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Body dug up in Ashe County is believed to be Jimmy Blevins, a man missing since 2007
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Published: August 4, 2009
CLIFTON - Authorities dug up a body yesterday in Ashe County and believe the remains are those of Jimmy Blevins, a man missing since 2007, said Ashe County Sheriff James Williams.
"We're transporting him to Chapel Hill for positive identification, but yes, it's Jimmy," Williams said at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday as the body was loaded into the back of his truck. "We're confident…Hammer told us where it was."
The body was found about 4 to 5 feet deep on property where the longtime prime suspect, Freddie Hammer, had done work on private property off N.C. 88 in the Clifton community near Warrensville. Clothing found at the scene matched Blevins' clothes.
Hammer confessed to killing Blevins and will be charged with murder in the case, Williams said.
Hammer also confessed to killing Tim Shatley, a killing that had gone unsolved since 2005, but Williams said authorities aren't sure yet if Hammer really did kill Shatley.
Williams said the scenario Hammer described didn't quite match with what authorities believe happened, and that Hammer did not provide some of the details the killer would have known.
Authorities will continue to investigate Hammer's possible involvement in killing Shatley, Williams said.
Hammer is serving five life sentences without parole after pleading guilty on May 22 for killing three men on a Grayson County Christmas tree farm on Jan. 24, 2008. He admitted going to the farm to steal a safe, and killing Christmas tree farm owner Ron Hudler, 73; his son, Fred Hudler, 44; and a farm employee, John Miller Jr., 25.
He admitted to the killings while awaiting trial after telling a fellow jail inmate where to find the murder weapon, along with $10,000 he'd buried. Authorities intercepted a note the inmate wrote to a girlfriend. Hammer confessed after authorities dug up the money inside a barn where he said it would be. They found the murder weapon beneath a heavy roll of fence wire.
The day Hammer admitted to those killings in court, he denied having anything to do with killing Blevins or Shatley.
Shatley was killed in his van at a bridge on N.C. 16 on Nov. 19, 2005, as he drove home from his first night's shift as a cook at a North Wilkesboro restaurant.
The spot where Shatley was killed is just a few hundred yards from the trailer where Blevins lived beside the highway.
Blevins, then 41, disappeared on Feb. 24, 2007, leaving the television on and chicken cooking in a crock pot.
A witness said she saw Hammer arrive that evening, and saw Blevins get in Hammer's truck, which then drove away. Blevins, who was Hammer's nephew by marriage, was never seen again until his body was apparently recovered yesterday.
Hammer, who owned Freddie P's Firewood business in Crumpler, owed money to Blevins for work Blevins had done at the business. The men had been at odds about the money. Family members have said they believe Blevins was going to tell authorities that Hammer killed Shatley.
Authorities started digging with a backhoe for Blevins yesterday morning. The Ashe County Sheriff's Office was joined there yesterday afternoon by the State Bureau of Investigation's mobile crime lab.
Williams said Hammer made the confessions last week to two Ashe County Sheriff's officers. Lt. Peyton Colvard, the lead investigator on the Blevins case, and Det. William Sands both traveled to talk to Hammer at Powhatan Correctional Center in State Farm, Va., near Richmond. They were accompanied by Donna Shumate, an Alleghany County attorney who Hammer asked to be present.
Williams said Hammer made the confessions in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table and for being moved to a prison closer to home. He said Blevins' family had agreed with not seeking the death penalty. Hammer's wife is the sister of Jimmy Blevins' father. The District Attorney's office could not be reached last night to comment on the death penalty.
Hammer had served prison time for killing an off-duty Philadelphia police officer in 1978. He had escaped from prison, been recaptured and had his conviction overturned. One of the reasons he came to Ashe County was to be in a place where people wouldn't know his past, he said in a past interview.
Authorities had long believed Hammer killed Blevins.
They dug up a stretch of paved road last month acting on a tip that Hammer may have possibly buried Blevins while the road was under construction. When that turned out to be a false lead, Williams vowed that the sheriff's office would continue its search.
"It's been a long haul that's worn down the family and investigators," he said yesterday, as he prepared to leave the scene. "We're glad to put some closure to it."
Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com
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