BY MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

CONCORD - It's been more than 20 years since squirrel hunters discovered the badly beaten body of 19-year-old former homecoming queen Phoebe Barbee in a field in southern Cabarrus County.

Roger Warren Clark, at the time a 21-year-old Concord mechanic, was convicted of killing Barbee in April, 1979.

Clark is serving two consecutive life sentences for the crime. His first parole hearing is today.

Thanks to a petition and letter-writing campaign waged by Barbee's family and friends, Clark's hearing could take a few days to complete, according to Melita Groomes, executive director of the N.C. Parole Commission.

''We have seen volumes for this particular inmate,'' Groomes said.

Three of the five Parole Commission members will decide whether Clark's possible parole deserves further investigation, Groomes said. The commissioners may decide Clark's case today, but they will likely take a few days to review the material, Groomes said.

''It might take a little longer because of all the mail we've received,'' she said. ''They have a lot to sort through.''

Barbee, a 19-year-old former homecoming queen, was reported missing after leaving work Sept. 11, 1978 at Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers Restaurant on Albemarle Road.

Clark allegedly convinced Barbee that something was wrong with her car when she was on her way home from work and offered her a ride.

Clark was suspected of using the same ploy to get two other Charlotte women to pull over their cars the same day. They both escaped unharmed, but Barbee apparently accepted Clark's deceptive offer of help.

Squirrel hunters found Barbee's badly-beaten body the next day fully-clothed in a field in southern Cabarrus County. She had been sexually assaulted.

After a 10-day trial, a jury found Clark guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping on April 5, 1979.

Clark had pleaded guilty by reason of insanity.