Children With Family; Motive Unknown In Triple Slaying

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Children With Family; Motive Unknown In Triple Slaying

Friday, January 2, 2009 – updated: 12:44 pm EST January 2, 2009

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. -- Investigators said a man suspected of killing his ex-wife and two other people before triggering a statewide Amber Alert killed himself at an Alexander County home Friday morning.

Buncombe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Ross Dillingham said investigators are still trying to determine why Richard D. Heatwole, 45, killed Angela Heatwole, 49, and two other people that have not been identified in the town of Candler.

Dillingham said the two had been divorced for about a year and were in the middle of settling property issues. But he said it still wasn't clear what drove him to kill.

"Who knows what could possess someone to do something this crazy?" Dillingham said. "I don't even want to speculate on any motive, and I don't know that we'll ever know now that they're both deceased."

Authorities said Richard Heatwole killed the three people and then fled with his son and daughter.

An Amber Alert was issued for Hayes, 6, and Haley, 10. Dillingham said that triggered a public tip, and authorities surrounded Heatwole's cousin's home north of Taylorsville in Alexander County shortly after midnight. When deputies asked Heatwole to surrender, authorities heard one gunshot.

It was another four hours before the cousin and two children came out of the home on Ode Kerley Road. Dillingham said he didn't know why it took the cousin so long to come out, but authorities do not believe he was involved in the killings.

Paramedics checked the children and found they were physically unharmed.

"It was just a huge amount of relief -- a huge amount of relief," said Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan. "We are extremely relived to have them back with us, and we're getting them back to Buncombe County to be with family."

The children are now back in the care of relatives near Asheville.

Dillingham said the slayings in Candler involved two houses. Angela Heatwole and another person were found in one home. The third victim, a woman, was found in a nearby house. He declined to say how the three were killed until the medical examiner could do an autopsy.

The bodies were discovered when deputies were called to check on one house. Later, yellow crime scene tape was strung in front of both dwellings.

Neighbors said Richard Heatwole operated a golf driving range. Clyde Curtis lives across the road from the homes where the bodies were found and said Richard Heatwole "seemed friendly enough."

"You never expect anything like this in your neighborhood," he said.

Heatwole has been probation since March 2008 for a Florida drug charge, according to records there.