Internet sex sting in Buncombe County nabs murder suspect

Jason Sandford February 4, 2009

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

This is wild. Thanks to loyal reader Miss D for the heads-up:

BUNCOMBE COUNTY — Andrew Dalzell, 32, a suspect in the 1997 disappearance of Debbie Key, was arrested in Asheville Tuesday for soliciting a child online.

According to Buncombe County authorities, Dalzell, of Gastonia, initiated a conversation in an Internet chat room with an undercover officer posing as an 11-year-old girl and began discussing sexual acts.

Dalzell traveled to Asheville to meet the young girl, but was met instead by investigators from the sheriff’s office and State Bureau of Investigation.

He is being held under a $70,000 bond.

NC WANTED interviewed Dalzell last year about the disappearance of Debbie Key, a 35-year-old Chapel Hill woman, who left a bar with Dalzell 11 years ago and has never been seen or heard from since. To learn more, read the story below or browse the links in the gray sidebar at right.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Tracing Duke Power’s political contributions

Asheville Affiliates stand ready to help nonprofits

1 Comment

Miss Daisy February 4, 2009

I find this part the most disturbing:

In July (2005), Dalzell was back in court to face child exploitation sex charges after allegedly trying to lure a child from Virginia over the Internet.

Caught twice in four years. Who thinks these were the only two times he has tried this? Combined with the murder suspicion, it’s pretty chilling.

Reply