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The Union County District Attorney said he will seek the death penalty in two unrelated cases – a triple homicide and a double homicide that occurred near Marshville over the summer.
District Attorney Trey Robison made that disclosure this week during separate “Rule 24” conferences for Randall Hank Morrison, 24, and Bradrick Layne Wolfe, 49.
Morrison is charged in the July 7 triple homicide. Wolfe is charged with killing his father-in-law and brother-in-law Aug. 21.
Those two crimes – along with the still-unsolved killing of Charles Ronald Godwin, 60, on Aug. 30 – left six homicide victims over the summer around the Marshville area in eastern Union County.
While the cases were unrelated, the crimes unsettled the community. Authorities said they could not recall another time where there were as many homicide victims in proximity with each other and in a relatively short time.
One of the biggest homicide investigations in county history was launched after Morrison told authorities he had discovered three bodies at his next door neighbor’s house.
Authorities said the victims – Ronnie Dale Overcash, 46, his live-in girlfriend, Crystal Dawn Hicks, 38, and Jerry Wayne Marsh, 61 – were all killed with a knife and a shotgun at Overcash’s home in the 1000 block of Landsford Road. Less than a week later, Morrison was arrested.
A neighbor said Morrison and Overcash’s friendship ended when Morrison’s dog killed Overcash’s cat, although authorities have not commented on a possible motive in the case.
In the other case, David Lee Bass, 57, and David Clay Bass, 39, were found dead outside their home in the 3300 block of Lanesboro Road.
Wolfe was demanding that his wife let him see his children, who were in the home when the killings occurred, authorities have said.
Both Wolfe and Morrison remain in Union County jail without bail.
Robison said it is too early to predict when the cases could come to trial.
