Shaw, 18, had been accused of beating and setting fire to Sherry Lynn Bean, 27, of Aberdeen in the early morning hours March 25. She was found later that day in an abandoned garage owned by the state Forestry Service at the end of Fire Lane Road off Morganton Road.
The prosecution was stymied in its case by Shaw’s stepfather, Marshall Hollmond. He was called to the stand, but refused to corroborate a statement police said he made to officers on March 28, identifying Shaw as the assailant.
“He reneged on it,” said Southern Pines police Capt. Carol McCarn.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Willis asked the judge for and received permission to treat Hollmond as a hostile witness. He asked him questions about the statement police said he gave them, but Hollmond denied what the statement said. He admitted making a statement to police.
“I told them [Shaw] had been in a fight,” he said.
Willis then asked Hollmond if it was true that Shaw came into his room at 3 a.m. on the night of the attack and woke him up to ask for a cigarette, took him out of the room and told him of the attack. Hollmond answered no. But Willis continued to ask him about that night.
Willis wanted to know if it was true that Shaw told him a “white crack-head” started following him around. Hollmond said no.
Willis asked if it was true that Shaw told him that he hit her in the head several times with a brick and piled pinestraw on her and lit it on fire. Hollmond said that it was not true.
“Did David tell you he ‘just lost it’?” Willis asked. “No,” Hollmond said.
McCarn and Detective Rodney Dozier did not have Hollmond sign the statement they said he originally gave them. They also testified.
McCarn said that when she got to the crime scene she found Bean nude, covered in charred pinestraw and tree limbs. There was a pool of blood behind her head.
A blood splatter mark behind the victim indicated that she hdad been attacked with a blunt object, Dozier said. Detectives could not find the object.
But they did find her clothing in and around a dumpster near the area where she was found. Officers also took a pair of shoes from his brother, Tony Shaw, which they believe he wore the night of the attack.
When Dozier got the shoes, he said there was no visible blood on them. The shoes are now at the SBI crime lab being tested.
If the test results provide police with evidence that they believe points to Shaw, he may yet be indicted, police said.
After the judge ruled that there was no probable cause, members of Bean’s family left the courtroom exasperated.
They believe police had the right man. Bean’s uncle, Earl Bean, said that the detectives failed by not having Hollmond sign his original statement.
“The detective had to have him sign his name,” he said. “You can’t just type it up.”
Hollmond said afterward that he was happy with the judge’s decision.
“He’s innocent,” he said.
Hollmond said he didn’t know who really committed the crime, but he reiterated that Shaw did not.
“He’s innocent,” he said. “I’m sorry about what happened, but he’s not… he’s not… [guilty].”
Sherry Bean is recovering in the burn ward at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. She had burns over 40 percent of her body and had fractures in her skull.
She has opened her eyes and is breathing on her own through a tracheotomy. Doctors have removed all the burned tissue and have grafted skin back onto the burned areas, family members told The Pilot.
Doctors had to amputate her right hand and remove several fingers from her left hand. She still has a hole in the back of her head to let excess fluid drain. Also, doctors may have to remove even more of her right arm, family members said.
Family members said Bean is getting better every day, and they hold out hope for the day that she will be able to positively identify her attacker.
“She’s coming to,” said her father, David Bean, “She’ll know his name.”
Earl Bean said, “And then justice will be done.”
