Suspect charged in murder of Butler County man

Published 6:13 pm Thursday, September 3, 2015

A 25-year-old has been arrested in connection with the July murder of a Butler County man.

Adrian Carter, of Greenville, has been charged with murder and is being held at the Butler County Correctional Facility on a $300,000 bond.

Authorities say that Carter shot Graham in the head and then placed his body in a freezer in Graham’s mobile home.

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Butler County Sheriff Kenny Harden said Carter then fled in Graham’s SUV, which was later located just outside of Atlanta. Deputies tracked Carter to North Carolina, where he has been held on domestic abuse and theft charges since July.

Butler County District Attorney Charlotte Tesmer said Graham and Carter knew each other, and Harden said Carter had been staying at Graham’s home off and on.

No motive has been given for the murder.

The BCSO began investigating the case after Graham was reported missing by family members on July 14 when he failed to show up for work the previous two days.

“To start with, we just had a missing person and we’ve had that before,” said Harden. “An adult would go off and wouldn’t tell anyone, and we’ve found them in different cities where they went off for whatever reason. This time, when the car was located in Georgia that gave us somewhere to start. And we were able to find out that the person who was driving that car had gotten picked up and was taken to North Carolina.”

BCSO investigators traveled to North Carolina where they were able to collect evidence that allowed them to obtain a search warrant for Graham’s residence on South Shackleville Road. During the search, Graham’s body was found inside the freezer.

Deputies with the BCSO had previously made a walk through of Graham’s residence looking for clues to his whereabouts, but the search came up empty.

Graham’s death marks the second murder in Butler County this year. In April, 18-year-old Jerome Watkins was shot and killed in Greenville.