Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
The parents accused of helping their son cover up a murder are out of jail after winning bond reductions this week.
Gregory Minton was released Monday after his lawyers successfully argued before Superior Court Judge Carl Fox that he was not a flight risk and that his $1 million bond was excessive.
His wife, Mishele Minton, won release on Wednesday. Both Mintons saw their bonds reduced to $100,000 — less than the $250,000 Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall had argued for, but still higher than bond guidelines.
Woodall noted on Wednesday that Fox, who served for decades in Woodall’s job, had written the guidelines. The couple is under a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and orders not to visit the crime scenes, possess any weapons or associate with anyone connected with the Bailey case except for family members.
They are accused of helping their son Brian Minton, who along with five others, is charged with first-degree kidnapping and murder in the death of Joshua Bailey. Also charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping are Jacob Alexander Maxwell, 18, Matt Johnson, 21, Brandon Hamilton Green, 26, Ryan Ladar Davis Lee, 20, and Jack Johnson II, 19, all of Chapel Hill. Brian Minton’s parents and Chris Manley, 23, of Carrboro, were indicted as accessories to murder.
Bailey’s body was found off Big Woods Road in Chatham County. An autopsy concluded he had been killed by a gunshot on July 29.
According to recently issued search warrants, including those for the Minton’s home and vehicles, investigators believe Gregory and Mishele Minton assisted in helping acquire the materials used to conceal Bailey’s body, which was first buried in the wooded area off Twisted Oak Drive, where investigators believe he was killed and buried and later moved to Chatham County.
The warrants describe a conversation relayed by a confidential informant in which Brian Minton said his father suggested materials needed “in order to conceal or obscure evidence of Bailey’s murder,†including clear plastic sheeting, a tarp and white plastic suits. Some of the items described were found by investigators at the Twisted Oak Drive site.
The warrants state that another informant was with Brian Minton and Maxwell when Mishele Minton drove them to Lowe’s Home Improvement to purchase two gallons of muriatic acid. Surveillance video from the store identified the Minton’s 2005 Toyota Sequoia at the store on August 25, the warrant states.
Investigators also believe that Mishele Minton rented a U-Haul under an assumed name that was used to transport the body to the Big Woods site. Minton’s Glenn Lennox BP, owned by Gregory Minton, rents U-Haul trucks.
The search warrant for the Minton home at 714 Smith Level Road near Carrboro High School states that an informant told investigators that Bailey was first assaulted and interrogated at a garage behind the home, then bound with duct tape and transported to the place where he was killed.
Woodall said investigators are piecing together the case and believe they know why Bailey was killed, but said he could not elaborate since the investigation continues.
The rest of the defendants in the case remain in custody. “Nobody else has filed a bond motion,†Woodall said.
An administrative hearing in the case has been set for Oct. 28. Woodall’s office also filed notice of a Rule 24 hearing, which is required if a district attorney intends to seek the death penalty.
Woodall said the hearing is typical in such cases and does not indicate that he has decided to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants.
“No decision’s been made,†he said, adding that the hearings are required if the state doesn’t want to “close the door†to the death penalty.
The Rule 24 hearing is also scheduled for Oct. 28, but Woodall said there are already indications that some defendants’ attorneys may not be able to be present and that he expects it to be continued.