-based nonprofit after her daughter, Sophia Walsh, died from fentanyl poisoning in August 2021. Walsh’s daughter drank what she thought was a bottled water from someone’s refrigerator.
Unbeknownst to her, it contained diluted fentanyl. Sophia died, and no one called 911 until 10 hours later, Walsh said. No one was charged.
“We didn’t know what she died from until five months later,” Walsh said.
After her daughter’s death, Walsh channeled her grief into research, advocacy and justice for other victims. Walsh has worked across the state to bring awareness to the dangers of fentanyl and has worked with families to demand justice in their cases by utilizing state law and getting those responsible charged.
‘IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD’
Walsh said there’s a misconception about fentanyl deaths. She said not all deaths are the result of someone in active addiction. Some people are simply experimenting.
Seven out of 10 “street” pressed copycat pills contain lethal fentanyl additives, according to officials.
Fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, is a synthetic opioid that can be lethal even in small doses.
“It could happen to your child,” Walsh said. “The pressed pills are the culprit.”
Organizers hope to educate families and encourage parents to talk with their children about the dangers that are out there.
“If we can stop just one family from having to go through this it will be worth it,” Bennett said.
Bennett said more lives will be saved if more people are armed with Narcan.
“They cannot save themselves,” Walsh said. “Someone in the community will have to save them.”
For more information about Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina visit www.fentvic.org.
Two Harnett County men are facing death by distribution charges in the April 2024 overdose death of a 29-year-old wife and mother of three.
Jonathan William Smith
Cody Keen Pope
The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office arrested 32-year-old Cody Keen Pope, of 2717 Old Stage Road South in Erwin, and 42-year-old Jonathan William Smith, of 134 S. Railroad St., Coats, in the death of Logan Brianne Carr. Both men face charges of death by distribution through the unlawful sale or delivery of certain controlled substances, namely fentanyl and methamphetamine in this case.
Carr was a homemaker and the mother of one son and two daughters.
“Logan was a beautiful bright soul with sparkling eyes, big smile, and a quick laugh,” her obituary states. “She never saw the bad in people, only the hope of what they could be.”
Prior to her death, Carr was accepted to the community college system and was planning to pursue a degree in criminal justice with the goal of becoming a probation officer. She was battling an addiction the day she died on Sunday, April 14, 2024. She is survived by her children, husband, mother, father, brother, sister, sister’s family and a host of other family members and friends.
Logan Brianne Carr, 29, died of an overdose on April 14, 2024.
Pope and Smith were both out on bond in other cases when they were taken into custody for the deadly distribution charge on Wednesday. In Pope’s other case, he’s facing charges of identity theft and obtaining property through a false pretense from a reported offense in January 2024, when he was accused of transferring $2,500 out of another guy’s CashApp into his account. He was initially arrested on those charges six weeks after Carr’s death.
Smith was out on a $500,000 bond, awaiting a December 2025 hearing on charges of felony possession of marijuana, four counts of trafficking in meth and trafficking in opioids when he was picked up Wednesday.
In a first appearance hearing Thursday, Pope’s bond was set at $750,000 secured and Smith’s was set at $1 million secured.
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – Three people have been arrested in connection to the fatal overdose of an 83-year-old in New Hanover County.
The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office (NHCSO) says on Dec. 6, 2024, deputies found an 83-year-old woman dead inside her home on Horndale Drive in New Hanover County.
On Jan. 10, deputies arrested 30-year-old Michael Britt, 46-year-old Daniel Reaves, and 45-year-old Melissa Norris-Cribb in connection to the overdose.
Britt was charged with:
Death by Distribution
Trafficking in Opium or Heroin/Fentanyl
Trafficking Methamphetamines
Possession with the intent to Manufacture, Sell and Deliver Fentanyl
Sell and Deliver Schedule I (Fentanyl)
Conspiracy to Sell Schedule I (Fentanyl)
Maintain/Sell/Deliver/Possess within 1000 feet of a school
Possession of a firearm by a felon
According to NHCSO, Britt received an additional 23 drug-related charges and has a $1,190,000 secured bond.
Cribb was charged with:
Death by Distribution
Possession with the intent to Manufacture, Sell, and Deliver Schedule I (Fentanyl)
Sell and Deliver Schedule I (Fentanyl)
Conspiracy to Sell Schedule I (Fentanyl)
According to NHCSO, Cribb received a $155,000 secured bond.
Reaves was charged with:
Death by Distribution
Possession with the intent to Manufacture, Sell, and Deliver Schedule I (Fentanyl)
Sell and Deliver Schedule 1 (Fentanyl)
Conspiracy to Sell Schedule I (Fentanyl)
According to NHCSO, Reaves received no bond as he waits for his first appearance in New Hanover County Superior Court.
Barb Walsh, Executive Director of Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, fights to save lives and get justice for those killed by fentanyl poisoning. Joining Barb in the fight are Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina members Michelle Murdock and Betsy Ballard Moore.
There are two episodes being aired, Part 1 is airing January 11th, Part 2 will air one week later, January 18.
Tina and Tom Johnson have brought a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Brian Chism and several other law enforcement officers. They’re alleging that the department is responsible for the death of their daughter Brittany Johnson. WHQR’s Nikolai Mather sat down with news director Ben Schachtman to discuss the details of this case.
Ben Schachtman: Nikolai — thanks for joining us. So the plaintiffs in this lawsuit are Tina and Tom Johnson. You’ve reported on story before: remind people who they are and what’s the latest.
Nikolai Mather: Yeah, so, the Johnsons are a married couple from Supply. They lost their daughter Brittany Johnson to a meth overdose in 2022. Ever since then, they’ve been asking the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office to share the findings of its investigation into her death. Now, they’re suing several law enforcement officers, saying that they should be held responsible for her death.
BS: So who specifically are they suing?
NM: Four of the defendants are named. There’s Alexander Melvin, who is a deputy for BCSO’s drug enforcement unit; Timmie Clemmons, who is a BCSO detective; Sheriff Brian Chism, and Alice Camden Alessandra, who was Brittany Johnson’s parole officer at the time of her death. The Johnsons are also suing 5 John Does, saying that because they don’t yet know everyone involved in their daughter’s death, they’re using those names as placeholders. They’re also suing Brunswick County as a whole.
BS: Gotcha. So what’s the Johnsons’ case for this as a wrongful death?
NM: Well, to understand that, you have to understand the rocky relationship they have with BCSO.
After investigating, the sheriff’s office declared her cause of death to be accidental drug overdose, with no foul play suspected. But the Johnsons think that’s not the full story. Like, after her death, they found a Bluetooth connection in their daughter’s car labeled “BCSO Surveillance Unit 098.” The sheriff’s office told them they had no idea where it came from, but the Johnsons think it suggests their daughter was a confidential informant for the department.
They’ve asked the sheriff for answers. BCSO told them their daughter wasn’t a CI, but didn’t say whether her friends were. And in a lot of instances, the office has clammed up entirely, saying they need a court order for more info.
BS: So, to be clear, these allegations are things BCSO has disputed or declined to comment on?
NM: Right. These allegations are based on the Johnsons’ own findings, in their own private investigation. And they now say that they have reason to believe their daughter was a confidential informant for the sheriff. Brittany had previously struggled with drug addiction, and her family says putting her in that position ultimately contributed to her relapse and to her death.
BS: I see. So this is a pretty big step – a federal lawsuit is no joke. But I was curious as to whether they were pursuing any criminal charges here, in addition to these civil charges.
NM: That process is a little different. You can ask the FBI or the SBI to look into a case. But ultimately, criminal investigations are up to those guys, whereas anyone can file a civil lawsuit. You’ve been covering the courts longer than me, Ben — is it typical for a civil lawsuit to be filed when there isn’t a criminal investigation?
BS: It really depends on the case. When it comes to law enforcement, there might be a lot of things that aren’t illegal but constitute policy violations. That could involve a review by state authorities — but it wouldn’t be for criminal charges. Also, it’s worth noting that in North Carolina, as in many states, the standard of proof for crimes like involuntary manslaughter — or negligent homicide — is going to be more intense than proving liability in a civil case.
NM: For sure.
BS: So, what’s next for this case?
NM: Well, I asked BCSO some questions about this lawsuit. Glenn Emery, an attorney with the office, said they couldn’t really comment on an ongoing lawsuit.
There’s not a trial date quite yet. The plaintiffs will have to respond, and will likely ask to dismiss the case. But if it stays in court, there will be discovery — meaning the Johnsons will have to produce their evidence, and the Sheriff’s Office will likely have to turn over some documents as well. If the case proceeds, there’s also a good chance some of the people they mention in the suit will be brought in for sworn depositions or asked to sign affidavits.
BS: That was WHQR’s rural reporter Nikolai Mather. Nikolai, thanks for coming by.
