Three murder defendants pleaded “not guilty” in seperate cases in court Thursday. Read the news. Photos- Chief ADA Ernie Lee and defense attorney Wally Paramore talk before court: Prosecutors Kelly Neal and J.B. Askins: Sirree Scales: Soyer Moll entering the courtroom: Paramore and Moll:

D.A. Dewey Hudson was a more than a little disappointed the Willie Nelson concert was cancelled. Read the news. There to enjoy the show, Hudson found out like everyone else that A.L.E. agents from Wilmington crashed the party. Guess the boys from the Port City didn’t like Willie’s band toking up before the show. As if there [...]

- Nelson Smallwood has been named as administrator of his brother’s estate, according to paperwork on file at the Onslow County Courthouse. John D. Smallwood’s biological mother in Kinston and a man who claims to be John D’s illegitimate son may not agree… I WANT TO APOLOGIZE TO JOHN D’s MOTHER. THE ABOVE COMMENT MAKES IT [...]

Matricide: murder of one’s mother. Two young men were in court Tuesday accused in the deaths of their mothers in unrelated cases. Justin Smith pleaded not guilty during his arraignment. Julius Thomas will have too wait for another psych exam to see whether he will stand trial. And now the incredible John Althouse photos – [...]

- The sad death of a teenage girl while riding a four-wheeler this weekend is just one in a line of sad stories coming out of Duplin County recently. A few days ago an elderly Warsaw woman was killed in an apparent random attack by an alleged crazy man. And a beautiful 21-year-old Marine wife killed herself last week. – While [...]

The Onslow County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an apparent accidental shooting. Authorities are investigating the apparent accidental shooting death of an Onslow County man Sunday at a home on Richlands Highway. A pair of friends in their early 50s were shooting targets behind a house at 3421 Richlands Highway on Sunday afternoon when one of [...]

- The final resting place of John D. Smallwood: Authorities are still investigating his death. If you know anything that might help, give them a call at 910-455-3113 or drop a dime to Crime Stoppers at 910-938-3273. – As I have been alluding to for a couple of weeks, the Cesar Laurean trial is expected to [...]

Mike McHugh stopped by the funeral home Wednesday where family was receiving friends of John D. Smallwood. In his own words: I drove by the Jones Funeral Home in Swansboro on Wednesday evening at 6:10 p.m. where family was receiving friends to remember John D. Smallwood. I parked my vehicle on a side street from [...]

While who shot John D. Smallwood remains a mystery, one thing is for sure: the people in the community he called home love him. Or are too intimidated to say otherwise… Mike McHugh and I were in a Hubert bar Monday asking people to tell us about Smallwood. I knew we would be printing his prison record [...]

Monday was a very hectic day for me and Tuesday was even worse. A story that ran in Tuesday’s paper about an alleged assault in Hubert by a man with a 2 x 4 didn’t get the attention it deserved Monday and I was way too busy to follow up Tuesday, but I hope to have [...]

- Since the Onslow County Sheriff’s dive team was out at the pond next to John D. Smallwood’s home Tuesday, does that mean a murder weapon has not been recovered yet? – A Jacksonville man pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday. Leroy Jenkins in court Tuesday: ADA J.B. Askins talking to the victim’s brother during the hearing: Jenkins, on his [...]

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown says the deaths of two Hubert men who were friends and whose bodies were discovered within 24 hours of each other are unrelated. I’m not convinced. I am not second guessing the authorities. They approach things from an angle of solving crimes; I look at the narration of situations. I understand that [...]

NCIS has an outstanding cold case unit -�the first�of its kind at the federal level. They have resolved some really complicated cases. I wish that would come true in the�cases�of Pam Bell and Katherine McFadden. Pam Bell: I drove down to Wilmington last year to speak to Pam Bell’s family. Her mother reminded me so [...]

Read the news report about a Hubert man found dead Sunday. ————————————————————————–  Take a look at this: Not much to see, huh? That’s because it was very dark on the gravel road I was on at 8 p.m. Sunday. I took some photos, like this one: But, like I said, it was way too dark. [...]

I normally read letters to the editor, wince or chuckle at others stupidity and then move on, but I couldn’t let this one go. This letter is from a guy who claims to know a lot about the newspaper business then questions why the media uses terms like “alleged shooter.” Well, Mr. armchair media man, you [...]

- I expect D.A. Dewey Hudson to announce his candidacy for N.C. State Senate today at a press conference in Kenansville. Current State Sen. Charlie Albertson was telling people a few years ago he wouldn’t run for the Duplin/Lenoir/Sampson seat again, but now I hear he plans to give it another go. Albertson has been in the Senate [...]

- A local stripper was busted for allegedly shoplifting at Wal-Mart on Wednesday. What was she stealing? Warrants say make-up and lubricating jelly. – The alleged victim in Tuesday’s attempted murder has a long criminal record. In fact, he is so familiar with the justice system that he asked his bail bondsman to be a [...]

As a member of Onslow County Crime Stoppers board of directors, I do not like this news and what it could mean to anonymous tipsters. Defendants have the right to face their accusers in court, but a tip that comes in from an anonymous source that leads authorities in the right direction should stay anonymous. [...]

I asked for a comment from the mother of�Christopher Oden’s 13-year-old victim while�writing the news article that appears in Wednesday’s Daily News and�online here. She didn’t get back to me until after press time�so her answer to my question as to whether her daughter would have�testified against Oden is not included in the report. D.A. [...]

Management had an issue with this post. Among other things, they found the combination of the word “God,” which is the generally accepted term for deity in Western culture, and the word ”damn,” which is a term of condemnation, to be offensive. I can’t help but think the social commentary in the post was more “offensive” than the [...]

- Because of a city / county permitting SNAFU employees cannot use their security badges to get into public-restricted doors of the Summersill court building. If they don’t straighten it out, the county will have spent a lot of cash for nothing. Um… sort of like the wheelchair ramp on the New Bridge Street side of [...]

Delayed by the holidays,�vacation and a very busy return to work last week, I finally present�the�cold cases active in Onslow County. The news article from last Sunday is here, for your referencing convenience. As I said before, this is meant to wrap-up some cases for future reporters and hopefully the general public. Some of these [...]

A 18-year-old former homecoming queen at Richlands High School was killed New Year’s Eve during a hit and run. The Highway Patrol continues to work on the case but needs help. Read the news article here. Sgt. M.W. King with the N.C. Highway Patrol told Suzanne Ulbrich: “It appears she was in the travel lane. [...]

-  Robert Grady has decided to run for Onslow County Clerk of Court instead of seeking another term in the General Assembly. Why step down from state government into county politics? Hmmm. Let’s see… General Assembly pays around $15,000. Clerk of Court pays more than $90,000. Oh… –  Robert Lewis - the Marine base civilian cop who [...]

A Camp Lejeune Marine is in jail, charged with shooting one of three victims at Las Maracas early Sunday morning. Read the news. His is accused of shooting Christian Onate. Also shot were Jonni Aidoo and Enation Roney. Aidoo is on probation for a 2008 assault by strangulation conviction in Pitt County. Read his N.C. [...]

Read the news here. This story is not over with. I expect more to follow on this case… I spoke to Ernie Wright today (always a pleasure). He is representing both Robert and Kim Lewis though. Isn’t that a conflict of interest somehow? And although his name didn’t make it into the article, Onslow County [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 1: “Parallel Lives”� I know, you’re thinking that there are several stories to go and I have run out of room. But those remaining stories have [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 2: “Saddest story I have ever had to write” � A child of proud gun-owning parents found a pistol in his Southwest area home and was [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 3: “Pit Bulls” Whether the victim or the aggressor, pit bulls played a major role in local crime stories in 2009. To kick it off, Camp [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 4: “Cold Case Homicide” As 2009 opened, Rodger Gill, a man who had lived most of his life in obscurity in Illinois was thrust into the [...]