HICKORY Felon charged in slaying of his girlfriend in Lincolnton

Lincolnton police have charged a 41-year-old convicted felon with killing his girlfriend.

Jerry Alvin Black Jr. is charged with first-degree murder and is being held in Lincoln County jail without bond.

Lincoln County EMS officials said paramedics were called to a home on Untold Way, located off South Generals Boulevard (N.C. 150), at 1:35 p.m. Friday after receiving a report of an unconscious woman. When they arrived, they found Jennifer Lee Costner. She was pronounced dead within minutes.

Lincolnton police said Black claimed he fell asleep on the couch and awoke to find Costner dead.

Costner suffered blunt force trauma to her head, as well as multiple cut and stab wounds on her body, police said.

Records show Black has a long criminal record dating back to the 1980s.

His convictions include DWI, assault on a female, felony larceny and violating a protective order, according to the N.C. Department of Correction.

He most recently served time in prison for selling drugs, according to the DOC. He was released in 2010.

The killing is Lincolnton's first homicide of the year, according to reports. Observer and WCNC-TV reports

Hickory

Alleged bank robbers found in Walmart after heist

Authorities say a couple who robbed a bank in Hickory were found with the money 30 minutes later inside a nearby Walmart.

Police told the Hickory Daily Record that 37-year-old Jason Setzer waited in line at a Wells Fargo branch in Hickory for more than five minutes Thursday before giving the teller a note demanding all the money in the register.

Investigators say a teller watched Setzer get into a cab with his 22-year-old girlfriend, Rebecca Therrien.

Police tracked the cab to Walmart, where the two were shopping.

Setzer is charged with common law robbery, while Therrien is charged with aiding and abetting a felony. It wasn't clear whether either of them had an attorney. Associated Press

Maggie Valley

Ghost Town amusement park may come alive again

MAGGIE VALLEY A $1.5 million bid has been made to buy a wild west amusement park in the North Carolina mountains that has been closed for most of the past decade.

Haywood County officials told the Asheville Citizen-Times that Alaska Presley's bid is the highest so far in the foreclosure auction to buy Ghost Town in the Sky.

Presley also has bought the property's debts. The businesswoman lives in Maggie Valley near the amusement park.

The park once drew 150,000 visitors a year, but closed in 2002. The owners tried to reopen it in 2007, but it struggled and was $10 million in debt when it closed again some two years later. Associated