Woman's Body Found 3-13 08 Tarboro, NC[IDENTIFIED] Ernestine Battle

[Nut44x4]

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2578357/

This one really bugs me. I can find no updates with more info on the victim. All they released is her height.

Body Found in Edgecombe County Woods


Posted: Mar. 14, 2008

Tarboro, N.C. — Edgecombe County sheriff's investigators said Friday they are investigating the discovery of a body found in a wooded area off Seven Bridges Road between Whitakers and Battleboro.

The sheriff's office received a call about 1:58 p.m. from a local farmer who said he was taking down an electric fence on the property when he noticed the female body approximately 40 feet inside the wood line.

The woman appeared to be approximately 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 4 inches tall. Sheriff James Knight said investigators were awaiting a cause of death from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill.

Last August, authorities found the body of Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, who was last seen May 8 on Carolina Avenue in Rocky Mount. But a cause of death was never determined.

Neighbors said the location where Thorpe was found was about a half-mile away from the body found Thursday.

Some are concerned the two bodies are not a coincidence.

"I would like to see them determine what has happened in this case and why this is occurring in this area," said one resident who did not want to be identified."

Knight said both cases are being treated as homicides but would not say if they were connected.

He urged anyone who lives nearby to keep an eye on the cars driving in the area and for any suspicious activity.

[Roamer]

:1222423:

[Nut44x4]

Woman's Body Found In Edgecombe County Identified
Last Updated: 10:42 AM May 2, 2008

A body found a month and a half ago by a local farmer in Edgecombe County has been identified.

The farmer called the sheriff's department March 13th after he noticed the woman's body some 40 feet inside the woods. It happened on Seven Bridges Road, between Whitakers and Battleboro.


Today the sheriff's department says the body was that of Ernestine Battle, 50, of Rocky Mount.

The sheriff says the cause of the woman's death has not yet been determined.
http://www.witntv.com/news/headlines/18485949.html

[Nut44x4]

Dead woman identified
Body was found on March 13

Thanks to DNA evidence, a woman's body found in a Whitakers woods on March 13 has a name.

Ernestine Battle, 50, of 619 Branch St. in Rocky Mount, was identified as the missing woman.

Authorities were unable to tell the age or race of the woman due to decomposition at the time of discovery.

The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office first checked to see who was reported missing in the area, then called the mother of one of the women to ask for her help.

"We had to take a DNA swab of her mouth for identification," said Sheriff James Knight. "Then it had to be sent to a lab for analysis."

The body was sent to the N.C. Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill for evaluation. The DNA procedure took approximately three weeks.

Knight said the cause of death is not known at this time.

"We don't know anything about the victim at this time, or what type of work she did," Knight said. "We are treating it as a homicide. We do not have any suspects at this time, but the investigation is continuing."

Knight said there is no one reported missing in Edgecombe County at this time.

Battle's body was found out in the country, in a woods off Seven Bridges Road, between the Battleboro community and Whitakers.

http://www.dailysoutherner.com/local/local_story_122111615.html

[Nut44x4]

Oh geezeeee, now they are going to bring out the bad stuff....

Published May 02, 2008 10:49 am -

Missing woman had criminal record


Sherry Brunson
Staff Writer


Ernestine Battle, whose decomposed body was found March 13 in rural Edgecombe County, was on probation for drug charges when she was reported missing last January, but she had a history of prostitution and crime.

Records from the state Department of Correction show Battle was convicted of having drug paraphernalia and drug possession, a misdemeanor, on March 5, 2007, in Edgecombe County. She was given a suspended sentence and placed on 12 months probation.

According to records, Battle's record began in 1999, and was filled with convictions for prostitution, breaking and entering, misdemeanor larceny and other drug charges.

Reports indicate she was unemployed when she was reported missing in early February.

"Coretta Battle, whom we believe is her sister, reported her missing Feb. 3, but she had been missing several days before that," said Detective Sgt. Don Mosely of the Rocky Mount Police Department, who has partnered with the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office in the ongoing investigation. "She was last seen around the Family Dollar Store on Cokey Road in Rocky Mount."

Battle's body was found six weeks later, on March 13, on Seven Bridges Road, between Whitakers and the Battleboro community.

The body was sent to the N.C. Chief Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill for evaluation, but officials eventually needed DNA evidence for the identification, which was obtained by a DNA sample from her mother. Approximately three and a half weeks later, a DNA sample gave a face to the body.

Sheriff James Knight said Battle's death is considered a homicide, and is continuing the investigation.

Anyone with information that may lead to an arrest in this case is asked to call the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office at 641-7911.


http://www.dailysoutherner.com/local/local_story_123104914.html

[Nut44x4]

They should post a picture in case anyone saw her with someone! Grrrrr.

[packy]

That would be a good idea.

My condolences to her family.

[Roamer]

No matter what they bring out about her, she didn't deserve to be murdered and thrown away like that.

I add my condolences to her family.

[Nut44x4]

BINGO! And mine as well.

[annalyzer]

Victim's family seeks help to solve murders

By Mike Hixenbaugh
Rocky Mount Telegram

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

The family of the most recent Rocky Mount woman found murdered in Western Edgecombe County is calling on anyone with details about the string of murders to come forward.

“Someone needs to step up and do something about this,” Pepita Hargrove said Wednesday, two days after learning remains found last week matched her 31-year-old sister Jarniece Latonya Hargrove. “I don’t want anyone else to have to go through this. Whoever is doing this needs to be brought to justice.”

Authorities will not definitively say if the murders of Hargrove and four other women found dead the past four years are related, but a series of similarities seems to link the cases.

All of the victims were black women found in remote locations near the eastern boundary of Rocky Mount, and each had a history of drug or alcohol abuse, according to criminal records. Two of the victims were previously convicted on prostitution charges.

Hargrove’s family said deputies indicated each of the victims was found without clothes, although officials would not confirm the statement.

An autopsy for one of the women indicates possible strangulation, and family said unofficial results from Hargrove’s autopsy indicate the same.

“It’s obvious when you step back and connect the dots, these cases are related,” Rocky Mount Councilman and NAACP President Andre Knight said. “These are all black females who are being targeted, and regardless of whatever lifestyles or backgrounds are attributed to them, nobody deserves to be killed. It’s very troubling for the community.”

The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office is leading a task force investigation to determine if the murders are related, Sheriff James Knight said, declining any further comment.

District Attorney Robert Evans and Rocky Mount police met last week to discuss their offices’ potential involvement in the investigation. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation already is involved, Sheriff Knight said in a previous interview.

The first four victims were identified as:

Melody Wiggins, 29, found May 30, 2005, in an area south of U.S. 64. She died from a blunt strike to the head.

Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, found Aug. 17, 2007, between the Battleboro community and Whitakers. She had been reported missing May 8, 2007.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/multimedia/dynamic/00196/ErnestineBattle_196787e.jpg
Ernestine Battle, 50, found March 14, 2008, also between Battleboro and Whitakers.

Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, of Rocky Mount, found March 7, 2009. Authorities said she was strangled.

A crew of inmates also discovered skeletal remains in February near Melton Drive in Rocky Mount, but that person has not been identified, officials said.

A worker found Hargrove’s skeletal remains last week in a wooded area off Seven Bridges Road, about two months after she went missing from her Rocky Mount home.

Pepita Hargrove said she broke down when deputies told her family her sister was dead.

“She’s my only sister, and I want justice given to the person who did this,” Pepita said. “She had problems, sure. But nobody deserves for her life to be taken.”

Pepita said her sister was schizophrenic and struggled with drug abuse, but said overall her sister was “a loving and caring person.” Pepita said she and her family wept when funeral directors showed them her sister’s remains.

“That’s something I will remember for the rest of my life,” Pepita said. “Nobody should have to go through that. Nobody. Whoever is doing this needs to be brought to justice.”

Andre Knight said he’s heard outcry from the community about the string of incidents, but wonders if enough public attention has been paid.

“Regardless of what a person is involved in, that’s still someone’s child, still someone’s mother, still someone’s sister,” Knight said. “No one has the right to take someone’s life. That’s a concern regardless of what color or race or crowd that person comes from.”

Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley, whose department is assisting in the investigation, said it’s troubling when members of the community are found dead under such circumstances.

Manley is urging anyone with information about these cases, or any other incidents of missing women, to contact authorities as soon as possible.

In the meantime, he and Sheriff Knight said area residents should take common-sense precautions, by being safe and knowing the community.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/victims-family-seeks-help-to-solve-murders-707170.html

[annalyzer]

9 women vanish from Rocky Mount, leaving residents on edge


http://www.starnewsonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=WM&Date=20090814&Category=ARTICLES&ArtNo=908149988&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&border=0
Tynatta James, sister of murder victim Ernestine Battle, holds a portrait of her sister in Rocky Mount on Monday, July 27, 2009.

Published: Friday, August 14, 2009 at 8:26 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 14, 2009 at 8:26 a.m.

Rocky Mount | They spent their nights jumping in and out of strange cars, trolling otherwise empty streets lined with decaying storefronts and boarded-up homes. Many sold sex to support drug habits or children left in the care of worried, hardworking grandmothers.

Even when they were picked up for drugs or prostitution, nights in jail looming, they called home to let their families know they were OK. Then, one by one, the calls stopped.

Since 2005, nine women who lived at the edges of the poor community in this small North Carolina city have disappeared. Six bodies were found along rural roads just a few miles outside town, most so decomposed that investigators could not tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides. Three women are still missing.

Police will not say whether they suspect a serial killer, but people in the community about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh do, and they’re impatient with law enforcement efforts to investigate the slayings.

After the latest body – that of 31-year-old Jarneice Hargrove – was found in June behind a burnt-out house that was once a crack den, local law enforcement and state police formed a task force. In July, the FBI got involved.

But friends and family say it didn’t happen soon enough.

“We got someone out here that’s snatching up females,” said Stephanie Jones, a 28-year-old nursing student. “I mean, next person could be your grandmother, it could be me, it could be my mother, it could be my daughter.”

Jones, who knew two of the victims, has founded a group that is raising money to publicize the slayings and search for those still missing. She says the cases are being swept under the rug because of the victims’ lifestyles.

The lead investigator, Sheriff James Knight, said he cannot comment.

Rumors swirl about the identity of the killer, if there is just one. Some say he is an ex-military man or an ex-police officer because he leaves no evidence. Others believe he is exacting revenge on local women after contracting HIV from a prostitute.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Teague said the killings are probably the work of one person.

“You’re talking about a man who didn’t finish high school, probably doesn’t have a regular job, probably not married or in a stable relationship,” he said.

Vivian Lord, chairwoman of the criminal justice department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said that if one killer is responsible, he is likely trying to cleanse the world of prostitutes or deliberately picking victims he knows won’t be missed.

If it’s the latter, he chose wrong when he killed Ernestine Battle. Her sister, Tynatta James, 64, remembers the February 2008 day the family reported Battle missing. It had been less than 48 hours since they last heard from the 50-year-old, but she always checked in, even from jail.

“We knew something wasn’t right because she hadn’t called,” James said.

A month later, a man putting up a wire fence around his property down a rural stretch of road outside town found a badly decomposed body. The bodies of two other victims were found in the same area in 2007 and 2009.

In May, a DNA test identified the remains as Battle’s. She was wearing only her underwear and police told James she was probably strangled, but they couldn’t be sure because animals had dragged away a small throat bone that typically breaks when someone is killed that way.

“I’m still frustrated,” James said. “I didn’t really feel like they were doing all they could. I just feel like they recently started to get involved in the cases after the last lady.”

For Alecia Johnson, the killings were a wake-up call. She knew most of the women: They all walked the streets of Rocky Mount together. She said she didn’t wait for police to catch a killer. She stopped after the body of the first woman, 29-year-old Melody Wiggins, was found dumped in the woods in 2005.

“I used to walk these streets and jump in and out of cars. But then when that first girl Melody got killed I stopped that because I knew he would kill another,” said Johnson, 41. “I hate for that to happen to her, but it probably saved my life. I have five babies.”

Counting the names on one hand, she added, “There’s probably five or six girls left around here that will jump in and out of cars. He really did kill the whole neighborhood.”

Jones’ group has raised enough money to post billboards with the faces of the missing and slain women. Now she is raising more to organize search teams for those whose bodies have not been found.

Juray Tucker, the mother of 37-year-old Yolanda Lancaster, missing since February, said she wants to help with fundraising but doesn’t get much time now that she has to care for her daughter’s children.

“Every day, every minute, every hour, I’m worried,” she said. “It’s constant on my mind and there ain’t nothing I can do, ain’t nothing I can do.”

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090814/ARTICLES/908149988?Title=9-women-vanish-from-Rocky-Mount-leaving-residents-on-edge

[annalyzer]

Arrest in string of slayings

Tuesday, September 01, 2009 | 9:18 PM

ROCKY MOUNT, NC (WTVD) -- Police have charged a Rocky Mount man with the murder of one of six women found slain in Edgecombe County, North Carolina over the past four years.

Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, is accused of killing Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28. Her body was discovered in March near Marriot Farm Road a few miles north of Rocky Mount. The medical examiner said she'd most likely been strangled.

Pittman has a criminal record. According to the North Carolina sex offender registry, he was convicted in 1994 of taking indecent liberties with a 2-year-old. He was released from prison in April 1997. He was also once charged with loitering for prostitution.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said Pittman has been in the Nash County Jail since mid-August on charges of driving with a revoked license and failing to register as a sex offender. He's now charged with first-degree murder and is being held at the Edgecombe County Detention Center.

Nicholson's family made a brief statement after the arrest.
"I'm relieved that there has been an arrest. I am grateful for the help of law enforcement and I continue to pray for the families of the other victims," said Nicholson's mother Diana Nicholson.

Nicholson also said she doesn't know Antwann Pittman or whether he knew her daughter.
Pittman's mother, Gloria Pittman, told Eyewitness News Tuesday evening her son wasn't capable of murder.
"It shocked me; it really did, because I know he isn't that type of person to do nothing like that," she said.

Pittman's mother said police are "pinning it on her son," because of his past record.
"I really don't think that he really did none of this," Pittman said. "They just really want to pin it on someone they already got someone in jail; it just might not be him."
Antwann Pittman is scheduled to face a judge Wednesday morning.
Six women total have been found slain

Pittman is just charged with the single murder. In addition to Nicholson, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, Melody Wiggins, 29, and Jarneice Hargrove, 31, were all found between 2005 and early this year in the same rural area outside Rocky Mount.
The body of the first woman - Wiggins - was found in May 2005 on Noble Mill Pond Road. She'd been beaten and stabbed.

Thorpe was found in August 2007. Her head and an arm had been cut off.
In February, skeletal remains that have yet to be identified were found, and then Battle was found in March, 2008 in some woods. The medical examiner said it was not possible to determine a cause of death.
Nicholson was found in March, and Hargrove was found in June by a farmer.

Three other women are missing.
Yolanda Lancaster, 37; Joyce Renee Durham, 46; and Christine Marie Boone, 43 have not been heard from by their families for months.
The victims all had similar backgrounds. All were linked to drug abuse and possible prostitution.

Investigators have refused to speculate on whether the killings are the work of a serial killer, but they've called in the help of an FBI profiler who specializes in serial murderers.

"I'd like to express condolences and deepest sympathy to the families. While there's an arrest in Nicholson case, we'll continue to work the other cases. Efforts to locate the three missing, continue," said Rocky Mount Police Chief John H. Manley, Jr.

The chief declined to take questions citing the delicate nature of the ongoing investigation.
He said investigators have put in over six thousand hours on the case and followed up on some 300 leads.

"We thank the community for ongoing support. We still need your assistance in these investigations. Anyone with information on these cases should contact Twin City Crimestoppers at (252) 977-1111," he said.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?id=6993502&section=news/local

[annalyzer]

Man Arrested For One Of Rocky Mount Killings

Authorities have announced an arrest in one of the slayings of six Rocky Mount women.
Posted: 10:50 AM Sep 1, 2009

http://media.graytvinc.com/images/antwanpittman.jpg

Authorities have announced an arrest in one of the slayings of six Rocky Mount women.

The man arrested is Antwan Maurice Pittman. He was arrested for the murder of 28-year-old Taraha Shenice Nicholson.

Nicholson was reported missing February. Her body was found in March, off Marriott Road in Edgcombe County.

At a Tuesday afternoon press conference, law enforcement officials did not take questions and did not make any direct reference to the other deceased women: 31-year-old Joarniece Latonya Hargrove, 35-year-old Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 50-year-old Ernestine Battle and 29-year-old Melody LaShae Wiggins.

Their bodies, along with a sixth body found in February still not identified, were found in the same rural area. Three other missing women with similar descriptions and backgrounds are missing.

Officials did say at the press conference the task force formed to investigate the deaths is still working. To date, the task force has put in 6,000 manhours and investigated 300 leads.

Pitman is listed on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry website.

His address is listed as 219 Anderson Street in Rocky Mount. Pittman's reported addresses since 1997 have been in Battleboro and Rocky Mount.

His age is listed as 31.

Pittman was convicted in 1994 of indecent liberties with a minor in Edgecombe County. The victim's age was two. He was released from prison in 1997.

According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections website, Pittman was convicted of DWI in Nash County in 2006.

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/56596947.html

[annalyzer]

Suspect in Rocky Mount killing had record at 16
Neighbors knew little, but rap sheet tells a story

Published: Wed, Sep. 09, 2009 02:00AM
Modified Wed, Sep. 09, 2009 08:20AM

ROCKY MOUNT -- Although neighbors say they knew little of Antwan Maurice Pittman, the man indicted Tuesday on a murder charge, North Carolina court records tell at least part of his story, starting at age 16.

Pittman was arrested last week by a task force formed to investigate the killings of six women whose bodies were found in the swampy woodlands of rural Edgecombe County about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. He is charged with the murder of Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, but authorities have declined to say whether he may be implicated in the other killings.

He is being held in Central Prison while he awaits trial.

(more at link)
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1680697.html