Last person receives sentence in 2019 murder of 19-year-old

Published 10:08 am Tuesday, April 2, 2024

SALISBURY — Madison Drew Harrington, the final person convicted in connection to the murder of Michael Earley, has been sentenced for multiple charges in the case. 

Harrington is facing a minimum 10 years and 11 months in prison between charges of felony concealment of death or dismemberment and felony accessory after the fact. The sentence for the concealment conviction is 61 months to 86 months and the sentence for the accessory after the fact conviction is 70 months to 96 months. The two sentences will run consecutively, according to District Attorney Brandy Cook.

Harrington was the third person convicted in Earley’s murder. Carlos Rosas Jr. pleaded guilty in December of 2022 to five charges, including second-degree murder, felony concealment or destruction of remains, first-degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice. Rosas received a sentence of 46 years and eight months to 60 years and 10 months.

Lauren Grimes pleaded guilty to felony accessory after the fact in August of 2023. Grimes received a sentence of 58 to 82 months in prison.

On May 6, 2019, Earley was reported missing by his girlfriend after he did not return from a drug sale the night before. She told police she last saw Earley around 10 p.m. on May 5, according to previous Salisbury Post reporting.

That night, Rosas beat Earley to death with a baseball bat and then threw Earley’s body in the back of Grimes’ car and drove to a location connected to Harrington. There, he dismembered the 19-year-old’s body before driving home and burning parts of the body and burying others, according to previous Post reporting.