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NC Mother Charged with Murder

Read the original article and watch the video on the WCNC website.

LENOIR, N.C. — A woman was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the 2023 death of her 7-month-old child, according to Lenoir Police this week.

Paige Nicole Blue, 27, was taken into custody on April 30 following her extradition from Lee County, Florida. Blue faces charges of murder and felony child abuse and is being held without bond.

The arrest comes after a lengthy investigation that began on March 16, 2023, when emergency responders were called to a home on Forrest Hill Park Place in Lenoir for an infant in cardiac arrest. Despite life-saving efforts, the child was pronounced dead at the scene.

The infant died from fentanyl toxicity, police said. A lethal dose of the drug was found in the child’s system.

Blue is scheduled for her first court appearance in Caldwell County District Court on Thursday. Police say the investigation is ongoing and more charges are expected.

The Lenoir Police Department is asking anyone with information related to this case to contact them at (828) 757-2100 or Lenoir/Caldwell County Crime Stoppers at (828) 758-8300.

WCNC Charlotte wants to hear about your loved one

If your loved one was impacted by this incident, WCNC Charlotte hopes to make this process less painful with our More Than A Number initiative. With your help, we want to share who your loved one was with our viewers in North Carolina and South Carolina. When you’re ready, fill out the form below or send us photos, memories and other details about them to desk@wcnc.com.

Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Press Release

Davidson County Sheriff’s Office’s Press Release

Davidson County Sheriff’s Office Press Release

RCSO charges woman with death by distribution in overdose death

Read the original article on the Richmond Observer website.

ROCKINGHAM — Investigators have charged a woman in a late 2024 overdose death.

Sarah Alexis McCumbee, 27, was arrested late Thursday on charges of death by distribution and selling or delivering a Schedule II controlled substance.

McCumbee is accused of delivering an unspecified quantity of fentanyl to Sean McDonald on or around Nov. 14, 2024. The ingestion of the fentanyl, according to the arrest warrant, “proximately caused” McDonald’s death.

The warrant, taken out by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, was issued April 21 and McCumbee was arrested April 24.

She is being held without bond in the Richmond County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court May 8.

North Carolina’s death by distribution law was signed into law in 2019, with support from both of the county’s legislative representatives in the General Assembly at the time.

The RCSO charged Regina Collins with death by distribution in January of 2020. State records show Collins was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in August of that year and she served seven months in prison. Her parole ended Feb. 14, 2022.

In 2022, the Hamlet Police Department issued a BOLO for a suspect in a death by distribution case. However, police told the RO on Friday that the charge was dismissed by the district attorney’s office based on further investigation.

Earlier this week, a woman in Greensboro was convicted of death by distribution and other drug charges from a 2022 case.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Two Men Charged with Death by Distribution Pursuant to OD Death

Gloucester man sentenced over 8 years for fentanyl distribution in girlfriend’s death

Read the original article on the WCTI News12 website.

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 Styron’s 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 Willis’ 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 Sheriff’s 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.

𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫

Raleigh Fentanyl Trafficker Sentenced to More Than 23 Years in Prison

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Wake County man was sentenced today to more than 23 years (283 months) in prison on drug charges. Myquan Taquil Houston, aka “Dirty,” 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 Houston’s 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.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:24-CR-00238.

Download PRess Release PDF