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Arrest Made After Woman Hears Suspect's Voice on WRAL OnLine

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RALEIGH — You have heard how much the Internet has changed lives. This week it may have actually helped catch a killer.

Two years ago, atransient man was gunned downalong the railroad tracks near the Boylan Avenue bridge. Police had few leads, except for what they believed was the killer's voice. Someone surfingWRAL OnLineheard it and called police.

A key to the investigation was a 911 call made shortly after the murder from a pay phone at the Colony Shopping Center on Six Forks Road.

Caller: "Is this 911?"

Dispatcher: "Yes it is."

Caller: "There's been a murder committed by the railroad tracks directly adjacent to the Central Prison. You'll find a man there in a red short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans with black and white sneakers that's been shot to death directly adjacent to the concrete plant."

The dead man, 29-year-old Francisco Carrasco-Guitierrez, was killed when a man walked up to him and shot him with a rifle June 3, 1997. Police found his body just where the caller said it would be.

However, they had a hard time finding the caller and no one was arrested until this week. Someone logged on to WRAL OnLine two years after the crime, and listened to the 911 call with Real Audio.

"They went and saw it and were reviewing it, I guess, while they were doing Internet surfing, and recognized what they thought was the voice of the person," said Officer Dennis Lane with theRaleigh Police Department.

Police say the voice belongs to the alleged murderer, Samuel Covington, 29, of Raleigh. Covington is charged with first-degree murder.

Police say they always believed the 911 caller was closely connected to the crime. They suspected the caller was either a witness or the killer himself. Reporter: Barbara Cain

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