Local

Police: 3rd person may be involved in killing of Gastonia man

GASTONIA, N.C. — Channel 9 has new information after a Gastonia man's body was discovered on a Charlotte road in March.

The man and woman charged in his death appeared in court Monday and investigators could charge a third person in the case.
 
Eyewitness News reporter Ken Lemon talked to the victim's girlfriend who said they were all friends.
 
Susan Braddy came to court to see two people making their first appearance in court. She once considered them friends.
 
She said she spent the night in their home, the same night police said her boyfriend was killed there and she had no idea.
 
"How can somebody be so cold-hearted?" Braddy said.
 
Braddy said that's a question that has kept her up at night ever since police charged Avery Lail with murder and his girlfriend Delia Rick with helping to cover it up.

Police said three weeks ago, Braddy's boyfriend Brian Jones was drinking at his friends' house near McAdenville.

They said Lail got into an argument with Jones and Lail stabbed and killed him.
 
Police said Rick washed the bloody clothes while Jones' body was dumped on Old Dowd Road in west Charlotte.
 
"He did not deserve what he got," Braddy said.
 
Braddy said she didn't know where her boyfriend went that night.
 
When he didn't come home, she decided to stay with her friend Rick.

"I will never ever forgive her for that," Braddy said.
 
After Jones' body was found, Rick called her constantly asking about the police investigation, Braddy said.
 
"She was picking me for information, I know that now," Braddy said.
 
Police said when they questioned Rick and Lail, they told them the whole story.
 
"It was an altercation that got out of hand," said Sgt. Myron Shelor with the Gaston County Police Department.
 
But detectives said the couple didn't say why they hid the body.
 
Police said there was another man there when the stabbing happened.
 
He may have also played a role in covering up the crime.
 
They are talking with the district attorney about possible charges against him.

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