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| DONALD PRESTON FERGUSON |
Source: www.guilfordcountysheriff.com/
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Young Girl, 7, Is Found Dead In Woods
FROM: The Dispatch (July 24th 1990)
Direct Source Link
No arrests had been made Sunday night, said police Sgt. Gary Wilson. Shalonda, who lived in a public housing community with her parents, Marilyn and Gatts Poole, had a twin sister, Shanda, who was the last family member to see her alive.
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| Jones Elementary School, Greensboro |
Shalonda was standing on their back stoop amid the crowded rows of brick apartment houses, whose small yards are enclosed by low and feeble fences. Shanda said she told her sister to come in (that their parents were still asleep and they weren't supposed to leave the house) but Shalonda said she didn't want to, her twin recalled Sunday.
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Family Friend Finally Charged in 7-Year-Old's Gruesome Murder
FROM: thestir.cafemom.com (January 9th 2014)
Direct Source Link
The murder of 7-year-old Shalonda Poole in 1990 that has haunted a North Carolina community for 24 years has finally been solved. Her body was found in the woods behind her elementary school (Jones Elementary School) in July 1990, sexually assaulted and strangled. Her family never gave up hope ... and this week a family friend who "helped" them look for their missing daughter has been arrested.
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| Shalonda Poole |
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| Shalonda Poole & her Twin Sister |
As it turns out, Ferguson was arrested just months later, in October of 1990, for sexual assault. He stayed in a South Carolina prison until 1997. He's been on active probation since his release, but living in South Carolina. For at least seven years, he couldn't hurt any other kid, but who knows what has happened since.
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FROM: www.huffingtonpost.com (January 15th 2014)Donald Preston Ferguson Arrested For 1990 Murder Of 7-Year-Old Shalonda Poole
Direct Source Link
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| Woods behind the School |
With the arrest of Donald Preston Ferguson last week by U.S. Marshals for allegedly killing Shalonda Poole in 1990, Fox News reported that the Greensboro police can close the file on the only child murder cold case in the department's records since 1969.
Poole's body was found behind an elementary school a day after she went missing in July 1990. She'd been sexually assaulted, stabbed and strangled, according to the station WGHP. Ferguson reportedly worked nearby and moved away from Greensboro in September that year.
“I remember having a conversation with Mrs. Poole and she asked me to promise her that I would never give up,” Hinson said on WGHP. “I would never promise to make an arrest or solve a case but I did promise her I would never give up. I am happy I fulfilled that promise.”
Police wouldn't reveal what evidence linked Ferguson, 52, to the crime yet. He was arrested in South Carolina where he's a registered Sex Offender for other crimes committed against a 10-year-old girl and 19-year-old woman, the Greensboro News & Record reported. On Monday, Ferguson appeared in court via closed circuit television to hear the charges of first-degree murder and first-degree sex offense read against him. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
A public defender will represent him, WITN reported. Poole's relatives appeared in court on Monday, too, including her older sister Janeen Poole.
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Tracing movements of Donald Ferguson
FROM: www.news-record.com (January 26th 2014)
Direct Source Link
Donald Preston Ferguson, the man charged in the July 1990 rape and killing of 7-year-old Shalonda Poole, served time in prison for another sexual assault on a child. He also was arrested in a South Carolina murder case in the late 1990s, although charges eventually were dropped for lack of evidence. Ferguson, 52, has lived most of his life in and around Spartanburg, S.C., and it's not clear what brought him to Greensboro.
- May 31st, 1989: The mother of a 10-year-old Spartanburg, S.C., girl reported that Ferguson, then 28, assaulted and raped her daughter the night before as the child walked home alone.
- June 1st, 1989: Ferguson was arrested and charged with "criminal sexual conduct — first-degree." He was freed on a 400 Dollar bond. While awaiting trial, he moved to Greensboro.
- July 21st, 1990: In Greensboro, Shalonda Poole was raped and killed in the early morning hours near her Ashe Street home. Ferguson was an acquaintance of Shalonda's half-brother, Marvin Cowan.
- July 22, 1990: Searchers found Shalonda's body.
Shortly afterward, Cowan went to visit Ferguson but learned that he had returned to South Carolina.
- July 24th, 1990: Greensboro police made an arrest in Shalonda's death — Melvin Bennett, a mentally disabled cafeteria worker who worked with the victim's mother and had no prior criminal record.
- August 3rd, 1990: Ferguson's partially blind grandmother, Annie Lou Jeter, 76, was shot and killed with her own gun in her Spartanburg home.
- March 21st, 1991: Ferguson pleaded guilty in the 1989 Spartanburg rape case in a plea bargain. A judge sentenced him to eight years in prison on the reduced charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
- October 2nd, 1992: In Greensboro, a jury acquitted Bennett, then 35, of Shalonda's rape and murder, taking about an hour to reach that decision after a weeklong trial. City police said Bennett was guilty and declined to reopen the investigation.
- October 11th, 1997: Ferguson was released after serving 6 and 1/2 years in the South Carolina prison system for the 1989 rape.
- October 16th, 1997: Spartanburg police arrested Ferguson and several of his relatives in the 1990 killing of Annie Lou Jeter. Police said the motive was getting money for drugs.
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| From The Herald-Journal (October 17th, 1997) |
- April 16th, 1999: Spartanburg prosecutors dropped the murder charges against Ferguson and other relatives in the slaying of his grandmother. Evidence was too weak, police said.
- YEAR 2007: Greensboro police had reclassified Shalonda's killing as a cold case, and the case was assigned to Detective A.R. Hinson after several other investigators hit dead ends. Hinson noticed Ferguson's name on a list of family acquaintances who never were questioned by police. "Who's this?" he asked Marilyn Poole, Shalonda's mother.
- August 18th, 2008: Ferguson was arrested in Gaffney, S.C., (near Spartanburg) for failing to register as a Sex Offender at his new residence, as required by law. He pleaded guilty and served 90 days in the county jail.
- November 19th, 2010: Ferguson was featured in an article about homelessness in his hometown newspaper. The article said he'd been homeless about eight years: "People don't pay the homeless any attention — they think we don't exist, that we're trash and the lowest of the low," he told a reporter.
- November 7th, 2012: Spartanburg police arrested Ferguson on a fraud charge, saying he had scammed 480 $ from a local bank by opening a checking account and immediately overdrawing it.
- March 15th, 2013: A judge sentenced Ferguson to one year in prison for bank fraud but suspended the sentence to time already served —127 days in the county jail.
- January 7th, 2014: U.S. Marshals arrested Ferguson for Shalonda's slaying in Greensboro 23 years earlier. Authorities said recent advances in forensic technology helped them link him to the crime.
1990 murder investigators suspect 3 more in family
FROM: The Herald-Journal (October 17th, 1997)
Direct Source Link
Spartanburg police added three more family members Thursday to the list of suspects accused in the 1990 killing of a partially blind, elderly woman shot to death with her own gun. The list now includes the dead woman's son, daughter and two grandsons. Police say Annie Lou Jeter, 76, was gunned down in her home by family members for drug money. Police revived the case this year as part of an ongoing effort to solve "cold" cases that have been unsolved for more than a year.
On Wednesday, detectives charged Jeter's grandson, Jack Earl Ferguson, 39, of 271 Cammie Clagett Courts with murder. And on Thursday, they added Jeter's son, Larry Preston Jeter, 39, of 128 Phyllis Goins Courts. He was arrested about 2 p.m. at his job at Papa Sam's Restaurant on a murder charge. On Thursday night, Donald Ferguson, the 36-year-old grandson of the victim, turned himself in to police. He is accused of murder, and recently he was released from prison, authorities said.
At the time of the killing, relatives said Jeter had poor eyesight and probably thought she recognized the people who killed her. Police were still hunting Thursday for Jeter's daughter, Ruby Ferguson, 57. Ruby Ferguson is accused of obstructing justice. Police believe she fled the city but may still be in the area. Anyone who knows where she is should notify authorities, through the 911 emergency system, police said.
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Man arrested for 1990 Triad murder could be connected to Shelby murder
FROM: charlotte.twcnews.com
Direct Source Link
Now investigators are looking into whether Ferguson could be connected to the Asha Degree cold case dating back to 2000. "The individual was arrested in Spartanburg County which means in all probability he had to come through Cleveland County numerous times," said Sheriff Norman.
Ferguson was arrested this week and charged in the 1990 murder of 7-year-old Shalonda Poole in Greensboro. Now Cleveland County and Greensboro authorities are exchanging notes to see if Ferguson is possibly connected to the 2000 disappearance of then 9-year-old Asha Degree. "We do hope that it opens a door. That's one of the main reasons for national databases and all sorts of things," said Capt. Mike Richey.
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| Asha Degree |
"We want to bring closure to the Degree family, whether it's to bring back Asha back home, or to bring closure like what has happened with the Greensboro incident," said Sheriff Norman. Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman said an investigator from his office will spend the next week pinpointing exactly where Ferguson was around that date in 2000.
"We're looking back to see where this individual would have been 14 years ago, where he resided, where he worked," said Sheriff Norman. He also said they still get tips on the Asha Degree case, but he's hopeful this latest link could bring some kind of closure to another North Carolina family.
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| ASHA JAQUILLA DEGREE | Age Progression |
| Case Type: Endangered Missing | |
| DOB: Aug 5, 1990 | Sex: Female |
| Missing Date: Feb 14, 2000 | Race: Black |
| Age Now: 23 | Height: 4'6" (137 cm) |
| Missing City: SHELBY | Weight: 60 lbs (27 kg) |
| Missing State : NC | Hair Color: Black |
| Missing Country: United States | Eye Color: Brown |
| Case Number: NCMC879788 | |
| Circumstances: Asha's photo is shown age-progressed to 19 years. She was last seen by her family sleeping in her bed at approximately 2:30 a.m. on February 14, 2000. At 4:00 a.m., she was seen by motorists walking along North Carolina Highway 18 in Shelby, North Carolina. She is believed to be wearing a white shirt, white jeans, white tennis shoes and may be carrying her purse and a black backpack. | |
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&orgPrefix=NCMC&caseNum=879788
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