Suspect pleads guilty to Bladen Co. native’s murder

RALEIGH (WTVD) — More than two years after a mother was murdered at her Raleigh apartment, one of the suspects in the case has pleaded guilty in connection with the crime.

Ronald Lee Anthony Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Melissa Huggins-Jones.

Huggins-Jones, who grew up in Bladen County and graduated from East Bladen High School, had just moved to Raleigh from Tennessee for a job when she was found beaten to death on May 14, 2013, at her apartment in Raleigh’s North Hills community.