News & Observer - North Carolina June 10, 2011
Cult leader Pete Moses Jr. charged in boy's death
BY THOMASI MCDONALD AND MANDY LOCKE - N&O Staff Writers
DURHAM -- Investigators found the remains of a child Thursday at the same East Durham house where a missing woman's body was discovered Wednesday.
Pete Lucas Moses Jr., 27, is charged with first degree murder in the death of 5-year-old Jadon Higganbothan, thought to have been missing since October 2010.
Investigators suspect Jadon and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, 28, whose body was unearthed at the house Wednesday, were the victims of a small religious cult led by Moses.
Sheilda Evelyn Harris, Moses' mother, and her husband rented the Ashe Street house for almost a year, property owner Dr. Wesley King said Thursday. They moved out of the house Feb. 19, within days of when police went toMoses' home at 2109 Pear Tree Lane, looking for McKoy.
"Their lease was up Feb. 28," King, a Durham orthodontist, said.
Moses also was charged Wednesday with the first-degree murder of McKoy. Also charged were six others: Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40; Sheilda Evelyn Harris, 56; Shelia Falisha Moses, 20; P. Leonard Moses, 20; Larhonda Renee Smith, 40; and Vania Rae Sisk, 25, who is Jadon's mother.
Pete Moses Jr. has been held in the Durham County jail since he was arrested April 12, accused of assaulting and kidnapping Zayna Thomas, one of several women who police say lived with him in polygamous relationships. Four others were taken into custody Wednesday. Sisk and Smith turned themselves in Thursday morning.
The case began to unfold in February when a police officer went to the 2109 Pear Tree Lane home of Pete Moses Jr., looking for McKoy. She had been reported missing by her family after going to visit Moses in December.
It was Zayna Thomas who answered the door, and she related an unimaginable tale.
Identified in court documents as "ZT," Thomas told police that Pete Moses Jr. killed Jadon. Sisk said she left her son with an acquaintance in Durham on Feb. 20, but investigators couldn't find anyone who had seen him since October 2010.
Thomas also told police that Sisk and Smith beat McKoy as she tried to escape, and then Sisk, on Moses' order, shot and killed McKoy.
According to search warrants, police found some evidence to suggest foul play inside the house on Pear Tree Lane: spots that looked like blood, a fired bullet and shell casing, and indications that areas of the house had been vigorously cleaned.
But, until Wednesday, no bodies had been found and authorities didn't have enough evidence to charge Moses with murder.
All seven suspects are in custody at the Durham County jail without bail bonds.
'Good tenants'
The white concrete block house at 2622 Ashe St. has been vacant since Sheilda Evelyn Harris and several of her family members moved out in February, according to King, the property owner.
"They were good tenants who paid their rent on time," he said. "I never had any problems with them."
Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said the house had not been part of their investigation because Moses' mother was not under suspicion.
"There was no reason to get a search warrant," he said.
King said Sheilda Harris lived at the home for about a year with her husband, Anthony Leon Harris, two of her children, Sheila Moses and P. Leonard Moses, and her stepdaughter, Diamond Harris, 7.
Diamond Harris has been placed in foster care, but her biological mother, Regina Oliverei, and stepfather, Alfred Oliverei Jr., are battling with the Durham Department of Social Services to regain custody.
Regina Oliverei said she lost custody of both her daughters in June 2009, when she had to serve 16 days in jail for a worthless check conviction.
The Olivereis live on Owen Street, just around the corner from the Ashe Street house. Regina Oliverei said Diamond had became a withdrawn person who refused to hug her during weekend visits and who cried when it was time to return to Ashe Street.
Remains found
McKoy's remains were found Wednesday by a plumber called to investigate clogged pipes at the Ashe Street house. The plumber borrowed a shovel from the next door neighbor and the two men dug until they realized something was in the bag and called police.
McKoy lived in Washington but reconnected with Pete Moses Jr. over the Internet a year ago. When she visited him in Durham a few times, he told her the other women were his sisters whom he refused to abandon as the fathers of their children had, McKoy's sister, Janayia Dubose, said.
But Zayna Thomas described a belief system and lifestyle that Durham police have since labeled a cult affiliated with Black Hebrews, a religious sect that believes a race war will culminate in blacks' dominance. Moses fathered children with the women and kept his growing brood under lock and key.
"My sister is a devout Christian," Dubose said earlier this year.
In December, McKoy traveled to North Carolina again to talk to police about someone stealing her identity, Dubose said. Family members last talked to her a few days after she arrived.
"It is unlike my sister to go silent," Dubose said. "When Christmas came and she hadn't returned, we knew something was wrong."
News researchers Brooke Cain and Peggy Neal contributed to this report.
This article was found at:
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News & Observer - North Carolina June 9, 2011
Additional remains of small child found at Durham house
BY THOMASI MCDONALD AND MANDY LOCKE - N&O Staff writers
DURHAM -- Police have found a second set of human remains, consistent with those of a small child, in the East Durham neighborhood where a missing woman's body was found Wednesday.
Police spokesman Kammie Michael confirmed that a medical examiner was called to the scene on Ashe Street this evening and determined that the second set of human remains are consistent with those of a small child.
Human remains that police think is Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, the suspected victim of a small religious cult, were unearthed Wednesday in the backyard of a vacant rental house at 2622 Ashe St.
The last two suspects in a murder case turned themselves in today.
Vania Sisk and Larhonda Smith joined five people already behind bars. All seven suspects are in Durham County Jail without bonds.
Charles McLean, 64, a stock clerk at Angus Barn, was working on his grandson's bicycle Wednesday morning behind his red-brick home when a plumber working next door at 2622 Ashe St. asked to borrow a shovel.
Pipes that ran from the house under the backyard were clogged and the man suspected it had something to do with a thick black plastic bag that was sticking up out of the ground behind a white storage shed.
"He got to shoveling and the more he dug, the bigger the bag got," McLean said.
Something inside the bag smelled rotten and the men thought someone may have buried a dead dog in the foot-deep hole. Another neighbor had come over and suggested they tear open the heavy-duty garbage bag.
"I told them to leave that alone and call the police," McLean said.
When an officer arrived, he used a nail to rip a long tear in the bag and what the men saw was not somebody's deceased pet.
"It looked like a forearm," McLean said. "It was still intact."
McLean said the officer quickly shooed them away from the scene and called for assistance.
Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez would not confirm McLean's account of how McKoy's body was found.
"But it sounds familiar," the police chief said.
A medical examiner came to the scene and confirmed that the remains were human, according to police spokeswoman Kammie Michael.
By evening, seven people were charged with murder in the death of McKoy, 28, whose family reported her missing in February.
Five suspects - Pete Lucas Moses Jr., 27, Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40, Shielda Evelyn Harris, 56, Shelia Moses, 20, and P. Leonard Moses, 20, - were in custody Wednesday night. All but Pete Lucas Moses listed their address as 2146 Charles St.
Pete Lucas Moses had been held in the Durham County jail since he was arrested April 12, accused of assaulting and kidnapping Zayna Thomas, one of several women who police say lived with him in polygamous relationships.
Police have been working for months to build a case against him in the disappearance of McKoy, his former high school sweetheart, and Jadon Higganbothan, the 5-year-old son of Vania Sisk, another of his live-in girlfriends.
Jadon, last seen in October 2010, remains missing. Sisk told investigators she left her son with an acquaintance in Durham on Feb. 20.
A missing person
The case began to unfold in February when a police officer went to Pete Lucas Moses' home at 2109 Pear Tree Lane, looking for McKoy, who had been reported missing by her family after going to visit Moses in December.
Thomas came to the door and related an unimaginable tale.
Identified in court documents as "ZT," she told police that Pete Lucas Moses killed Jadon. She also said Sisk and another woman, Smith, beat McKoy as she tried to escape. She told them that Sisk, under Moses' order, shot and killed McKoy.
According to search warrants, police found some evidence to suggest foul play inside the house on Pear Tree Lane: spots that looked like blood, a fired bullet and shell casing, and indications that areas of the house had been vigorously cleaned.
But, until Wednesday, no bodies had been found and authorities didn't have enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Thomas described a belief system and lifestyle that Durham police have since labeled a cult affiliated with Black Hebrews, a religious sect that believes a race war will culminate in blacks' dominance.
Pete Lucas Moses fathered children with the women and kept his growing brood under lock and key.
McKoy lived in Washington, but reconnected with Pete Lucas Moses over the Internet a year ago. When she visited him in Durham a few times, he told her the other women were his sisters whom he refused to abandon as the fathers of their children had, McKoy's sister, Janayia Dubose, said.
She also had no concept of his religious beliefs.
"My sister is a devout Christian," Dubose said earlier this year.
Coming to N.C.
In December, McKoy traveled to North Carolina again to talk to police about someone stealing her identity, Dubose said. She packed a few changes of clothes and her Bible, Dubose said.
McKoy last talked to her family in early December, a few days after she arrived.
"It is unlike my sister to go silent," Dubose said. "When Christmas came and she hadn't returned, we knew something was wrong."
When they tracked down a phone number for Moses, he told them McKoy was fine but wouldn't put her on the phone. Durham police started to investigate in February.
News researchers Brooke Cain and Peggy Neal contributed to this report.
This article was found at:
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