Run-Down Suspect Surrenders on Murder Charge
Fayetteville, N.C. — A Raeford man surrendered to police Wednesday morning after being charged with murder in the death of a man who had tried to rob his wife.
Stanton Moretti Jr., 41, of 119 Raymond St., was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center.
He was charged Monday with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and had been free on a $25,000 bond.
Moretti's wife, Anna Moretti, was outside Primo Pizza on Yadkin Road Friday night when Aaron McLeod approached her and tried to rob and stab her, police said. Anna Moretti called out to her husband, who came outside and fired two warning shots from a handgun he carried, police said.
McLeod fled on foot down Horseshoe Road, and Stanton Moretti got into his GMC Yukon, caught up to McLeod and struck him three times with his vehicle, police said.
Investigators declined to say whether a knife was found, but Stanton Moretti's attorney, Michael Boose, said a knife was found at the scene.
McLeod, 28, of 412 Horseshoe Road, died Monday at UNC Hospitals.
Stanton Moretti chased McLeod in order to subdue him, Boose said. Moretti had been assaulted in the past and the suspects got away, Boose said, and he didn't want that to happen again.
"He was chasing him. The guy wasn't stopping and either cut in front of the vehicle or was running off the road because he was able to be pursued on the road, and that's when Stan ran over him in the ditch," Boose said.
Anna Moretti suffered defensive wounds on her hands in the incident, Boose said.
Stanton Moretti has been "torn up" about the incident, Boose said, adding that people that know Moretti say he "doesn't have a vicious bone in his body."
Moretti was arrested in September on charges of assaulting a female and misdemeanor child abuse. Several misdemeanor charges against McLeod, including larceny and shoplifting, had been dismissed, according to a criminal records check.
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Comment by riffran— 2008/03/20 @ 04:08 PM — (Reply)
It is very questionable as to what really happened. The man that was run over was actually from a fairly well off family and was visiting his cousin. He would have no reason to rob her. The man that ran him down owns a very shady tattoo parlor where there is constant drug activity and he and his wife physically fight in front of customers. He has been picked up for petty theft and tons of other smaller crimes while the man that was run over repeatedly (the article did not state that fact) had never been arrested for anything in his life. For all we know, she was robbing him.
Comment by — 2008/04/06 @ 05:25 PM — (Reply)