Ex-AHS football player
arrested on murder charge

A former Asheville High football player was arrested by city police on a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting of a man at Hillcrest Apartments.

Marcus Austin Thorpe, 18, of Dorchester Avenue, allegedly slayed Louis Andrew Fleming in a drug dispute. Thorpe surrendered to detectives at 2 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Buncombe County Magistrate’s office. He is being held without bond.

Thorpe also is charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Diane Bowditch Logan, Fleming’s passenger.

Investigators had witnesses that identified Thorpe as the shooter.

After receiving reports of a person with gunshot wounds, police responded to the public housing complex around 4 a.m. Sept. 12. They found Fleming, 49, of Asheville, slumped in the driver’s seat of a van that had struck the front porch of building 31. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Logan, 54, of Swannanoa, had been shot in the face. She was treated at Mission Hospital and released.

Fleming and Logan apparently had a dispute with Thorpe while attempting to buy a rock of cocaine, according to reports.
An argument that followed focused on how big the rock of cocains was or whether it was worth what they wanted to pay for it, authorities said.

Since the shootings occurred, Thorpe reportedly had been seen in and around Hillcrest Apartments.

UNCA police report series
of larcenies around campus

UNC Asheville police recently reported the following activity:

• A larceny of a telephone from Benjamin Hampton Miller at Mills Hall on campus. He reported the items missing at 12:34 a.m. Sept. 8.

Miller, 18, a UNCA student from Hendersonville, reported the theft of a ENVY2 telephone valued at $100. Initially, he also reported the theft of a wallet valued at $25; $170 in cash; and a Wachovia credit card, valued at $1, but later he told police he found the wallet with the cash and credit card.

• A larceny of a guitar from the room of Taylor Christian Parrish at 405 Governors Hall on campus. He reported the musical instrument missing at 6 p.m. Sept. 7.
Parrish, 17, a UNCA student from Highlands, reported the theft of an Alverez guitar valued at $350. He told police he had last seen the guitar at 10:50 a.m. Aug. 31.

• A larceny of a telephone from Ryan Patrick Hoag at the Health & Fitness Center on campus.
Hoag, 21, a UNCA student from Asheville, reported the theft of a Motorola Razor phone valued at $100. He reported the phone missing at 1:05 p.m. Aug. 29 and he had last know it was secure at noon Aug. 25.

• Two misdemeanor charges involving illegal possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia against John Mark Herring at 11:30 p.m. Sept. 4 on Campus Drive.
Herring, 19, a UNCA student from Clinton was charged with possession of an ounce of marijuana and for having drug “equipment/paraphernalia.”

• A misdemeanor charge of underage consumption of alcohol against Larkin Coffey at 11:45 p.m. Sept. 6 at 310 Miles Hall on campus.

Coffey, 18, listed by police as a “non-resident” of UNCA from Raleigh, was charged with consumption of an alcoholic beverage while being less than age 21.

• A misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting an underage person by giving that individual a malt beverage to consume against Mauro Francisco Sarabia-Garcia at 11:45 p.m. Sept. 6 at 310 Miles Hall on campus.

Sarabia-Garcia, 21, a Mexico City native who is listed by police as a non-resident of UNCA from Raleigh, was taken to the Buncombe County Detention Center. He was held under a $200 secured bond for 70 minutes, with a trial date set at Oct. 16 in Asheville.

• Issued a citation to a driver for entering an intersection and ignoring a red light against Marie Ferguson Whitney, 18, of Hickory at 1 p.m. Oct. 16.

The incident, in which Whitney was driving a 2000 Honda, occurred on Broadway Street at W.T. Weaver Boulevard near campus.
• A misdemeanor charge of underage consumption of alcohol against George Henry Nicholas at 4:30 a.m. Sept. 6 at University Heights near campus.

Nicholas, 20, a non-resident from Richmond, Va., was charged consuming an alcoholic beverage while being less than age 21.

• A charge of larceny of a Visa debit card, valued at $20, from Gabriel David Smith at 7 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Health & Fitness Center.

Smith, 22, a UNCA student who lives in Asheville, had last seen his debit card at 12:50 p.m. Sept. 14.

• A charge of driving while license revoked against Dylan Wilder Schumacher at 10:25 p.m. Spet. 14 on University Heights.
Schumacher, 18, a UNCA student from Durham, was dirving a 1986 Subaru Forester.

• A larceny of several items from Savannah Jean Honeycutt at 2:50 p.m. Sept. 11 in Parking Lot C on campus.
Honeycutt, 19, a UNCA student from Marion, reported the theft from her vehicle of a TomTom1 GPS device, valued at $130; a pink purse, $75; and sunglasses, $50.

The heist was accomplished “by opening the car door and removing the items,” the police report noted. The items were last known secure at 9:45 a.m. Sept. 11.

• A larceny from a motor vehicle and vandalism damage to the vehicle owned by Brittany Michelle Searcy at 3 p.m. Sept. 14 at PVA Lower Lot 7.

Searcy, 19, was with Ricky Dean Searcy, 48, of Columbus, N.C. Police noted that her friend is not a suspect.
Damages sustained included the theft of a purse valued at $80 and vandalism of the window glaze on Searcy’s 1999 Volkswagen Beetle.