Bodies Found After No-Show Prompts Welfare Check

"KNIGHTDALE, NC — A couple was found dead Thursday evening in their home in the Mingo Creek subdivision, apparent victims of a murder/suicide, police said.

"Yul Brynner Barber and Veronica Sutton-Wheeler, both 49, were dead when police went to the house on the 600 block of Bellefont Court shortly after 7:30 p.m. Police had been asked to check on the couple’s welfare after Yul Barber did not show up for work.

"Barber died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, town spokesman Brian Bowman said.

"Police did not disclose how Sutton-Wheeler died.

"The two victims were discovered by Barber’s employer and his older brother, Jerome Barber. In the 911 call, Yul Barber’s employer said he came to check on him because he missed work and he had `never missed a day of work in his life.`

"His employer told the 911 dispatcher he called Knightdale Police to check on him around 11 a.m., but two officers could not get in the house without a family member.

"Yul Barber’s employer told the dispatcher he returned to the house with Jerome Barber, but no police officers, to check for themselves around 7:30 p.m.

"Records show Yul Barber has a criminal record going back about 30 years in Cumberland County. Barber had been charged four times for driving while impaired between 1988 and 1993. He was also charged with assault on a female in 1989, though that charge was dismissed."

From newsobserver.com...