
{"id":10925,"date":"2010-06-10T13:48:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T21:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=10925"},"modified":"2010-06-10T13:50:04","modified_gmt":"2010-06-10T21:50:04","slug":"carrboro-murder-case-from-%e2%80%9984-solved-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/06\/10\/carrboro-murder-case-from-%e2%80%9984-solved-police-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrboro murder case from \u00e2\u20ac\u212284 solved, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Kirk Ross<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nThe wait to see justice done in the 1984 murder of 7-year old Carrie Ann Wilkerson may be over.<\/p>\n<p>For the victim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family and members of the Carrboro Police Department, the possibility for closure came Monday, when George Richard Fisher appeared at the Orange County Courthouse and was accused of raping and killing the girl and then setting fire to her mobile home at Rocky Brook Mobile Home Park at the bottom of the hill off South Greensboro Street.<\/p>\n<p>Fisher is serving a life sentence plus 50 years for the 1985 murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of 8-year-old Jean Fewel, whose body was found hanging from a tree near Finley Golf Course.<\/p>\n<p>The charges in the 26-year-old Wilkerson case are based on new DNA tests by the State Bureau of Investigation working with the Carrboro Police Department. At the Hillsborough hearing on Monday, Fisher, who is serving his sentence at Maury Correctional Institute in Green County, was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree arson. Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall has not said whether he will seek the death penalty in the case.<\/p>\n<p>For Jack Shivers, whose wife, Norma Shivers, was Wilkerson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stepmother, Monday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s events brought some resolution.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had 26 years to heal somewhat,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said Wednesday, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but what we have been looking for was closure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Learning that Fisher \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a family acquaintance suspected of the crime ever since he was implicated in the Fewel murder \u00e2\u20ac\u201c had been charged completed the circle, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Jack Shivers said the couple was preparing to formally adopt Wilkerson, who Norma Shivers had cared for since the girl was 6 months old, after they were married.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She was a sweet little girl \u00e2\u20ac\u201c very outgoing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She loved her mother dearly and she was beginning to love me too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Wilkerson was well thought of by her classmates at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School and often walked to school with a group of friends, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shivers said while the charges brought some closure for him and his wife and others, it was sad to think of the people who had passed on not knowing what had happened.<\/p>\n<p>Carrboro Police Capt. J.G. Booker said that although only one officer who was on the force at the time is still with the department, the case has never been forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>Booker, who joined the police department in August 1984, said you could tell then how important solving the case was to the investigators. Cases involving young children or the elderly \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the most vulnerable members of society \u00e2\u20ac\u201c have special meaning, he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the kind of thing that touches you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, Carrboro police have looked at the case several times, Booker said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I looked at it myself in 1996,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was never dormant.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The case was re-opened a month ago when police received a tip about a different suspect. When that did not pan out, tests were run on the evidence using Fisher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s DNA.<\/p>\n<p>The use of new DNA identification technology proved to be the long-sought break for investigators, Booker said, underlining the importance of preserving and saving evidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The technology we have now didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exist in 1984,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>You may have a strong suspicion, but without the evidence you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prove it in court, Booker said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have that glimmer of hope that something will break.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Booker said while there will be a lot of focus on Fisher, it is important to remember the young girl killed 26 years ago and what she might have done with her life. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She would be a 33-year-old young lady now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She never got that chance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wait to see justice done in the 1984 murder of 7-year old Carrie Ann Wilkerson may be over.<br \/>\nFor the victim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family and members of the Carrboro Police Department, the possibility for closure came Monday, when George Richard Fisher appeared at the Orange County Courthouse and was accused of raping and killing the girl and then setting fire to her mobile home at Rocky Brook Mobile Home Park at the bottom of the hill off South Greensboro Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10925"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10928,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10925\/revisions\/10928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}