A Winston-Salem man said in a voicemail to a friend that his roommate had threatened to kill him the same day police officers found the man dead Feb. 16 inside his home, according to a search warrant.
Crystal Patterson arrived at the house on Wharton Avenue after she learned of Benjamin Hastings Beeson’s death and allowed an officer to listen to the voicemail in which Archie Corey Devon McArthur could be heard threatening to kill Beeson in the background, the warrant says.
McArthur and Beeson lived in the house.
Patterson also told the officer that she texted McArthur the following morning, and McArthur told her that Beeson was still at home. McArthur said he “had run away because of an altercation between (him) and Beeson that night.”
McArthur, 35, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon in Beeson’s death, according to an arrest warrant. Winston-Salem police arrested McArthur Feb. 19 at the Surry County Jail in Dobson.
People are also reading…
McArthur was transferred to the Forsyth County Jail where he is being held with no bond allowed on the murder and kidnapping charges and with his bond set at $75,000 on the robbery charge, court records show.
McArthur also is accused of holding Beeson for a ransom and restraining and moving Beeson from one place to another place in order to harm him.
Kira Boyd, a police spokeswoman, declined to comment on the matter.
Benjamin Porter of Winston-Salem, McArthur’s attorney, said his client denies any involvement in Beeson’s kidnapping and murder.
According to an arrest warrant, McArthur is accused of stealing a cellphone and a wallet with a total value of $100 from Beeson.
When police found Beeson’s body, they noticed wounds to his face and forehead consistent with a struggle or fight, the search warrant said.
Police responded to the home on Wharton Avenue at 9:15 p.m. after they received a call from Robert Shields, Beeson’s friend, about a dead body inside the house, according to the warrant and a police news release. When officers arrived, they found Beeson dead inside the home.
Shields told police he went to the house earlier on Feb. 16 to check on Beeson, the warrant said. Shields was concerned that when he spoke with Beeson on the night of Feb. 15, Shields overheard Beeson being involved in what sounded like a bad fight with McArthur, Beeson’s roommate, the warrant said.
In their search of the home and two vehicles that belonged to Beeson, investigators seized a pocket knife, two bags of marijuana, a scale, a white powder in a plastic bag, a crystal substance in a plastic bag, a black shirt, a ski mask, two hard drives with their data from the home’s video surveillance system and two cameras, according to the search warrant.
