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Authorities familiar with Alex couple

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Criminal charges

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: July 12, 2009

TAYLORSVILLE - Jerry Wayne Damron was no stranger to Alexander County authorities, racking up at least a dozen criminal charges since 1992, ranging from DWI to assault on an officer.

The 42-year-old Taylorsville resident has an extensive list of arrests that began long before he and his wife Lisa Damron were arrested in Virginia on Thursday with the body of a murder victim in the cargo area of their van.

Lisa Damron, 31, also had been arrested a number of times, as had the woman the couple is accused of killing — Kelly Ross Lynette Culley, 42, of Taylorsville.

The Damrons were arrested Thursday morning on Interstate 77 in Wythe County, Va., when sheriff's deputies stopped the van and charged Lisa Damron with driving under the influence. Her husband also was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and having a concealed weapon.

Murder charges followed the discovery of Culley's body.

Jerry Wayne Damron

Damron's Alexander County criminal history begins in 1992 with an assault on a female charge.
He was found guilty and sentenced to two years probation.

Over the years, he continued to have periodic run-ins with the law and, in 2002, he attacked an Alexander County sheriff's deputy during his arrest after a fight with neighbors.

He was found guilty of resisting a public officer and court-ordered to write an apology letter to the deputy he attacked.

The handwritten letter begins, "I would like to tell you that I am sorry for the things I done on April 8th. I do not remember much about that night."

He called the attack "an unnecessary act that never should have happened," and assures the deputy, "I can tell you that it never never happen again. Sir I have learn't my lesson. I want do anything to cause me be taken away from my wife and two little boys again."

Damron explains he was beaten in the head with a steel pipe in 1996 and it caused a clot in his brain and speculates something may have been triggered when he was hit by a 4x4 during the fight
He concludes the letter with a promise: "I also want you to know that I will never drink liquor again. I am going to straighten up. And you want have no problem from me again."

Unable to keep his promise, he was arrested two years later for DWI and firing a .44-caliber handgun into an occupied Taylorsville home. No one was injured.

That time, a judge ordered Damron be evaluated to determine if he was mentally competent to stand trial, and, in 2005, he was sent to the Foothills Area Program for psychological testing.

The evaluator, Claude A. Thompson Jr., wrote, "Mr. Jerry Wayne Damron, upon initial presentation and observation of his physical condition, appears to be unable to take care of himself or understand what is going on around him."

He also said Damron was uncooperative and claimed not to remember past events.

Thompson expressed concern for Damron's children and suggested it may be necessary to commit Damron involuntarily, but said he may have been exaggerating his condition to avoid standing trial for the crimes he had been charged with.

He concluded Damron should be transferred to Dorothea Dix State Hospital for a more lengthy mental evaluation.

He arrived at Dorothea Dix, "in a complete camouflage outfit and apparently had not performed appropriate hygiene procedures in the past several days," according to Damron's evaluation summary.

During interviews he was incoherent, did not speak in complete sentences and could not recall the names or ages of his children, nor could he recall his own address or phone number, according to the summary from Dorothea Dix.

Damron was diagnosed with a cognitive disorder due to head trauma and found incompetent to stand trial. The charges against him were dismissed with leave.

The prosecutor can reinstitute the trial if Damron is found capable of proceeding, according to North Carolina General Statute 56A 1009.

Lisa Church Damron

Lisa Damron was ordered to pay a $395 judgment for shoplifting from Wal-Mart in November 2007.

She pleaded guilty to a lesser charge when arrested for shoplifting stockings from Dollar General the following month, according to court documents.

She was awaiting her court date for stealing a $5 lottery ticket from Murphy USA in January of this year, according to court documents.

Her court date for the charges stemming from the September DWI wreck that killed her 8-year-old son, Hauston, was scheduled for Aug. 25. Jerry Damron was driving the van when it crashed. She and the couple's six children were passengers in the van, according to police. Two other children were hospitalized for several days with serious injuries. The children have been in the custody of the Department of Social Services since the September wreck.

Kelly Culley

Culley had been arrested in Alexander County a number of times before her murder.

She was on probation for a 2007 Iredell County DWI when she was killed, according to court documents.

Culley was killed 12 days before she was scheduled to go to court to face charges of assault, communicating threats and harassing phone calls that occurred in the first week of June.

The Damrons did not take out the arrest warrants against Cully nor were they mentioned in the warrants.