A Bloody Scene, Ample Evidence, and the Case for Probable Cause
Opinion: With an autopsy report in hand, a District Attorney’s apparent despite for a dead woman’s family bemires their path to justice. A stunned community demands answers.
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*UPDATE: “Fletcher autopsy cites ‘blunt force’ head trauma. Manner of death is listed as ‘undetermined.’” — M. Jurkowitz reports.
On October 13, 2020, The Outer Banks Voice reported that:
“According to the autopsy report from the Virginia Medical Examiner’s office, the cause of death in the case of LeeAnn Fletcher has been determined to be “complications of blunt force trauma to the head with hepatic cirrhosis with clinical hepatic failure contributing.”
The manner of death, according to the autopsy is “undetermined,” one of five choices along with homicide, suicide, accident or natural.”
Recently I wrote an opinion piece which discussed possible police and prosecutorial misconduct. This will serve as a follow-up to that story. In this story I will present a timeline of events based upon witness statements obtained during a private investigation, and facts about the alleged bloody scene.
The following timeline of facts and events between Monday, July 20th and Friday, July 24th has many of the victim’s family, friends, and community members convinced that enough evidence exists to merit probable cause for any investigation.
I will post a transcript of my email to District Attorney Womble which questions what I find to be conflicting statements regarding what he has termed an “ongoing criminal investigation.” I have also forwarded that email to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s office along with a copy of my prior opinions regarding police and prosecutorial misconduct.
District Attorney Womble:
“What could be more important to you, as a representative of our judiciary charged with righting wrongs and stamping out injustice for every citizen of your district, and what could be more satiating for a family which currently has your office on speed dial, so to speak, than to offer them even the smallest amount of compassion, and resolution.” -PGR
What we know about the victim’s telephone records, social media posts, and her involvement with the only person of interest (to my knowledge) in this case, and his statements according to witnesses, between July 20th and July 23rd.
Monday, July 20th at 4:46 p.m.: LeeAnn’s phone records show that she made her last phone call to a close friend. Her phone was inactive from then until 5:21 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21st. That was an unanswered, incoming call. Her last social media posts were on that same Monday afternoon.
According to private investigators, a witness who spoke with the victim’s live-in boyfriend, Jay Tolson, on his last day of work before the 911 call said:
“He’s been acting really strange lately. He would call LeeAnn just to swear at her and call her names. I don’t know what his deal is but he f***ed up royally this time. He was angry as f**k at her…telling me he was going to beat her ass when they got home…he’d been drinking all day. He was a total asshole to her because he had left his phone in her truck.”
Another witness, a close friend and neighbor of LeeAnn made a routine, unannounced visit to LeeAnn’s home to pick up his mail one evening prior to the 911 call. He reported hearing what sounded like an argument in an adjacent room. The witness said Tolson came out from that area, confronted him, became abusive to him and his dog, and was “looking for trouble,” so he left to avoid an altercation.
Wednesday, July 22nd: At 4 a.m. Tolson placed a call to someone who did not answer. That person gave a statement to investigators that they called him back at 8:30 a.m. to find Tolson audibly shaken . The witness said:
“(Tolson was) crying, stating that he had found her and she had blood coming out of her nose…he said he found her in the bathtub.”
That same witness stated further to investigators:
“If I wouldn’t have called him back, 911 wouldn’t get called. He was just going to leave, like he didn’t know what to do, like ‘I don’t want to be (expletive) blamed for this.’ What am I supposed to tell you, Jay? I’m not 911. Like, ‘I didn’t do this,’ I don’t give a (expletive). Call 911, dude…”
Tolson called 911 at 9:24 a.m.
Thursday, July 23rd, Tolson went back to work. A witness there said:
“I know for a fact they got physical. He admitted it to me while we were working and started crying. I even tried to cheer him up. He never once said her head was caved in, just lied and said she (overdosed). I told him to turn himself in. He keeps lying to me. Told me she ate a whole bottle of muscle relaxers and slipped in her bathtub.”
Friday, July 24th. After renewed insistence from family members, Kitty Hawk PD sent three officers to meet with the family at LeeAnn’s home. Officers retrieved a blood-soaked comforter, pillow, and fitted sheet from LeeAnn’s bed. Despite the evidence and the amount of blood found in the bedroom, KHPD did not seal off the home. The question of why remains unanswered.
Further such evidence could have potentially provided crucial details of the events between Monday, July 20th at 4:46 p.m. and Wednesday, July 22nd when Jay Tolson finally, and reluctantly dialed 911.
A case could even be made that LeeAnn sustained her injuries on Monday night, nearly forty-eight hours before help was called, considering records of her phone and social media activity. We may never know. But initial bloody evidence and the alleged crime scene was not made a priority by the Kitty Hawk Police Department.
The scene remained unprocessed until forty-eight days later, with the exception of the private investigators doing preliminary, but convincing latent blood reagent testing. This testing was released by the family in a video which lead to the SBI taking over the investigation and they properly processed the scene on their first day, September 9, 2020.
Finally, my question for District Attorney Andrew Womble:
“If your office is in possession of the autopsy report, and presumably therein, the complete list of injuries and the Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office determination as to the cause of Ms. Fletcher’s death — which you reportedly cannot discuss, citing an “ongoing criminal investigation,” how is that statement not in direct contradiction to your statement of Sept. 8th? In that statement you said: “ Upon receiving the official autopsy report and concluding the investigation, the District Attorney’s Office will make a decision regarding possible criminal charges, if any, related to the death of Ms. Fletcher.”
So, District Attorney: which is it? Are you waiting on an autopsy to prove wrongdoing or natural cause before deciding to prosecute this, or are you sitting on those results and justifying your perceived inaction by citing an “ongoing criminal investigation?” -PGR
Full email transcript below:
RE:Your reported statement of 12 Oct. in O B Voice
(from)pete roberts <pete@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com>
R. Andrew Womble
District Attorney
1st Prosecutorial District
North Carolina Judicial Branch
District Attorney Womble,
Good afternoon. I would like to ask you for clarification between seemingly conflicting statements you made on Sept. 8th and Oct. 12th regarding the matter of LeeAnn Fletcher.
On Sept. 8th, you released the following in a statement:
“ Upon receiving the official autopsy report and concluding the investigation, the District Attorney’s Office will make a decision regarding possible criminal charges, if any, related to the death of Ms. Fletcher.”
However, in a release yesterday, Oct. 12th by the Outer Banks Voice, it was stated, first paragraph:
“First Judicial District DA Andrew Womble confirmed to the Voice on Oct. 12 that his office has received the autopsy report from the Virginia Medical Examiner’s office regarding the death of LeeAnn Fletcher, adding that he cannot disclose the results at this time because of an “ongoing criminal investigation.”
Please forgive me, District Attorney, but if I might ask you: Which is it?
- Are you waiting on the autopsy results to guide you in which direction to proceed?
OR
- Are you in possession of said autopsy results, which you cannot reportedly disclose because of an “ongoing criminal investigation?”
I remind you, sir, that you used the exact same words in your recent reply to my query about another matter regarding the handling of this case by KHPD and your office.
My question to you is this:
If your office is in possession of the autopsy report, and presumably therein, the complete list of injuries and the Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office’s determination as to the cause of Ms. Fletcher’s death — which you reportedly cannot discuss, citing an “ongoing criminal investigation,” how is that statement not in direct contradiction to your statement of Sept. 8th? In that statement you said: “ Upon receiving the official autopsy report and concluding the investigation, the District Attorney’s Office will make a decision regarding possible criminal charges, if any, related to the death of Ms. Fletcher.”
So, District Attorney: which is it? Are you waiting on an autopsy to prove wrongdoing or natural cause before deciding to prosecute this, or are you sitting on those results and justifying your perceived inaction by citing an “ongoing criminal investigation?”
Additionally I would love your answers to a few other questions which I feel do not involve details of your purported “ongoing criminal investigation.”
1) What could be more important to you, as a representative of our judiciary charged with righting wrongs and stamping our injustice for every citizen of your district, and what could be more satiating for a family which currently has your office on speed dial, so to speak, than to offer them even the smallest amount of compassion, and resolution?
2) To your knowledge is any law enforcement organization, including but not limited to your District Attorney’s Office, receiving informant services from a former (and maybe current) person of interest, Jay Tolson? Is Tolson, to your knowledge, working now, or has he worked as an informant.
Please feel free to email me, or call at your convenience. Thank you.
p.s. I am forwarding a copy of this email, as well as the last story I wrote, to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s office in hopes that someone there may seek the same answers as myself, a grieving family, and our entire community.
Pete Roberts
wartime publishers
919 XXX XXXX
