Gorham has a lengthy criminal record and is now facing murder charges. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
Family and friends are now mourning the loss of the mother and daugther killed Friday night.
Police say Gorham stabbed the two women and robbed them. Authorities believe robbery was the motive.
Burgess was a longtime employee of Durham Public Schools. She was a secretary at Carrington Middle School.
Carrington Middle School Principal, Julie Spencer worked with Burgess for the last ten years.
She tells ABC11 Eyewitness News that Burgess' spent most of her time at the middle school and loved it so much that she continued to work after her official retirement.
"Oh, she was a tremendous employee. She was a great friend. She knew people, and she had deep connections with many of our staff members," Principal Julie Spencer said.
Spencer says the death of Burgess's has been very hard on staff members at the middle school.
"Very difficult, not only dealing with the death of a loved one and a person that I respected tremendously and was very close to, but also just working with the details of how horrific her death was," Spencer said. "That's been very painful."
Spencer says Burgess spent a lot of time in Roanoke Rapids visiting her mother.
"Had a very close relationship with her mother and I won't say every weekend she visited but about every other weekend, she was with her mom," Spencer said.
The staff at Carrington want to remember Burgess for the person she was.
"She just had a very kind and gentle spirit, very meek and mild, just very humble," Spencer said.
Burgess' husband did speak with ABC11 Eyewitness news but said he wants to keep his grieving private.
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