Warrant: Stepfather confessed to strangling teen

Durham, N.C. — The stepfather of a Northern High School student found slain over the weekend told investigators he strangled the teen, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.

The beaten and burned body of Mylin Bullock, 16, was found in a dirt parking lot off Old Oxford and Snow Hill roads Saturday morning.

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Stepfather, girl argued before her death

Shortly after the body was found, Bullock's mother, Jocelyn Michelle Gist, reported her missing. Gist said she had worked an overnight shift and returned home to find her daughter gone.

Authorities have charged the teen's stepfather, Jeffrey H. Gist, 33, of Durham, with first-degree murder in Bullock's death.

In affidavit for a warrant to search Jeffrey Gist's sweatpants for hair, fiber and blood evidence, Durham County investigators said he confessed to strangling Bullock, putting her body in a Dodge Stratus and driving to some woods, where he dumped the body.

Jeffrey Gist initially told investigators that he and Bullock had argued Friday night over the possibility of her transferring to a different high school, according to the affidavit. He said she was upset and crying most of the night, and she was missing when he awoke Saturday morning, according to the affidavit.

When investigators questioned Jocelyn Gist about her daughter's disappearance, she told them she found her daughter's bedroom in disarray and that a purple comforter was missing from the room, according to the affidavit.

Investigators said in the affidavit that a purple comforter and other bed linens were found near the burned body and that parts of pajama bottoms or boxer shorts could be seen on the body.

A judge on Monday ordered that Jeffrey Gist be held without bond in the Durham County Jail. The judge agreed to appoint a public defender to represent Gist, and a court date was set for April 13.

Ed Bullock said after the court hearing that Gist might have abused his granddaughter, but he declined to be more specific.

"To a certain degree, for him to do what he did to her, there had to be a motive," Bullock said.

Capt. Don Ladd of the Durham County Sheriff's Office said he couldn't confirm any allegations of abuse in the case.

Mylin Bullock's friends said she told them Jeffrey Gist was very strict.

Ed Bullock said no one in the family suspected any type of abuse before his granddaughter's death.

"He was a fine father. Being a stepfather, he wants to do things for the kids, but at the same time, you never know unforeseen occurrences," Bullock said.

He said he has put his faith in God to deal with Gist.

"Man's law may make him suffer – things may happen to him – but yet I know that God will be the final judge of his situation," he said. "A life is a life, and no one should take no one's life."