A Calhoun City man has been charged with the murder of his wife after the Calhoun County Grand Jury indicted him last week in Pittsboro.
Matthew Collins
Matthew Collins, 32, was arrested in the afternoon on Friday, Oct. 16 and charged with murder in the first degree of his wife, Courtney Leigh Collins.
Circuit Judge Kelly Luther set bond for Collins at $300,000.
Courtney Collins, 30, was found by search parties partially submerged in Pulley Slew near Big Creek approximately five hours after she went missing on Feb. 1.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore said, “There are cases that have investigations that take a long time for one reason or another.”
“In a case like this, where you have a death, naturally you are going to have an autopsy report which takes a bit of time.”
Creekmore went on to say that in cases such as this, where the suspect is close to the victim, “you want to be thorough, and that requires time.”
Collins’ husband, Matthew Collins, told authorities at the time of her death that he and his wife rode a four wheeler into the slew to retrieve his deer climbing stand. They got stuck in the deep mud and he walked back through the woods to his truck to get a flashlight, leaving his wife behind with the four wheeler.
Frankie Jones
When he returned approximately 45 minutes later, he said he couldn’t find her. Search parties found her hours later in the creek approximately 50 yards from the 4-wheeler around 9:30 p.m.
Sheriff Greg Pollan said the autopsy report showed the cause of death as drowning.
The Grand Jury also indicted Frankie Jones, 26, of Pittsboro, in the murder of Billy Ray Covington.
Covington was discovered dead of multiple gunshot wounds July 11 on the side of CR 308 in the Gauley community. Jones has been in the Calhoun County Jail since his arrest.