After a four-day trial in Carteret County Superior Court, District Attorney Scott Thomas and Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck announced that Hugh Crandall Willis, Jr. of Gloucester, was convicted by a jury for his role in the death of his girlfriend, Bethany JoAlison Styron, 25 of Davis.
Willis was convicted of the following:
Death by Distribution of Fentanyl
Sale and Delivery of Fentanyl
Felonious Possession of Fentanyl
Willis was sentenced to an active sentence of 78-106 months in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, followed by a 6-8 month suspended sentence for 36 months of supervised probation, according to officials.
The following is a release from the State of North Carolina General Court of Justice, Prosecutorial District Four:
During the early evening hours of July 30, 2022, Styron, who was with a friend at the time, pulled into a gas station at the corner of Highway 101 and Steel Tank Road in Carteret County.
After more than an hour sitting at the pump, Styron stopped breathing. Her friend called 911 and EMS pronounced Styron dead. Her cause of death was later confirmed to be from acute Fentanyl toxicity. After a thorough investigation into Styronโs death, Detectives uncovered that late in the day on July 28, 2022, Willis came to the Styron residence and delivered a quantity of Fentanyl to Styron and her friend that was with her during the time when she overdosed. The pair mixed the drugs purchased from Willis into a bag of drugs they had purchased earlier in Kinston. Styron purchased those narcotics on the way home from a weeklong medical inpatient stay at UNCChapel Hill hospital where she was treated for pneumonia, cardiac problems and complications of Hyper IGE Syndrome. Styron used and overdosed on the last amounts of the drugs in that mixture.
In October of 2022, Detectives reached a point in their investigation to charge Willis with the Sale and Distribution of Fentanyl and received an arrest warrant for that charge. When Deputies arrived at Willisโ home to serve him with that warrant and arrest him, Willis was found in possession of more of what was confirmed by the state lab as Fentanyl.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney David L. Spence, the lead detective in the case was Joseph (Cory) Bishop of the Carteret County Sheriffโs Office. The State presented 14 witnesses and 37 exhibits of evidence. The Defendant did not present any evidence. Resident Superior Court Judge Augustus Willis presided over the trial.
RALEIGH, N.C. โ A Wake County man was sentenced today to more than 23 years (283 months) in prison on drug charges.ย Myquan Taquil Houston, aka โDirty,โ pled guilty on January 13, 2025, to the offenses of conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute 40 grams or more of a substance containing fentanyl, and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of a substance containing fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, Houston conspired with another person to sell fentanyl to a confidential informant on five occasions in Raleigh. Law enforcement searched Houstonโs house in Knightdale, North Carolina on July 26, 2023. The search revealed 502.29 grams of cocaine, 41.54 grams of cocaine base (crack), 134.46 grams of fentanyl and ANPP, 26.6 grams of Oxycodone, digital scales, a loaded .45 caliber handgun, two cellphones, and $7,970 in U.S. currency. The investigation determined that Houston sold approximately $1,400 of fentanyl every other week for at least a year prior to his arrest, making him responsible for 1,590.46 grams of fentanyl and 635.1 grams of cocaine.
Houston has prior convictions for felony breaking and entering and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine and a quantity of cocaine base (crack), distribution of a quantity of cocaine, and aiding and abetting. Houston was on federal supervised release in the Eastern District of North Carolina at the time of these offenses.
Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Raleigh Police Department investigated the case and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Aria Q. Merle prosecuted the case.
BEAUFORT โ It was standing room only as more than 50 people attended the forum about fentanyl Saturday at the Beaufort Train Depot. Those attending have witnessed the devastation fentanyl causes as local victim families introduced their loved ones and shared the many ways fentanyl causes death.
Barbara Walsh, executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of NC, who organized the gathering to honor those who lead the effort to stop fentanyl traffickers, said In many instances. Lethal fentanyl is ingested unknowingly. Fake prescription pills containing undisclosed fentanyl additives made to look like Adderall, Xanax, Percocet and Oxycontin are deadly.
โThe victims did not know,โ she said.
The pharmacy is the only safe dispenser of prescription medication. Recreational drugs also may contain undisclosed deadly fentanyl additives because it is a cheaper man-made ingredient.
Fentanyl is highly addictive. A personโs body can quickly become dependent on fentanyl. Local recovery and treatment resources are offered by Brooke Barnhill, manager of the Post Overdose Response Team (PORT) within the Carteret County Health Department.
Fentanyl has killed 18,959 North Carolina residents in 10 years, 2013-2023. Of those, 168 occurred in Carteret County.
Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina honored the #1 NC investigation and prosecution team by presenting them with the Save Lives Together award: Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, Prosecutorial District 4 (Carteret, Craven and Pamlico Counties), Assistant District Attorney Dave Spence, Carteret County and Legal Assistant (Paralegal) Michelle Gillikin, all of Carteret County.
Walsh said in the state, there are 37 NC Sheriffs who have no fentanyl investigation arrests leading to prosecution and four NC District Attorneys who have no prosecutions.
The removal of fentanyl traffickers who cause death requires teamwork. The Sheriff treats each death as a homicide investigation until proven otherwise. If the investigation leads to a prosecution, ADA Spence and LA Gillikin apply their extensive legal expertise to each case.
Walsh said victims and their families are treated with dignity and respect throughout the investigation and prosecution phases. This is unique to Carteret County.
โIt should not matter where a person dies in NC to receive an investigation and justice, but it does,โ she said
Walsh thanked Shannon Adams for serving as the local co-host of the event. Shannonโs brother, Ryan, thought he was dependent on Percocet, yet died in 2019 from undisclosed fentanyl additives in those pills.
Shawne Moran and Keenan, First Responder Therapy Dogs of Eastern North Carolina, were on hand to comfort the victim families and to discuss what they do to support recovery efforts in Carteret County.
More than 50 community members gathered at the Beaufort Train Depot Saturday to discuss the deadly impact of fentanyl in Carteret County. During the forum, Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, and other local officials received the Save Lives Together Award for their ongoing fight against fentanyl trafficking.
Families at the event shared personal stories about losing loved ones to fentanyl, highlighting the community’s urgent fight against the deadly drug.
One of those was Barbara Walsh who lost her Daughter to the deadly drug.
“Itโs important for the families who lost a loved one to know that what their community is doing to keep someone else from dying,” said Walsh.
And In Carteret County alone, fentanyl overdoses have claimed 168 lives from 2013 through 2023.
According to Carteret County Sherriff Asa Buck a trend decreasing over the years.
“These cases are not different someone committed an act they provided a drug to someone caused them to lose their life and we investigate that just like a homicide and we prosecute those offenders just like we would if they would have killed somebody with a knife or a gun, ” said Sheriff Asa Buck
This past Saturday, a community forum addressing the impact of fentanyl in Carteret County was held at the Beaufort Train Depot. During the event, Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, Assistant District Attorney Dave Spence, and Legal Assistant Michelle Gillikin, all of Prosecutorial District 4, were honored with the Save Lives Together Award for their collaborative work in holding fentanyl traffickers accountable. Additionally, Brooke Barnhill, manager of the Countyโs Post Overdose Response Team (PORT), provided a Narcan (naloxone) demonstration and outlined local recovery resources.
Carteret County issued a news release from the event.
by Jaymie Baxley, North Carolina Health News April 14, 2025
By Jaymie Baxley
Naloxone is a widely available medication that can bring someone back from the brink of death in minutes, but cost, stigma and other barriers have kept the opioid overdose antidote out of reach for many of the North Carolinians who need it most.
In Wilson County, a new initiative aims to break down those barriers by giving residents free, 24/7 access to naloxone โ no questions asked.
Repurposed newspaper dispensers filled with naloxone nasal spray were installed last month at five sites in the rural, eastern North Carolina county. These kiosks also contain information about recovery services for substance use disorder and testing strips that can be used to check illicit drugs for deadly substances such as fentanyl.
Jeff Hill, executive director of the coalition, said the goal of the kiosks is to โmake sure that any person who needs a box of naloxone in Wilson County can access it at no charge.โ
โYes, over-the-counter Narcan is available, and yes, I can buy it at Walmart,โ said Hill, referring to the brand name of naloxone. โBut if Iโm a person in early recovery whoโs trying to help somebody, or Iโm a person in active use or a family member of a person in active use with limited income, I might not have $50 to spend on that box of Narcan.โ
Strategic placement
One of the kiosks was installed at BHG Wilson Professional Services, a center that provides medication-assisted treatment to residents recovering from opioid use disorder.ย
Amber Leclercq, program director for the center, said the kiosk was โstrategically placedโ on a side of the building that faces a row of tall bushes.ย
โWith the vending machine being right there, itโs easy to access but also shaded enough to where other vehicles driving down the road don’t see,โ she said. โIf people are not yet ready to seek treatment or if theyโre scared, this gives them the opportunity to discreetly obtain tools and information that might be life-changing. Theyโre taking the first step.โ
The four other Wilson County kiosks are at county-owned facilities, including the local library, Health Department and Department of Social Services, and at Recovery Concepts Community Center, a coalition-run space that hosts meetings for addiction support groups.ย
Each kiosk was initially loaded with 25 boxes of naloxone and 100 testing strips. Hill said interest in the stations had surpassed the coalitionโs expectations, with a couple of them needing to be restocked just days after they were installed on March 24.
โOur machine was one of the ones that got cleaned out pretty quickly,โ said Lori Walston, director of communications for the Wilson County Department of Social Services. โWe have a lot of foot traffic because of our agency and what we do. Also, the neighborhood where we sit is one of the neighborhoods of greater need in the community.โ
Alisa Milliken, the departmentโs grants and wellness coordinator, said the agency also serves a number of residents experiencing homelessness โ a population with an especially high risk of overdose.ย
โWe have a lot of homeless people coming in on a daily basis needing food and things like that, so we expect that the Narcan will keep going pretty quickly, probably every time at our location,โ she said.
Hill said the kiosks will be regularly replenished using funds from Wilson Countyโs share of a landmark court settlement with the pharmaceutical companies that allegedly fueled the national opioid epidemic. The county is set to receive a total of $7.8 million in annual payments through 2038.
Community education
Esteban Arizpe, a community paramedic with Wilson County EMS, said arming citizens with naloxone reduces strain on first responders.ย
โWhen someone calls 911 for an overdose and theyโre actually administering the naloxone prior to EMSโ arrival, it greatly increases the chance of that person surviving while freeing up our units for other calls,โ he said.
The kiosks not only provide easy access to naloxone, they also provide instructions on how to use it. Each station is equipped with a video player that gives a step-by-step tutorial for administering the drug.ย
โOne thing that we strive for is to better ourselves and better our community by providing resources and giving them the education to know the signs and symptoms of an overdose, and how to treat it,โ Arizpe said. โThis is something that is helping us to meet that goal.โ
Arizpe added that heโs seen a โgreat increase in knowledgeโ around naloxone and other tools such as syringe exchanges and testing strips โ collectively known as harm reduction methods โ among residents in recent years.ย
The increased awareness has coincided with a drop in emergency department visits. Admissions of overdose patients to the ER at Wilson Medical Center fell 36 percent from 2022 to 2025, according to DHHS data.
The grant used to buy and stock the kiosks came from the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, a multi-year initiative managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesโ Health Resources and Services Administration.ย
In addition to paying for the five kiosks in Wilson County, the money allowed the coalition to buy four stations to place in nearby Edgecombe, Nash, Warren and Wayne counties. The total cost for the project was $10,000.
Carole Johnson, former administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, speaks during an event announcing a $2.9 million grant for the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition in September 2024.
The kiosk for Wayne County was presented to the local Health Department. Margaret Brake, the departmentโs director, said she will be meeting with community partners this month to determine where it should be placed.
โWe like the idea that people will have 24-hour access to naloxone,โ she said. โParticularly if itโs someone thatโs homeless or strugglingโthey can get what they need when they need it. Weโve even talked about putting some canned goods in there, just to have some additional things the community can use.โ
Mark Winstead, a pastor at Restoration Purpose Church in the small Nash County town of Bailey, is also trying to find a good site for his communityโs kiosk. He described Bailey, which had a population of fewer than 600 people at the 2020 U.S. Census, as a place where โeverybody knows everybody.โ
โThereโs still a stigma there,โ Winstead said. โBut if I can put something somewhere, and maybe itโs a well-known commissionerโs son whoโs battling addiction and he can discreetly come get naloxone, then thatโs what itโs all about.โ
โYou canโt treat somebody thatโs dead,โ he added.ย โWe gotta be able to save their life first โ and then we can work on the rest of it.โ
The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina was featured in an article in the North Carolina Sherrif’a Association April newsletter. Read the newsletter online here.
Read the original article and watch the video on the WCNC website.
Alex Horne, 27, is charged with death by distribution in connection to the death of Rodney Anthony.
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. โ Police have arrested a suspect after a man died from an opioid overdose in April 2024.
Alex Horne, 27, is charged with death by distribution. He is accused of supplying drugs to Rodney Anthony, who died of an opioid overdose.
Anthony died on Fir Avenue on April 20, 2024, according to the Kannapolis Police Department. It took nearly a year after Anthony’s death to identify Horne as the suspect.
Horne was arrested on Tuesday. He is being held with a $750,000 bond in Cabarrus County jail. His next court date is April 9.
