Jury selection starts in trial for 2008 slaying of Chapel Hill man

Authorities found the body of Joshua McCabe Bailey, 20, on Sept. 12, 2008, near Jordan Lake in Chatham County, three weeks after his family reported him missing. Investigators have said they believe he was killed more than six weeks earlier and buried in Orange County and that the body was later dug up and moved to Chatham County.

Brian Gregory Minton, 22, was one of six men charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the case.

Prosecutors allege that the group had gathered at Minton's home and pitted Bailey and Matt Johnson, one of the six co-defendants, against each other, saying one of them had been talking to police about the group's drug activities or had cheated the others out of drugs or money.

After the group drove to a wooded area in Orange County, Johnson was forced to shoot Bailey in the back of the head as Bailey stood in the depression left by an uprooted tree, authorities said.

In addition to Minton and Johnson, Brandon Hamilton Greene, 30, and Jacob Alexander Maxwell, 22, face murder and kidnapping charges in the case.

Jack Johnson II pleaded guilty in September 2010 to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Ryan Ladar Davis Lee pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of first-degree murder and accessory after the fact of second-degree kidnapping.

Both men agreed to testify against their co-defendants.

Three other people – Gregory Lee Minton, Mishele Slade Minton and Chris Manley – each face a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder in the case. Authorities said they tried to cover up evidence of the crime.