Charlotte man confessed to July stabbing death of Whitney Hurd, prosecutor says in court

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police made an arrest in the killing of Whitney Elizabeth Hurd, who was found stabbed to death in July in a south Charlotte town home.

Brandon David Braxton, 33, of Charlotte, was charged late Thursday with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to Mecklenburg County court records.

Braxton is accused of stabbing the 32-year-old Hurd to death in her home on Werburgh Street, then taking her BMW and iPhone, records show.

Hurd’s body was found around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 14, in the Magnolia Park town home community, just north of the intersection of Park and Tyvola roads, police said in a news release.

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police affidavit filed in court said a neighbor reportedly saw Braxton driving away from Hurd’s home in her vehicle at 11:20 p.m. on July 4.

She had been reported missing by her family on July 11, CMPD said.

Details of police investigation

Police executed search warrants for Hurd’s cell phone, credit and debit cards, social media and dating apps.

Detectives used location data from phone records to find the last place Hurd’s phone pinged. Police found her vehicle at that location and her phone case inside of the car, the affidavit said, but her phone had never been recovered.

Police matched fingerprints found inside of the vehicle to Braxton, the affidavit said.

Pineville police arrested Braxton on July 24 on unrelated charges and he was taken to the Mecklenburg jail.

CMPD detectives took him from jail to police headquarters Aug. 8 to interview him.

According to the affidavit, he told detectives he and Hurd were friends in high school, and that while he had been inside of her home, he had never been inside her vehicle. When asked if he knew what happened to Hurd and where she was, he wouldn’t give any information, but “nodded his head up and down in the affirmative,” the affidavit said.

He told detectives Hurd “look petrified” the last time he saw her.

An autopsy found Hurd died after being stabbed three times in the chest.

According to the police affidavit, Braxton was again arrested in Pineville on unrelated charges — this time on Jan. 23 — and taken to the Mecklenburg jail. Court records show he was charged with resisting an officer and trespassing inside of Newport Academy, a teen mental heath and substance abuse treatment program on Pineville-Matthews Road.

Court records in that case said the property manager called authorities after he was alerted by security that Braxton had gotten inside the building. He said Braxton was sitting in a chair in the hallway near the main lobby.

An arriving officer knocked on the window and motioned for Braxton to come out. Braxton nodded his head, the affidavit said, but didn’t get out of the chair. The officer then used his vehicle’s PA system to tell Braxton to come to the door. Braxton got out of the chair and walked out of view.

An officer secured entries to the building and the Pineville Fire Department forced their way in. An officer told Braxton to make himself known, and he laid down on the hallway floor and was arrested. He later told police he went into the building to escape the cold.

On March 3, Braxton submitted a grievance in jail that said, “I killed Whitney Hurd,” according to an affidavit.

Braxton remains held in jail without bond.

Suspect confessed, prosecutor says

He appeared in court Friday morning wearing an orange jumpsuit and black sandals, watching as District Court Judge Cecilia Oseguera sided with a Mecklenburg County prosecutor and denied bond.

The judge said he was a flight risk and had no family ties in Mecklenburg County.

Assistant District Attorney Madison Gladwell said that people close to Hurd told police she and Braxton hadn’t been in touch in several years, having lost touch after high school. But then he began showing up at her home.

There was incident in which he fell asleep in her driveway after she wouldn’t let him in, Gladwell said. The affidavit said Braxton was intoxicated at the time. Hurd called police when Braxton broke into her home and had told family and friends about the incident, the affidavit said.

In an interview with detectives on Tuesday, he confessed to killing Hurd, Gladwell said in court.

Braxton didn’t speak during Friday’s court hearing, looking at the judge and attorneys as they spoke about his case. A family friend of Braxton was present in court, and declined to comment after the hearing.

Several other pending charges

Braxton has several other charges pending in court, records show, including two from 2024.

He was charged with assaulting a woman on Oct. 27 after he attempted to grab the top of her shorts, an arrest warrant said. He was also charged with indecent exposure after he exposed his nude body to a person that same day at the corner of 6th Street and Church Street, an affidavit said.

He also has pending charges alleging he threw a landscaping brick through an upper level window of a person’s property in south Charlotte on Dec. 31. The victim said Braxton could be heard yelling “Cougar” and “America Perfect,” in surveillance footage and was seen walking away, an affidavit said.

Additionally, Braxton also has pending simple assault charges. One stems from an allegation that he punched a man in his upper lip at a gas station on Dec. 31 in south Charlotte. An affidavit said Braxton and the man were near the same gas pump on opposite sides. Braxton punched him after the two made eye contact, and then ran off, records said.

The other stems from allegations that Braxton attempted to steal cash on Jan. 2 from someone raising money for dogs at a restaurant in south Charlotte, an affidavit said. Braxton is accused of stealing her binder, which had $27 inside.

According to court records in that case:

A man nearby saw the woman chasing Braxton and tackled him to the ground, putting Braxton in a headlock in the parking lot of a nearby hotel. Braxton punched the man above the right eye and left a cut.

Another person arrived to help detain Braxton until police arrived. The hotel gave police video showing Braxton with the binder when he was tackled by the man, as well as of him punching the man.

Braxton’s next hearing on the murder and robbery charge was scheduled for April 9.

This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 6:30 AM.