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A woman who was assaulted at a northwest Charlotte motel Thursday afternoon has died, police said, and her attacker is now charged with murder.
Yolanda Copper, 39, was discovered unconscious Thursday afternoon in a room at the Knights Inn on Glenwood Road near Interstate 85, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said.
The manager of the Knights Inn had called 911 around 3:15 p.m., saying that a man staying at the motel had called the desk and claimed he was being robbed by a woman who was in a room with him, police said.
Officers who responded to the call found Copper unconscious, and paramedics rushed her to Carolinas Medical Center. Observer news partner WCNC-TV reported that she’d been choked.
The man who’d called the front desk, identified as Edward Timothy McClain, 43, of Brooklyn, N.Y., voluntarily went to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to be questioned, police said. During the investigation, police learned that McClain and Copper knew each other.
On Thursday, police charged McClain with assault with a deadly weapon. But on Friday afternoon, police announced that Copper had died as a result of her injuries, and McClain was subsequently charged with murder. He remains in Mecklenburg jail.
Police haven’t elaborated on the nature of the relationship between Copper and McClain, nor have they described a possible motive.
McClain has a criminal record in New York, where he’s been convicted on drug and weapons charges.
Mecklenburg arrest records show Copper has been arrested several times in recent years for drug offenses, as well as prostitution and soliciting a crime against nature.
On Friday, police asked again for the public’s help in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 704-432-TIPS or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
Staff researcher Maria David contributed.
