Sheriff: Boyfriend kills Goldsboro woman in murder-suicide

Goldsboro, N.C. — A Goldsboro man killed his girlfriend in what the Wayne County Sheriff's Office called a murder-suicide.

Relatives of Barbara Baker Pitts, 51, called the sheriff's office after she did not show up for work in Smithfield earlier Thursday, Capt. Tom Effler said. Deputies made a welfare check and forced entry to her home at 1775 Old Smithfield Road in the afternoon.

Inside, they found the bodies of Pitts and Thurman Joseph Bradford Jr., 57, with apparent gunshot wounds, Effler said.

Investigators determined that Bradford shot Pitts and then turned the gun on himself. Effler said they did not know when the shootings took place or how many shots were fired.

The bodies have been transported to the Office of the state Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill. The autopsy will determine how many gunshot wounds the victims suffered, Effler said.

Effler said that Bradford and Pitts had been dating and were a couple but were not married.