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Man Arrested in South Carolina for Hardee's...

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LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) — A Robeson County teen-ager waivedextradition after being arrested in South Carolina for the slayingof an assistant manager at a Lumberton fast-food restaurant.

Travis Walters, 17, of Fairmont, was charged with first-degreemurder Tuesday for the early-morning death of 18-year-old BettyJanes Oxendine, who worked at a Hardee's restaurant.

Oxendine and another female employee were working at theHardee's when a man entered about 2:45 a.m. Tuesday. The man jumpedover the counter and made them go into the back office to getmoney. After receiving the money, Taylor said, the man shotOxendine.

Walters was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Nichols, S.C., at hisgrandmother's mobile home, Marion County Sheriff's Von DeanTurbeville said.

``There were a lot of people there with him,'' Marion PoliceCapt. Buddy Feagin said. ``He was sitting on the porch with oneother guy. I think it was kind of a surprise to him when we droveup.''

``We had received information that he was not going to jail,''Feagin said. ``We expected him to be armed and dangerous, but wedid not find a weapon on him.''

Authorities recovered a gun from the home of Walters' mother,who lives in Lake View, he said. They also found $428 in a pocketof Walters' clothing and a bus ticket for Washington, D.C.,according to Feagin.

Walters waived extradition and was transported back to RobesonCounty on Tuesday night. A spokeswoman at the Robeson County Jailearly today could not confirm Walters' return.

The restaurant, which normally is open 24 hours a day, wasclosed and cordoned off with yellow tape Tuesday. Co-workers sobbedas they spoke with police inside the building.

Boddie-Noell of Rocky Mount owns the restaurant. The restauranthas a security camera inside.

Ms. Oxendine's father, Bradley, said his daughter, the youngestof three children, lived at home with her parents.

She graduated from Purnell Swett High School last year and hadworked at the restaurant for about two years. She also worked apart-time job as a security guard and had completed all of herclasses at Robeson Community College to become a nurse's aide.

She recently was promoted at the Hardee's to assistant manager,but that meant working from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., a shift that worriedMiss Oxendine and her parents.

``She feared someone would come in and rob her,'' said hermother, Betty Rea.

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