Judge Denies Bond For Selma Man Charged With Murder

Investigators say they found the remains of more than one person on Saturday under the farmhouse and in a freezer beneath a shed at the home of Robert "Bobby" Bruce and Cecillia Louise Pollard at 1294 Lizzie Mill Road in Selma.

Bobby Pollard, 34, appearing in an orange and white jumpsuit, was also issued a court-appointed defense attorney to represent him.

A construction worker, he also faces charges of possession of a weapon of mass destruction for a sawed-off shotgun and possession of marijuana, but it was the murder charge on which the judge denied him bond.

His wife, Cecillia Pollard, 34, also appeared in court, crying and visibly shaken, to face a charge of accessory after the fact of first-degree murder. She was also given a court-appointed attorney and is being held on $500,000 bond.

Deputies searching Pollard's property Saturday found plastic bags of decomposing body parts buried under the floorboards of the house. Late Sunday, their search turned up a second set under a shed along with a chainsaw and power saw.

"It's just a disgrace, really, to see a human body that has been dismembered in this manner," said Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. "It's just a disgrace to the sanctity of the human body."

Officers continued to search the farm Monday and expected to remain at the site for two to three days, though they did not necessarily expect to find more remains, sheriff's department spokeswoman Tammy Amaon said.

"They're just being thorough," she said.

Authorities are trying to determine whether the remains are linked to a local missing persons case and went to the property after receiving a tip on Friday that someone died on the farm property in 1997. Investigators said Ceasar Ruvalcava Ortiz and his girlfriend, Robin Clark, spent time with the Pollards in 1997.

Clark was reported missing in 1997, but her name was removed from a missing persons database in January 2005 after authorities met a woman who identified herself as Clark at an apartment in Carrboro. Authorities now believe that person may have been a relative of Clark.

Authorities, however, have not said whether the remains are those of Ortiz and Clark. The body parts were sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill to identify them, but the Johnston County Sheriff's Office is unsure how long it will take.

As for the Pollards, WRAL has learned that they were once subjected to a personal tragedy when their two young daughters, ages 9 months and 2 years old, were killed in a mobile home fire in 1993. Authorities ruled the fire's cause as faulty wiring.

Since that time, people who know them, say the couple kept to themselves.

Robert Pollard is being held at the Johnston County Jail; Cecillia Pollard is being held at a women's prison in Raleigh.

The Pollards are scheduled to make their next court appearance for a probable cause hearing on Feb. 23.