Associated Press
TARBORO -- A man has been arrested and charged with murder in the slaying of a woman who was among six found dead in rural North Carolina since 2005, authorities said Tuesday.
Three other women are still missing. Authorities haven't said if or how the cases may be linked, though all six dead women came from similar backgrounds and had numerous arrests on charges related to drugs and prostitution.
Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Taraha Shenice Nicholson. Her body was discovered north of Rocky Mount in March. Pittman did not yet have an attorney.
Wright would not comment on a possible link between Pittman and the other five women, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.
Pittman is a registered sex offender, convicted in November 1994 of taking indecent liberties with a 2-year-old. Correction Department spokesman Keith Acree said Pittman received probation for his three-year sentence, but the probation was revoked. He went to prison in January 1996 and was released in April 1997.
Acree said Pittman's most recent probation ended in November 2008, after he was convicted of misdemeanor driving while impaired and sentenced to probation.
He has also been arrested in years past on misdemeanor charges such as simple assault, larceny, and trespassing and resisting a public officer.
According to the state sex offender registry, his most recent address is in Rocky Mount in Nash County, which adjoins Edgecombe. But court records also indicate numerous other addresses in recent years in both counties.
Pittman's mother, Gloria Pittman, told TV station WRAL that her son is not capable of murder.
"I truly believe he did not do what they're saying he did," she said.
The sheriff's office formed a task force in June with the State Bureau of Investigation and asked the FBI to consult after a sixth body was found along rural roads outside Rocky Mount.
Pepita Hargrove said Tuesday her family hadn't been notified of the news conference. The killing of her sister, Jarneice Hargrove, prompted the formation of the task force. The SBI told her last week they had chased down 300 leads and had identified some suspects, but Hargrove is impatient for answers.
"It took six women to die for the community to even find out about it -- they didn't want the little town of Rocky Mount to be on the map ... and now it's national news," she said. "It should have been national news when two girls were killed," she added.
