A 21-year-old Clinton woman who tested positive for drugs along with her newborn baby is behind bars under a sizable bond, as the offense violated a condition of her release on bond in a 2016 Johnston County murder case.
Sampson County Sheriff’s authorities made the arrest late last week following a referral by Department of Social Services officials, who informed law enforcement that the woman gave birth to a child and “both the child and mother tested positive for amphetamines,” Sampson Sheriff’s Lt. Marcus Smith stated.
Tara Nicole Wilson, 21, whose address is listed as 917 Vann Road, Clinton, has been charged with child abuse (non-assaultive), a misdemeanor offense.
She was served the charge at the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, according to an arrest report filed Monday. She was placed under $125,000 secured bond for the offense.
When asked about the sizable bond, investigators noted a pending charge of accessory after the fact for murder, stemming from the 2016 case in Johnson County.
”She was out on bond and part of her bond restriction was no drug use,” Smith said. “Her bond was set in accordance to the bond restrictions.”
Those bond restrictions stem from the accessory charge in a murder that occurred in March 2016, not far from Sampson’s northern border.
On March 10, 2016, Johnston County Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies of Matthew Scott Jones and Jessica May Pyatte inside a house on Unity Drive near Alonzo Road, north of Newton Grove, both the victims of gunshot wounds to the head. Autopsies revealed Jones was shot twice, while Pyatte was shot seven times. Pyatte was also beaten severely, suffering a skull fracture, four broken fingers on her right hand, a dislocated finger on her left hand and a number of abrasions and bruises.
Jones’ 2-year-old son was in the home but was unharmed.
Gerald Paul Jr., then 21, of Erwin, and Jeremy Price, then 28, have each been charged with murder in the case. Wilson, then 19 and also listed as a resident of the Dunn area, was charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder. Investigators believe Wilson helped destroy and hide evidence used to commit the murders. Paul and Wilson were a couple and were living with Jones and his girlfriend at the house on Unity Drive, according to a search warrant.
Paul was already being held at the Harnett County jail at the time of his arrest on charges of possessing meth. Wilson was initially given a $1 million bond.
