BEAUFORT, N.C. (WNCT) — Amanda Alice Blanton, 36, of Newport, pled guilty to 2nd degree murder in the death of Daniel Andrew Brisson, 46, also of Newport, and has been sentenced to 238-298 months in the Department of Adult Correction during the most recent term of Carteret County Criminal Superior Court.
The case was investigated by the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office, and the lead investigator was Courtney Howell. Assistant District Attorney David L. Spence prosecuted the case and Resident Superior Court Judge Clint Rowe presided over the matter.
BEAUFORT – District Attorney Matt Wareham and Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck announced that Amanda Alice Blanton, age 36 of Newport, pled guilty to Second-Degree murder in the death of Daniel Andrew Brisson, age 46 of Newport, and was sentenced to 238-298 months in the Department of Adult Correction during the most recent term of Carteret County Criminal Superior Court.
The case was investigated by the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office and the lead investigator was Courtney Howell. Assistant District Attorney David L. Spence prosecuted the case and Resident Superior Court Judge Clint Rowe presided over the matter. Pending the disposition of co-defendant cases in this matter a more detailed release will be issued.
The body of Daniel Andrew Brisson was found on Harris Street on March 20, 2022. Following an investigation, the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office deputies have charged two more people with murder in connection with his death.
The two individuals are Joshua Kenneth Clauson, 20, and Jason Allen Porter, 42, of Newport. Police accuse the three individuals—Clauson, Porter, and a third person—of working together to intentionally inject Brisson with methamphetamine and fentanyl, and then dumping his body on Harris Street. Clauson is being held without bond at the Carteret County Jail. Porter was charged with murder but is already serving an active prison sentence for violating probation.
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — Carteret County has the most charges of death by distribution in the state from 2013 to June 2024, according to the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
The law allows officials to prosecute individuals who sell or give drugs to someone that leads to an overdose death. Carteret County has had 171 fentanyl-related deaths since 2013, according to the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Barb Walsh founded The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina after fentanyl killed her daughter in 2021. She now collects data and information from government agencies about fentanyl deaths so people can know what is happening in their counties.
“My 24-year-old daughter was killed by fentanyl in a water bottle. August 16th, 2021,” Walsh said. “She was smart. She was successful and professional. She had just gotten a promotion. She lived in Charlotte, 24 years old, and she should still be alive.”
Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck III said tackling the fentanyl crisis is a priority for his office. He said the death by distribution law has become a strong tool.
“Put yourself in the shoes of a grieving mother or father, many of whom I’ve talked with right here sitting in this office, then come back to me and tell me what you think about the death by distribution law,” Sheriff Buck said. “It’s easy for people to say how they would feel, but when it comes home to them, it’s a completely different story.”
Learn more about the Fentanyl Victims Network here.
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — Detectives with the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office extradited a woman from Pittsburgh, Pa. in connection to a drug overdose death.
Aryanna Marquise Carter, 29, of Havelock, was charged in connection to the death of Tyler Lee Hall, 22, of Newport, in April of 2021.
Hall died from methamphetamine and fentanyl toxicity. Carter was arrested May 5, 2024 in Pennsylvania on an unrelated weapon charge.
Carter is charged with selling and delivering a schedule II controlled substance and felony death by distribution. Carter was jailed in the Carteret County Detention Center under a $470,000 bond.
Beaufort, NC — Two men are now behind bars in connection with the death of a 25-year-old woman following a joint investigation, according to the Beaufort Police Department.
Officials say 26-year-old Ladavion Vontrell Manning of Morrisville and 24-year-old Kevin Crishawn Milliken of Apex are facing second-degree murder, death by distribution and the sale and delivery of Schedule II controlled substances.
Manning was taken into custody at his Morrisville home on May 2, 2025 and was also charged with sale and delivery of fentanyl. He remains jailed at the Carteret County Detention Center under a $750,000 bond.
On Tuesday, June 3 officials arrested Milliken in Chatham County. He also faces separate charges in Chatham County, including felony possession of cocaine, maintaining a vehicle or dwelling, possession of drug paraphernalia and simple possession of a schedule IV-controlled substance. Milliken remains in jail in Chatham County under a $1 million bond and will be transported to Carteret County for trial proceedings.
These arrests come after an investigation into the death of Riley Goolishian, who was found in her Beaufort home back on May 26 of 2024 unresponsive. Authorities say she died a day later at Carteret Health Care in Morehead City. It was confirmed her cause of death was fentanyl and cocaine toxicity through autopsy and toxicology findings.
The joint investigation determined that both Manning and Milliken sold fentanyl and cocaine to Goolishian the day prior to her being found unresponsive.
The investigating agencies include the Beaufort Police Department, Carteret County Sheriff’s Office and the NC SBI.
Beaufort Police Chief Paul Burdette stated, “This case represents a coordinated effort by multiple law enforcement agencies to bring justice in the face of a heartbreaking loss. We remain committed to pursuing those who distribute dangerous and illegal substances in our communities.”
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT)- The Carteret County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the District Attorney’s Office (District 4) continue to try to stay ahead of the fentanyl crisis and enforce the law to save lives.
Earlier this week the offices helped convict Hugh Crandall Willis Jr. of Gloucester, N.C. with Death by Distribution of Fentanyl, Sale and Delivery of Fentanyl and Felonious Possession of Fentanyl. A jury found him guilty of his role in the death of his girlfriend, Bethany JoAlison Styron.
According to Sheriff Asa Buck III, Carteret County has had three overdose deaths this year with more than 150 overdose cases in the past five years. However, he also says the county has seen a significant drop over that time period.
“Three is still too many,” Buck said. “One is too many, but it’s nowhere near the numbers of what we were seeing back in 2020, 20, 21, 22, and then in 23 and 24, the numbers began to drop.”
Buck says his office and the District Attorney’s are continuing to be proactive to the issue. The county has convicted more than 10 people with death by distribution and charged more than 30 since the General Assembly passed the statute in 2019.
“We investigate every drug overdose death just like a homicide and we have been for many years,” Buck said.
The sheriff, district attorney and others from the district attorney’s office were recently given the “Save Lives Together” award for their work in holding fentanyl traffickers accountable.
“When people are doing things and it’s causing people to die, that’s not something that you just sit back and say, well, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Buck said. “You make that a priority and you certainly try to do the very best you can to investigate those criminal offenses and hold people accountable when and where you can through the court system.”
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.
