More charges filed against Catawba County man in killing of Good Samaritan

Authorities have filed more charges in the fatal shooting of a Good Samaritan who went to help a man whose car slipped off an icy Catawba County road.

Marvin Jacob Lee, 27, of Claremont, was charged with murder in Friday’s shooting death of 26-year-old Jefferson Heavner, who had stopped to help Lee.

Sheriff’s investigators on Tuesday added four counts of attempted first-degree murder against Lee, and a charge of discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, jail records show.

The attempted murder charges involve shots fired at those who’d gone to help Lee when his car went off Mathis Church Road in the Bandys community, authorities said.

During a Tuesday court hearing, District Judge Robert Mullinax set $1 million bond on the new charges. Lee remains in the Catawba County Jail without bond on the murder charge and has a probable cause hearing Feb. 15. Court-appointed attorney Victoria Jayne will represent Lee on both sets of charges.

Heavner and two other men were passing in a truck around 5:20 p.m. Friday when they stopped to help the motorist later identified as Lee, Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid has said. Nearby neighbors came to help, too.

But Lee became belligerent, and the men decided to call police. As they called, Lee took out a pistol and started shooting, the sheriff said.

The group ran. A bullet struck Heavner, and he fell. Lee walked to Heavner, stood over him and shot him “numerous times,” Reid said.

Lee returned to his car as deputies arrived. They shouted for him to get out. When he didn’t, they called a SWAT team, which pulled up to Lee’s car in an armored truck. Lee was passed out, Reid said.

Lee awoke as the officers struggled to pull him out, and he tried to resist, according to the sheriff.

Heavner lived in Newton. He was a single father of a 17-month-old son.

“Jefferson was always willing to help out in situations like this,” wrote his cousin, Crystal Steagall, on a Go Fund Me page she set up to help with funeral and other expenses. “This was a senseless crime that took a son, brother and father from a family that loves him dearly.”

The page had raised $29,380 as of Tuesday afternoon. All of the money beyond the funeral costs will go to Heavner’s son, Steagall said.

Michael Gordon, David Perlmutt and Karen Sullivan contributed

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "More charges filed against Catawba County man in killing of Good Samaritan."