5 Charlotte murder cases worthy of Serial podcast season 2
The Story
You listened to Serial, didn’t you? The 12-episode podcast from the folks of This American Life?
Since you didn’t …
A reporting team spent a year trying to figure out if a high school girl in Baltimore was really killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1999. It was riveting stuff — and broke all podcast records.
Which got us to thinking …
Charlotte has its share of mystery cases, either ones never solved, solved unsatisfactorily or just plain interesting. So, if Serial came to Charlotte, we would suggest these drama-filled cases for podcast fodder:
Asha Degree:
9-year-old Asha left her home in the middle of the night on Feb. 14, 2000. Her family last saw her asleep in the bedroom of their home near Shelby. About 90 minutes later, a trucker spotted her walking along N.C. 18, a little more than a mile from home. That was the last reported sighting of the girl.
Eighteen months later, in August 2001, a construction worker found a book bag buried along N.C. 18 south of Morganton in Burke County – about 20 miles from her home. Investigators said several of Asha’s belongings were found in the bag. The case has never been solved.
Kim Thomas:
Kim Thomas, 32, was chased down in her Cotswold home one morning in July 1990 and stabbed more than 20 times. Her 10-month-old son was left unharmed in his crib, alone until nearly 10 p.m. when his father, Dr. Ed Friedland, alerted police about the killing. Friedland became a suspect and was charged with her murder. Though the charge eventually was dropped, Friedland has never been publicly exonerated.
Suspicion has also been cast onto Marion Gales, who did yard work for Thomas and was seen in the neighborhood the morning of her death.
Kim Medlin:
Police believed the rookie officer stalked Medlin for months.
Griffin pled not guilty, but was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In 2005, Griffin confessed.
Cherica Adams:
Adams, pregnant with former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth’s baby, was shot four times while driving home on Rea Road after midnight Nov. 16, 1999. She and Carruth had gone to see the movie “The Bone Collector.” As they drove home in separate cars, another car pulled up beside hers and began shooting.
Her baby was delivered 10 weeks premature and is now severely handicapped. Adams died a month later. Carruth was convicted of hiring a hit man who killed her. Police say he didn’t want the baby or to pay child support.
Biker massacre:
The July 4, 1979, massacre was the worst mass killing in Charlotte’s history, and it remains unsolved. Witnesses disappeared, or, intimidated by the biker culture, refused to talk. Five people in the Outlaw bike gang clubhouse in northeast Mecklenburg were shot to death. One victim was a teen-age girl.
Photos: Charlotte Observer, Courtesy Lou, & Jeff Siner/ Charlotte Observer.
This story was originally published January 6, 2015 at 1:32 AM with the headline "5 Charlotte murder cases worthy of Serial podcast season 2."