John Jefferson
Inset: David Lever (Pitt County Sheriff’s Office). Background: One of two crime scenes in Greenville, North Carolina, where Lever allegedly murdered three people (WITN/YouTube).
Cops in North Carolina are investigating why a local Realtor went from selling real estate to driving to two different homes miles apart to murder three people with whom he had no known connection.
Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance described to reporters at a press conference livestreamed by local NBC affiliate WITN Monday a “moving crime scene” across five or six different locations in Greenville, which is about 85 miles west of Raleigh. The suspect, 55-year-old David Lever, is facing three counts of murder and is expected to face more charges.
Dance gave a timeline of the crime spree, which started around 1:20 p.m. Friday when the first victim, 64-year-old Enrique Reyes, came home from buying groceries. Surveillance cameras in the area showed Lever, who lives a few doors down, walking to and from Reyes’ home, Dance said. The sheriff said the two men have no connection other than living on the same street.
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About eight minutes later, Lever hoped in his van and drove to a nearby gas station. After leaving the gas station, Lever allegedly started shooting out of his van. No one was apparently hit by the gunfire but someone did call 911, which was the first indication to police that something was amiss. Authorities say Lever then drove to a home on Peace Ridge Court, some four miles from his home, and knocked on the door of a house. The residents never responded, but they saw Lever backing out of their driveway and didn’t recognize him, Dance said. At some point he allegedly also shot into another home on Peace Ridge.
He then drove to the home of Anthony Gribble, 80, and his wife, Paula Gribble, 76, who live on the same street. He allegedly shot the couple to death. Deputies are still working to establish a connection between Lever and the Gribbles.
The Gribbles’ son was in the area, and rushed to the home. He was able to hold Lever at gunpoint until cops arrived and took him to custody, according to Dance.
Dance said deputies were searching the area around Lever’s home around 3:35 p.m. when a passerby called 911 about seeing Reyes’ body in the driveway of his home. Since cops were already at Lever’s home, they drove to Reyes’ house. He was dead in the driveway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, Dance said.
Deputies reportedly recovered at least 50 handguns and rifles inside Lever’s home, along with several more loaded firearms and ammunition in the van. Dance said it will take deputies quite some time to investigate the case that had five or six crime scenes, not to mention trying to establish a motive for Lever’s alleged mayhem.
Dance said deputies believe Lever planned on going to more locations to commit additional violence if he had not been stopped by the Gribbles’ son.
“Had he not been caught at the home of the Gribbles, they do believe he would have gone on to kill more people,” she said.
Lever’s alleged bad behavior continued at his first appearance on Monday morning when the disheveled-looking defendant called the judge a “motherf—er” as he walked out of the courtroom, according to WITN.
What makes the deadly rampage all the more puzzling is Lever’s prior good standing in the community. The Daily Reflector newspaper reports Lever is a partner at Lever & Russel Real Estate LLC in Greenville which owns multiple properties in the area.
But now, Lever sits in the Pitt County Detention Center without bond.
A woman who answered the phone at Lever & Russel Real Estate declined comment when reached by Law&Crime.
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