Decision on charges in killing delayed

By DEUCE NIVEN

     An ongoing investigation into the killing of a Whiteville man at his girlfriend’s Chadbourn home late Thursday won’t be complete this weekend, and will require a determination from the district attorney’s office on charges, Chadbourn Police Chief Steven Shaw said Friday.
    Derrick Alonzine Howard, 53, of Earnest Worrell Lane in Whiteville, died following the 11 p.m. Thursday incident at the home of Phiffany Nadine Bellamy, Columbus County Coroner Linwood Cartrette said.
    Bellamy, 31, told police that Howard, her long-time boyfriend, threatened her with a small metal rod, possibly part of a stand for a drum kit, as they argued in her bedroom, and that she struck with the knife in self-defense.
    Howard was stabbed between the collarbone and the neck, and a gaping hole bled heavily, Shaw said.
    “You can tell by the trail, he made it across the road, and he collapsed,” Shaw said.
    Agents of the SBI are assisting Chadbourn police in the investigation, Shaw said.
    Shaw said prosecutors want to review the case file before making a determination on charges, though he did not agree with that decision.
    “There’s been a human life lost here,” Shaw said. “We’re questioning whether it’s self-defense, and if we can’t prove it’s self-defense, she should be in custody. She should at least have a bond to assure her presence in court.”
    Bellamy’s three children, ages 5, 2 and 1, and her grandmother, were in the home when Howard died, Shaw said. The youngest two of the children were also Howard’s.
    “That grandmother, Mary Bellamy, ran next door and called 911,” Shaw said.