Murder suspects return

A couple charged with first-degree murder after a body was found in the back of their van in Virginia is back in Alexander County and facing additional charges of kidnapping.

Jerry Damron and his wife, Lisa, were returned to Taylorsville on Friday from Virginia.

They are accused of killing Kelly Culley, 42, whose body was found in the cargo area of the couple's mini-van.

Wythe County, Va., sheriff's deputies made the discovery on Interstate 77 when they pulled Lisa Damron over for driving erratically. She was charged with DWI.

Lisa Damron was smirking when she emerged from the black SUV that brought her back to Alexander County, but refused to answer reporters' questions about the details of the murder.

When asked if he had committed the crimes he is accused of, Jerry Damron said, "I'm not going to get into that."

Kelly Culley's estranged husband, Chuck Culley, and her teenage son and daughter waited outside the courthouse while the Damrons were processed into the Alexander County jail, where they are being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. The Damrons' first court appearance is scheduled for Monday.

Detective Sgt. Lisa Johnson of the Taylorsville Police Department has been investigating Culley's murder. She was unwilling to discuss the details of her ongoing investigation to protect the integrity of her case, but said she thinks she has established the motive for the killing.

Johnson declined to answer why the couple has been charged with kidnapping and their arrest warrants said only that the Damrons "unlawfully restrained the victim and moved the victim from one place to another without the victim's consent for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a felony, robbery and murder. Kelly Culley was seriously injured."

Culley's family said they think she was alive and the Damrons forced her into the van, where they killed her.

"They need to be sent away and not see the light of day," Chuck Culley said. "I'm not going to say they need to be executed."

In the probable cause statement accompanying the first search warrant, authorities said Lisa Damron said she left the couple's house at Sixth Street, SW, when her husband and Culley began to argue after the three had been drinking. She said she heard three to four gunshots before going back inside the home.

In the statement accompanying the second search warrant, which was executed Wednesday on the couple's van after it was returned to Taylorsville, she said she saw her husband shoot Culley in the couple's van while it was parked in the driveway.

"There's a lot of information and a lot of misinformation about this case," Johnson said.

The list of items seized from the van during the second search included a multi-colored quilt with blood-colored stains, an empty shell casing and a crow bar with hairs on the circle end of the tool.

Police also recovered a roll of clear packing tape and a knife with tape on the blade.

The Damrons' house — the site of the violence — has been emptied and Friday a pile of castoff possessions, trash bags and old appliances lay in the front yard. A pick-up truck and trailer were loaded with possessions and furniture from the house. The people cleaning the house said they were not related to the Damrons, but declined to say why they were there.

Jerry Damron is also awaiting trial for the Sept. 26, 2008, crash that killed his 8-year-old son, Hauston. Damron was charged with DWI and felony death by motor vehicle.

His wife and six children between the ages of 8 and 1-year-old were in the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Eddie Green Sr. saw the Damrons' van careening back and forth across the road at a high rate of speed and called 911.

"He was going from ditch line to ditch line," he said. "He was probably going about 60 when he hit that tree."

Green was the first on the scene after Damron crashed and said there were no other cars involved in the wreck.

"Nobody wrecked him in that van. He wrecked himself," he said.

"There wasn't a car that went by until three to five minutes after he wrecked."

Lisa Damron was charged with six counts of child abuse, aid and abet impaired driving, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of schedule II and IV controlled substances in connection with the accident.

The surviving children have been in the custody of the Department of Social Services since the September wreck.