4 charged with murder in hit-and-run of NC student

On Sunday, O.C. Stephanoff tried to cope with the loss of one of her best friends, Katie Burdick-Crow, by remembering some of their best times together.

So Stephanoff took a pineapple to Walnut Street Park and laid it next to the spot on Lawrence Road where her 16-year-old friend from Green Hope High School suffered fatal injuries on Friday night.

“Whenever she came over she always ate all of our pineapples, so we always had pineapple ready for her,” Stephanoff said.

Many who knew Burdick-Crow struggled to understand how their sweet, outgoing friend could fall victim to what Cary police are calling a homicide that happened when she was robbed during a drug deal. Police say she died from injuries sustained during an altercation with the suspects that ended when she fell from a truck as it drove away.

Booked into the Wake County Jail on first-degree murder charges on Sunday were Jourdan Chanquion Mack, 20; Beth Strange, 18; Abijah James Masse, 17; and Joshua Odell Simmons, 17. All live in Morrisville. They are being held without bail.

Police said Simmons was driving the truck.

“She had so much good in her heart,” Stephanoff said. “When I first heard, I didn’t think it was real.”

Luke Warren Eason, 17, said he was hanging out with Burdick-Crow at the park on Friday and saw most of what happened. He returned to the park on Sunday to lay flowers there with Stephanoff.

Eason said that on Friday he stayed a few dozen feet behind Burdick-Crow as she greeted people she told him were her friends. He said Burdick-Crow was talking to people that he’d never met near the park entrance on Lawrence Road when he heard her scream and run toward the pickup the group of four arrived in.

“She screamed something back at me and I didn’t hear it,” he said.

Eason said he then saw Burdick-Crow run after the pickup and jump on its side as it pulled away.

“She was holding, like standing straight up … and she just fell off,” he said.

A 911 caller alerted authorities about an injured person on Lawrence Road at about 9:20 p.m. Friday, according to Cary police.

“There’s a gentlemen here with blood all over his face,” the caller said. “He’s acting very strange. He said not to call the police but I’m calling you because this girl, I don’t feel a pulse or anything.”

Eason said he was likely the person the 911 caller referred to because he was covered in blood from trying to help Burdick-Crow after she fell from the truck. He said he was confused at the time. “I didn’t know what was happening,” Eason said. “I was shocked.”

The man the 911 caller mentioned is not a suspect, according to Cary police Capt. Randall Rhyne. Rhyne declined to provide further details of the case.

Burdick-Crow was taken to WakeMed Raleigh, where she died, according to Carrie Roman, a Cary spokeswoman.

Her family on Sunday released a statement through the Brown-Wynne Funeral Home thanking the Cary police department for its efforts.

“We are devastated by the loss of our daughter Katie, but we appreciate the outpouring of love and support from so many of our friends,” it says. “Katie was a very loving, caring person and it is a shame her life has ended so soon. We ask for your prayers and good wishes, but also your respect for our privacy at this time.”

Burdick-Crow liked to go on road trips, having recently gone to the beach with Eason and to a store in Harnett County with Stephanoff to taste the “best apple fritters” around, Stephanoff said.

Burdick-Crow is at least the fourth student to die at Green Hope in the last year. She was troubled by the deaths at her school, Stephanoff said. She recently posted a note on Facebook encouraging others to share their feelings with family and friends.

“Talk to your friends and family. Tell them you love them and that you are always there if they need you,” the post from June 16 reads. “I am heartbroken that all these beautiful people have gone so soon.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 3:48 PM with the headline "4 charged with murder in hit-and-run of NC student."