Police arrest third suspect in murder

Boyd

Barnett

By Sarah Nagem

snagem@salisburypost.com

Police arrested a third person Sunday in the murder last week of a Salisbury dentist.

Christopher Allen Boyd, 21, of 873 Oakwood Villa Drive in Kannapolis, is charged with murder in the death of Dr. David Boyd. Christopher Boyd and Dr. Boyd were not related, Salisbury Police Chief Mark Wilhelm said. Christopher Boyd is the brother of Candice Jo Drye's boyfriend, he said.

Drye, 23, of Mocksville, was charged with Dr. Boyd's murder Thursday night.

Late Saturday, police also charged Jonathan Alexander Barnett, 18, of 6276 Old Salisbury Road, Kannapolis, with murder. Barnett and Christopher Boyd are cousins, Wilhelm said. Dr. Boyd, 47, was found dead in his home at 9 Pine Tree Road Thursday morning. Police said his hands and feet were bound, and the cause of death was strangulation.

"They all played a part," Wilhelm said of the three people arrested. At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Wilhelm said he could not comment about reports that Dr. Boyd was the subject of a recently begun State Bureau of Investigation probe. Dr. Boyd was reportedly under investigation for allegations that he was illegally giving painkillers to patients.

The Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office Special Response Team took

Christopher Boyd into custody around 4 a.m. Sunday, Wilhelm said.

Investigators found him at a mobile home at 2768 Golf Ball Circle, Concord.

A young woman who did not want to identify herself answered the door at that address Sunday evening and said Christopher Boyd was a friend of her brother. The woman said Christopher Boyd went to the mobile home on Saturday and said he planned to move to Michigan because he needed to get away.

Wilhelm said Barnett's mother took him to the Rowan County Magistrate's Office Saturday evening to turn him in in connection with the murder.

Police interviewed Barnett and charged him. The interview with Barnett led police to arrest Christopher Boyd, Detective J.D. Barber said.

Stopped by police

A patrol officer stopped a vehicle Drye, Barnett and Christopher Boyd were riding in around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Wilhelm said. Barnett, the driver, was cited for having a tail light out and for not having his driver's license with him, Barber said.

"It was before the murder," Wilhelm said.

Barber said police think the suspects entered Dr. Boyd's house through an unlocked door. His wife and three children were at the beach.

"I think the intention was to find money," Barber said.

He said some electronics are missing from the house. One of Dr. Boyd's co-workers went to the home near the Salisbury Country Club Thursday morning after he didn't show up for work. Dr. Boyd was bound with electrical cords and tied to his bed, Barber said.

Boyfriend's version

Drye's boyfriend, Stephen Boyd, said Sunday that his mother,

Christopher Boyd and another cousin went to pick up Drye from Dr.

Boyd's house late Wednesday night.

He said Dr. Boyd had called Drye's stepparents in Mocksville to pick her up because she was drunk. Instead of picking up their stepdaughter, Jerry and Lisa Cruse called Stephen Boyd's family, he said.

When the trio found Drye walking down the street near Dr. Boyd's house, Stephen Boyd said, she was so drunk she could hardly walk. Stephen Boyd said Drye told him that she got in the car, and they went back to Dr. Boyd's house because she had left a prescription there.

Drye was addicted to hydrocodone, Jerry Cruse has said.

Stephen Boyd said Dr. Boyd came out on the porch with Drye after she retrieved the prescription.

He said the group then went to Christopher Boyd's house in Kannapolis.

"My mom had put her to sleep over there and left and came back over here," Stephen Boyd said.

Jailhouse visit

He said that during his visit with Drye at the Rowan County Detention Center on Saturday, she told him that Christopher Boyd and Barnett woke her up in the early morning hours Thursday.

"She said they had woke her up and said they were going to the beer store to get more beer," he said.

Drye told Stephen Boyd that she had passed out in the truck.

"She said she woke up and she was by some trees on that road," he said, referring to Dr. Boyd's street.

Stephen Boyd said Drye told him she then saw Christopher Boyd and

Barnett coming toward the truck. She told him they had a laptop

computer and two cameras.

Drye, who has three young children, made a first court appearance last week. She had bruises on her forearms. Stephen Boyd said Drye told him she got the bruises because Dr. Boyd had tried to rape her Wednesday night. Drye had earlier told Stephen Boyd that Dr. Boyd raped her.

Wilhelm said Sunday that Drye has not reported an attempted rape to police.

Wilhelm said other arrests might be made in the case.

Drye, Barnett and Christopher Boyd are in the Rowan County Detention Center without bond.