What’s in the news: Homicide, dismemberment and more

Homicide
WLOSers led with a story about a man who walked up to police and told them he murdered his 26-year-old wife at Ledgewood Apartments in Oakley.

Police think the woman was pregnant. WLOSers said the couple was from Belarus – the woman had been here for a few years, and her estranged husband was in the U.S. on a work visa. An apartment worker said the couple seemed to be pretty nice. The method of death was “bodily force,” according to police. There were children in the apartment, but they didn’t know about the incident and they weren’t the couple’s children, according to Holly Headrick, who reported the story. The dead woman worked as a housekeeper at the Grove Park Inn from 2004 to 2006, according to Darcel Grimes back at the anchor desk.

Dismembered remains, one year later
Asheville police reminded us that it has been one year since the dismembered remains of Kelly Lane Smith were found in two locations off Riverside Drive in Asheville. Anyone with info should call Crimestoppers, WLOSers said.

Bele Chere arrests revisited
On Sunday, Kassandra Pride told us that Bele Chere arrests were way down this year compared to last year, and police credited that with extra planning and beefed up presence. But then on Monday, WLOSers reported that there were 89 arrests this Bele Chere weekend, compared to 55 last year. So that’s an increase this year.

As usual, WLOSers didn’t explain or run a correction.

In other news…
A truck hydroplaned and flipped over on I-40 near milemarker 55… School officials in Mitchell County are fixing a drainage problem at Mitchell High that caused a lot of damage to school grounds… A Hendersonville business is going bankrupt. Sheraldo tried to explain it, but it still didn’t make sense. Titan Composite, a company that made plastic decking, is going under. It is owned by Bryan Noel, the former owner of a company called Certified Estate Planners that went under last year and was raided by the FBI, Sheraldo said… U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler met with cattlemen and promised to get them some federal cash to help out with the drought situation… There’s a new owner of the Double Decker coffee bus in downtown Asheville and they’ve just renovated the place, although there’s no bathroom facilities there, John Le told us after reading the Citizen-Times… Teachers are preparing to get back to work… And a couple dozen people were stuck on the chair lift at Ghost Town in the Sky after a lightning strike shut down power to the Maggie Valley amusement park.