DA wants death for NC man accused of killing 3

GASTONIA, N.C. — A prosecutor says he wants the death penalty for a man charged with killing three North Carolina women. Two of the women’s bodies were found in South Carolina.

The Gaston Gazette reports Tuesday that Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell says he plans to pursue the death penalty against 47-year-old Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. of Gastonia.

Hembree was arrested over the weekend and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana and 17-year-old Heather Catterton.

Hembree has also been charged with killing 30-year-old Deborah Denise Ratchford in a Gastonia cemetery 1992.

Hembree was jailed without bond. He told a judge Monday he wants to represent himself, but a public defender will still be appointed.

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