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Police: 3 killed in Morganton from blunt force trauma

MORGANTON, N.C. — Morganton police have identified three people found dead inside a home Sunday.

Police said it appears the victims died from blunt force trauma, but autopsies are scheduled for later this week.

Family members identified the three victims as Zakiya Bey, 75, Barbara Johnson, 54, and Freddie Thompson, 21.  Police have confirmed their identity.

Police have identified the suspect as Donald Kincaid, 56.  They said he was the boyfriend of Johnson.

Kincaid is in protective custody, police said. Police expect to serve warrants for murder in the coming days.

"I just can't figure it out. Why -- that's what gets me,” said friend Joe Clark.

News of the triple homicide spread quickly through Morganton, where it has been nearly two years since there has been a killing.

Investigators with the State Bureau of Investigation spent nearly all day Sunday investigating at the scene.

Relatives said Johnson rented the home at 419 1/2 West Concord Street where the incident happened. She lived there with her son, Freddie, who had special needs, the family said. Bey was a longtime friend of Johnson's.

"Nobody deserves to die but in a situation like this these were some of the most loving and caring people you'd ever meet," said Danynel Sudduth, Bey's cousin.

Morganton Public Safety officers found the three bodies during a welfare check around 1:15 a.m. Sunday.

"As an adult, we make choices and we may have to suffer consequences but Freddie was just a child," said Adrian Avery, Johnson's sister and Thompson's aunt. "I hate to say it this way, but friends that live together, pray together, stay together and it's just sad that they died together."

Many of the people want to know what triggered the murders while also remembering the three lives lost here.