Mount Olive murder suspect caught
By Lee Williams
Published in News on October 5, 2006 1:56 PM
A Goldsboro man who fled the state to avoid a murder charge learned the hard way this week that you can't escape the long arm of the law.
Basher Baker, 21, of Hugh Street, faces one count of murder in connection with the Feb. 26 shooting death of 19-year-old Octavius Manley of Mount Olive. The shooting occurred in the 600 block of Wilmington Avenue, Goldsboro police officials said.
Police found Manley lying unresponsive in the street about 6:30 p.m. Manley was treated by emergency crews at the scene and later transported to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police and agents from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation interviewed witnesses immediately after the shooting, according to reports. A warrant for Baker's arrest was issued the next day, officials said.
"We had a warrant on him since Feb. 27, but it's just been a matter of locating him," Goldsboro police Maj. Jay Memmelaar said.
Baker eluded capture for nearly eight months.
After the murder, Baker was arrested in his birth state of New Jersey on unrelated charges, officials said. That's when Baker's luck as a fugitive on the run started to run out.
"He was picked up on some unrelated stuff, and they checked him and found out that he was wanted by us," Memmelaar said.
Baker was transported back to Goldsboro to answer the charge. Baker was taken into custody by Goldsboro police Tuesday.
Baker was being held without bond at the Wayne County Jail.
Memmelaar declined to give a motive for the fatal shooting or say whether the two men were involved in a fight at the time of the shooting.