Police arrest third suspect in Domino's murder

KNIGHTDALE

Police arrested two brothers, 20-year-old Nico Bowers and 21-year-old Travis Sherman, late Tuesday and charged them with murder in the death of 24-year-old Kenny Ring.

The State Bureau of Investigation arrested a third suspect, 35-year-old Christopher Thomas, in Wilmington today, but they have not released details about his charges.

Investigators had been working to break the case for eight months -- even increasing the reward money to $30,000 in May.

On January 9, 2010, a delivery driver discovered Ring's badly beaten body inside the pizza restaurant. He died two days later from his injuries.

Arrest warrants obtained by ABC11 Wednesday, say the suspects used a baseball bat in the crime.

Police identified Bowers in a January search warrant as the driver who discovered Ring's body and called 911.

It is not clear if Bowers was still employed by the company at the time of his arrest Tuesday.

Investigators originally interviewed both Bowers sand Sherman on January 13. The men identified themselves as brothers and told authorities they were at Domino's on the evening of January 8, although Sherman did not work there -- he was visiting Bowers.

Bowers told detectives the last time he saw Ring alive was around 12:20 a.m. when he left to make a pizza delivery. He said when he returned, he found Ring beaten.

Sherman said he was at the store until his girlfriend, Anna Painter, picked him up at 11 p.m. When investigators questioned Painter, she told them Sherman asked her to tell police she picked him up. She admitted that the two hadn't dated since the summer of 2009.

Painter also told police other than a text message on January 8 and a phone conversation on January 9, she and Sherman had not been in communication with one another.

According to the warrants, police examined Sherman's phone records and discovered discrepancies about his contact with Painter on the night of the crime and several days following the crime.

Police say the two may have discussed the crime via text messages and requested phone records for Painter's phone that might assist in the investigation.

Ring's Father, Dan Ring, is optimistic about what will follow, now that two suspects are in custody.

"Justice will be served when this has made it through the entire legal process," Dan Ring told ABC11 Eyewitness News. "I'm glad that arrests have been made but until it actually gets through the whole process to the sentencing, it will be incomplete closure for us."

Bowers is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and robbery with a dangerous weapon. His bond is set at $500,000.

Sherman is charged with first-degree murder, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and robbery with a dangerous weapon. His bond is set at $75,000.

"It's a wonderful thing for my family to know that these people, number one for what they've done for Kenny have been taken off the streets, but also to know that they won't be able to harm anyone else," Ring said.

Both men are scheduled to appear in court today.

Police have said that robbery was the motive. About $1,500 was taken from the restaurant.

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