Car-Jacked Kidnapped Tortured Raped and Murdered
ROCKY MOUNT, 12:23 p.m. EDT July 2, 2001 — Nash County deputies have charged a suspect in the slaying of a Virginia woman carjacked in Greenville over the weekend. The woman’s 11-month-old son was injured.
| Andre Edwards is being held without bond in the Nash County jail. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and robbery. |
Jeremy Hayes, his wife and infant son were returning to Virginia Saturday when they made a stop at a CVS drug store in Greenville.
When Hayes returned from the store, the family vehicle and his wife and son were gone. Hayes called police.
A moment earlier, Greenville police got a call from an eyewitness.
“The caller stated that he had seen a black male shove a white female into the back seat of a vehicle that was parked in the parking lot of a local pharmacy,” says Melissa Bartlett of the Greenville Police Department.
Greenville police activated a statewide hunt for the car, Ginger Hayes, and her son, Nicholas.
An ATM transaction at a Food Lion led authorities to Rocky Mount, and police saw the suspect on videotape.
“(The tape showed a) black male, white female coming through the line at Food Lion and being waited on by a cashier there,” says Sgt. W.G. Sikes of the Rocky Mount Police Department.
But it was too late. A passerby found Ginger Hayes dead; her son was injured.
Rocky Mount police arrested Andre Edwards, 31, of Rocky Mount and charged him with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and robbery.
The boy was reunited with his father and is recovering from dehydration and sunburn.
Edwards, is being held in Nash County jail without bail. Police say Edwards has been convicted of dozens of charges since 1987, including larceny, assault, and carrying a concealed weapon.
Edwards is expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday.
