GUILTY NC - Jerry Case for kidnapping Gaston County family, 2009

Margaret and Randy Farmer lost their only son on Jan. 1, 1985. The Gastonia couple couldn’t believe what police told them. Their 17-year-old boy had been killed by a train. Ruled a suicide nearly 28 years ago, a letter from a federal prison inmate prompted police to reopen the case of Chris A. Farmer...

Case described hanging out with friends on New Year’s Eve in 1984. Driving around Gastonia, smoking marijuana and drinking beer. Case said he and his friends met up with Farmer at a gas station. Farmer went with the group to play pool and party, according to the letter. Case wrote that he intended to rob Farmer. Instead, he shot him and placed his body on some nearby railroad tracks...

It wasn’t long before a bail bondsman friend of the family said he heard Case say he’d killed Chris Farmer. The family called police. Police said they’d call if they found anything, Margaret Farmer said. That call never came...

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