. http://www.newsobserver.com/sunday/news/Story/907896p-905974c.html
Police search for suspect in Durham slaying
By AISLING SWIFT, Staff Writer
DURHAM - Police on Saturday continued searching for a 29-year-old man wanted on murder charges as a disabled man's family questioned why he was stabbed.
Jerry Lee Smith of 104 S. Hyde Park Ave. has been charged with murder and is being sought in the death of James Ray Murchison, 48, of 603 Carlton Ave., who died after an altercation with two men at 7:18 p.m. Thursday at his boarding house.
Police initially said Murchison was shot in the back, but his mother, Mamie Redmond Robinson of Greenville, said Duke Hospital doctors told her he died of a large cut under his armpit that severed a major artery, causing him to bleed profusely. She said he also was slashed on the back.
"To me, a person who would do that is a coward," she said.
Her son, who had a weak heart, was on disability, after working as a bricklayer and nurse's assistant. "His heart was so weak, the doctor said he couldn't survive it," she said.
Autopsy results haven't been disclosed. Robinson said funeral arrangements are pending.
Police, who haven't disclosed what the altercation involved, said Murchison jumped out a window and ran two blocks to 504 Oakwood Ave., where he was found sitting on a porch. A resident there called police. Duke doctors pronounced him dead at 9:45 p.m.
Smith's criminal record includes soliciting for prostitution, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest. Murchison, who also had lived in Raleigh, had a lengthy record that included larceny, possession of stolen goods, breaking and entering and passing forged documents.
But Robinson said her son had turned his life around and attended Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses until about a year ago.
Robinson said her son attended Pitt Community College in Greenville, was certified as a nurse's assistant and worked in nursing homes. He was the second child and oldest son in a close-knit family of eight children. Murchison, whose two children live in Vermont, moved to Durham about four years ago, she said, and was married until about a year ago.
Police said Smith frequents Wiggins Street and the 2500 block of South Roxboro Street. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 911, CrimeStoppers at 683-1200 or the Criminal Investigations Division at 560-4440. CrimeStoppers pays rewards up to $1,200 for anonymous tips that lead to a felony arrest.
Staff writer Aisling Swift can be reached at 956-2468 or [email protected].