Dognapping case dropped against UNC murder suspect

A dognapping case has been dismissed against one of two men charged in the fatal beating of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor.

Troy Arrington Jr. was arrested last year in connection with a residential burglary in Durham in which a Yorkshire terrier was stolen. The dog was later found unharmed.

Court documents say charges against Arrington, 27, of Chapel Hill, in the case were recently dismissed due to credibility issues with a prosecution witness.

Arrington and Derick Davis II, 23, of Durham, remain in the Orange County jail without bond on charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon in the death of Feng Liu.

Liu, 59, a research professor in UNC's Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was taking a lunchtime walk on July 23 when he was beaten with a rock and robbed near the intersection of Ransom Street and West University Drive in Chapel Hill, police said. He died the following day at UNC Hospitals.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said two weeks ago that he doesn't plan to seek the death penalty against Arrington and Davis in the case.