Dried blood and note in wrong handwriting led cops to accused killer, NC officials say

One of the first signs something had happened to John Agnew was a note on his front door that said “not feeling well” — and it wasn’t written in his handwriting, North Carolina authorities said.

A fingerprint taken from the note eventually led police to the man accused of killing him, and now 38-year-old Adrion Whorley has been sentenced to 25 to 31 years in prison on a second-degree murder charge, officials said.

McClatchy News reached out to Whorley’s attorneys for comment June 12 and did not immediately receive a response.

On April 10, 2017, Agnew’s daughter visited her father’s house after not being able to get in touch with him, according to a June 10 news release from the Forsyth County District Attorney.

His daughter didn’t recognize the handwriting of the note, and she called a locksmith to get inside, officials said.

Inside the Triad home, the evidence mounted. Investigators found dried blood, Agnew’s safe had been forced open, his car was gone and some of his remains were found in the home, officials said.

Prosecutors said Whorley stabbed Agnew multiple times, then dismembered his body and took part of the remains to another location to avoid being discovered.

The nearby Randolph County Sheriff’s Office discovered those remains.

Forensic analysis matched the fingerprint on the note to Whorley, and he was arrested the day after in Rockingham, about a 100-mile drive south of Winston-Salem, officials said.

Whorley told investigators he was visiting Agnew, whom he had known for years, when they got into an argument and Whorley killed the man, according to Forsyth County officials.

Authorities said he stole Agnew’s car and a gun from his safe, then directed investigators to the location of the vehicle, which they found near an abandoned house in the woods.

“Since his arrest, Adrion Whorley had been found incompetent to proceed to trial and received extensive psychiatric treatment in an effort to restore his capacity to stand trial,” the district attorney’s office said. “Recently Mr. Whorley became competent to stand trial.”

He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, destroying or removing a body, concealing an unnatural death and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Winston-Salem is about an 80-mile drive northeast from Charlotte.