| 114th Year, 35th Issue | Thursday, April 10, 2003 | Sparta, North Carolina |
A chase that began in Watauga County came to a close in Ashe County in the early morning hours of April 2 with the arrests of three people, one a 14-year-old juvenile. The trio was later charged with murder. Arrested are Lori Ann Chappell, 36, of Mountain City, Tenn. and Joseph Donald Kope of Colorado, Iowa. The 14-year-old was identified as Chappell's daughter, but was not named. She is being held in a secure juvenile detention center. All three suspects had been living in Sugar Grove community of western Watauga County.
Kope is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and murder; Chappell is charged with fleeing to allude arrest and murder; the girl is also charged with murder, no bond was allowed. The three are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Johnny Curt Harmon, 39, of Butler, Tenn. Harmon's body was found about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday — hours after the three were taken into custody — by kayakers near a low-water bridge on Guy Ford Road. The bridge is over the Watauga River, off U.S. 321 near the Watauga-Avery county line and the Tennessee border. Harmon suffered multiple cut and stab wounds and a blunt force trauma.
Investigators haven't released a motive for the murder, but Watauga Sheriff Mark Shook said physical evidence from a 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier the trio abandoned after the chase linked the three suspects with Harmon's death.
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