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Co-worker arrested in death of manager and unborn child

Police dispatched to wrong address after fiance reported slain woman missing.

By April Bethea and Celeste Smith
abethea@charlotteobserver.com
  • http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2012/01/14/16/59/BGlek.Em.138.jpg|489

    Danielle Marie Watson, 25. Photo courtesy of the Watson family.

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    Mark Anthony Cox

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    Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they are searching for Danielle Marie Watson's missing car: a two-door, blue 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier with N.C. license plate ZYX1952. Anyone who sees the car is asked to call 911. CMPD photo.

  • http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2012/01/14/14/37/7gVlZ.Em.138.jpg|207

    Charlotte-Mecklenburg police investigate the scene where 25-year-old Danielle Marie Watson's body was found Saturday morning in the StoneCrest at Piper Glen shopping center. Meghan Cooke - macooke@charlotteobserver.com.


Charlotte Mecklenburg and Fayetteville police arrested suspect Mark Anthony Cox, 22, at around 1 p.m. in Fayetteville in connection with the death of Danielle Watson and her unborn child.

Police officials said Cox was staying at an associate's home and police found Watson's car nearby.

CMPD also said Monday afternoon that the dispatcher who took the 911 call is on administrative leave. "We need to go back and see if the call taker followed policy,"CMPD Capt. Mike Campagna said. "I think we missed some opportunities...Some followup could have been done on our end."

Police on Monday released the 911 call placed by Watson's fiance.

In the call lasting a minute and 21 seconds, Keith Smith gave the address of the Flying Biscuit on Rea Road, and then told the dispatcher “I believe it’s being robbed.”

“Why do you think it’s getting robbed?” the dispatcher asked.

“My girlfriend works there,” Smith said in the 911 call, referring to 25-year-old Danielle Watson. “She called me and hung up abruptly, and I could hear her yelling in the background.”

Later, Smith said, “She gets off at 9. She should have been home hours ago. But it did sound like there was some kind of commotion in the background. She called me from work. And I’m concerned. I think maybe somebody’s trying to rob it.”

Flying Biscuit Cafe is located at 7930 Rea Road near Interstate 485. Plum Biscuits doesn't exist, and the address is the location of a private home.

Police said after the 911 call, an officer drove to a nearby shopping center, looking for a business with the name of Plum Biscuits. But they said never went to the Flying Biscuit Cafe. Campagna said officers went to the "location given" and cleared the scene -- meaning officers went to 3930 Rea Road.

Police didn't arrive at the correct location until six hours later after receiving a second call about a possible incident at the Flying Biscuit. Around the same time, a garbage truck driver told police he had found a woman's body as he was emptying trash at a nearby Chick-fil-A. The victim was later identified as Watson, 25. Police didn't say how she was killed.

On Sunday, Smith said he doesn't blame police for going to the wrong address, saying there's a chance that a quicker response might not have saved his fiancée.

He said he received a call around 10 p.m. Friday from someone he thought was Watson. He said it sounded like the person put the phone on a counter, and he could hear snippets of a conversation in the background. Then the call ended abruptly.

Smith said he texted and called Watson over the next couple hours but got no response. He said he called police after her phone stopped ringing and went straight to voicemail.

Smith said he waited nearly two hours to call police because he figured Watson was taking care of something and would respond.

"The later it got, the more worried I got," he said Sunday. "But I never thought this."

On Sunday, police were still searching for the man they believe killed Watson.

Authorities have a warrant for Cox on charges of murder and two counts of armed robbery in connection with Watson's death. Cox was a co-worker of Watson at the Flying Biscuit, police said.

Records show Cox was released from prison in November after serving more than three years for robbery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of breaking and entering.

His family could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Also Sunday, a person who answered the phone at the Flying Biscuit said no one at the restaurant could comment on the case because of the police investigation.

Watson's family said she had been manager of the restaurant for about a month. She also had recently learned she was pregnant.

Under a state law that went into effect last month, anyone accused of killing a pregnant woman could face two murder charges: one for the woman and one for her unborn child.

News researcher David Raynor of The (Raleigh) News & Observer contributed.

Bethea: 704-358-6013

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