A Dare County grand jury on Monday indicted John Curtis “Jay” Tolson with second-degree murder in the July death of Kitty Hawk resident LeeAnn Fletcher.
Tolson was arrested in Bangor, Maine and has a court date of Nov. 30 in Dare County Superior Court.
Amanda LeeAnn Fletcher Hartleben, a native of the Outer Banks, was found unconscious in her Kitty Hawk home on July 22. The 38-year-old had last been seen with Tolson, according to police.
At the time, Kitty Hawk police said they were looking for Tolson as a “person of interest” in a “possible assault.” Investigators later located and interviewed Tolson, but no charges were placed. On July 25, Hartleben died at a hospital in Virginia. An autopsy showed she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
The case caused uproar in the community, with many questioning why there had been no arrest.
Police and Womble’s office first said they were awaiting the results of the autopsy, then requested the aid of the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation.
