Man escapes armed robbery, leads police to home invasion

Durham, N.C. — A shirtless man who escaped from a home invasion directed Durham police officers to a house where armed men had duct-taped three other men Thursday night.

Officers responded to calls about a break-in going on at 106 N. Maple St. around 11:30 p.m. but discovered they had been given the wrong address, police said.

When they started patrolling the area, a man wearing only shorts and no shoes despite the freezing temperatures ran up to Officer Jesus Sandoval. The man said he had escaped from the house where the home invasion occurred.

Inside the house in the 600 block of Maple Street, officers found three men bound with duct tape. Officers also found one suspect, Richard Williams Williams, 40, hiding in the house.

Another man wearing a bandanna over his face ran out the back door when Officers C.A. Fennell and S.J. Kimball approached the back of the house. After a brief foot chase, the officers arrested Bobby Samuel Matthews III, 32.

The victims told police the suspects had forced their way into the house and demanded money. The armed men, victims said, used knives to cut one man's head and leg and a second man's wrist when they couldn't produce enough money.

One suspect also fired a shot into the floor, victims told police.

The three victims were treated at Duke University Hospital and released.

Investigators recovered two firearms from the house.

Williams and Matthews were each charged with nine counts of felony conspiracy, one count of first-degree robbery and three counts each of robbery with a dangerous weapon, second-degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Police also charged Matthews with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Each suspect was held in the Durham County Jail under a $2.5 million bond Friday.

Matthews was on probation for possession of a firearm by a felon, according to state Department of Correction records. His criminal records dates to 1994 and includes convictions for selling drugs and assault on a female.

Williams also has convictions for conspiring to sell drugs in his record, which dates to 1989.