Suspect sought in Mount Olive slaying
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on May 17, 2005 1:45 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Emergency workers found a former Goldsboro man lying dead in a yard at the corner of Church and Kornegay streets about 11:30 p.m.
Russell Lee Nickelson, 32, had been shot in the chest, said Mount Olive Police Chief Emmett Ballree, but the chief added that an autopsy may show other wounds.
Ballree said the victim's body would be sent to the state Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill today to determine the exact cause of death.
Ballree said Mount Olive police investigators were interviewing people this morning to determine what may have led to Nickelson's death. The investigators do not have a motive yet, Ballree said, but they do have a suspect, who is being sought.
Nickelson had lived in Goldsboro on North William Street and on Fairview Circle.
He had served a six-month prison term after being convicted on felony drug charges in 1998 and 2000 and had been known to spend a lot of the time in Mount Olive, investigators said. But Ballree said he doesn't know if Nickelson had a permanent address there.
The murder Monday night was the first reported this year in Mount Olive. No murders occurred in the town last year, according to police records.