Suspect in missing Fayetteville man's death strikes plea deal
The lone remaining suspect in the death of a Fayetteville man pleaded guilty Thursday to being an accessory in the missing man's murder.
Posted — UpdatedPolice identified the two men as Mark Allen Verhasselt, 42, and Ryan Dewain Chavis, 23.
Even though Fuentes' body has never been found, Chavis was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping.
Prosecutors dropped those charges, however, after Chavis agreed to plead guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to six to eight years in prison.
Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West said he was forced to strike a deal when a key witness refused to testify against Chavis.
The plea deal left Fuentes' parents devastated.
"He had written down that he was there, that he hit my son with a bottle of alcohol and shoved him in a cage and ... in a tub to die," Mayra Fuentes said of Chavis.
Mayra Fuentes has said investigators told her her son was murdered in an apartment behind some businesses in the 4800 block of Ramsey Street – about a mile from where he was last seen – and thrown in the Cape Fear River.
Charles Fuentes, who's a diver, also spent days in the river searching for his son's remains.
"If somebody suddenly gave me some murky information that my son's remains are buried somewhere, I would grab a shovel this time and go searching for my son," he said.
Charles Fuentes said he looked Chavis directly in the eyes when he spoke with him during the sentencing hearing.
"It looked like repentance with an imminent confession," he said when asked what he saw in Chavis' expression. "Like, all of a sudden, he was going to stand up and say, 'This is what happened.'"
With the criminal case in their son's death over, the Fuenteses said they are still looking for closure.
"My closure will be when I get my son. That's all we want," Mayra Fuentes said. "We're Christians. We want our son to give him a burial."
Related Topics
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.