Jury picked for Sampson triple-slaying trial
A jury of 10 women and two men will decide the guilt or innocence of a Sampson County man accused of killing his mother and two half-siblings more than four years ago.
The case against Kenneth Hartley, 26, has been bogged down in the court system for nearly 4½ years, but jury selection finished Thursday afternoon, and attorneys will present their opening arguments Monday morning.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Hartley for the June 18, 2004, slayings of Teresa Gail Tyndall, Tristan Megan Bush, 13, and Robert Steven Bush II, 10.
After Tyndall failed to show up for work, police found the family members, bound and gagged, in different rooms of their mobile home in Plain View.
Autopsy reports showed that Tyndall was stabbed nearly 30 times in the neck and chest, Robert was stabbed a dozen times and Tristan was strangled and sexually molested.
Deputies initially searched for Hartley, who lived at the residence, fearing that he could be in danger. Instead, they arrested him five days later for the slayings.
