Woman Gets Plea Deal in Quadruple Murder
A Moore County woman accused of taking part in the slayings of four men in 2003 accepted a plea deal Wednesday to spare her life.
Posted — UpdatedRenee Yvette McLaughlin pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping and being an accessory to first-degree murder. She was sentenced to 12 to 16 years in prison on the charges and was given credit for the four years she has already served awaiting trial.
Eddie Ryals, 21, Carl Garrison Justice, 18, and Harvey Darrell Hobson, 20, all of Carthage, and Joseph Allen Harden, 19, of Vass, were killed on Dec. 19, 2003, in a mobile home on Heron Road, east of Carthage. All four had been shot and stabbed in what authorities said was a robbery. They said the three suspects made off with $170.
Amanda Cook Varner survived being shot twice and stabbed 22 times that day.
McLaughlin was one of three people charged in the case.
In October, a jury sentenced Mario Lynn Phillips, 35, to death in the case. Varner identified Phillips as the gunman and said McLaughlin and Sean Maurice Ray assisted him in the crime.
No trial date has been set for Ray.
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