Man wanted in connection to woman's death in custody following police standoff at Fayetteville home

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- After an extended standoff with police officers, a murder suspect has been taken into custody in Fayetteville.

The standoff began around 6:15 a.m. at a home on Mesa Drive near Santa Fe Drive.

Fayetteville Police Department said officers arrived at the house to take Raeqwon Mitchell Carlisle, 28, into custody on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Crystal Michelle Loughran.

Loughran's body was found in a wooded area near Fieldcrest Street and Cedric Street on Oct. 11.

Carlisle barricaded himself inside a home and refused to come out for hours.

A negotiations team worked tirelessly with the help of some members of Carlisle's family to convince Carlisle to turn himself in peacefully, which he did shortly before 12:30 p.m.

Carlisle's cousin Ayana Butler said Carlisle has mental health issues, which added another level of concern to the situation.

"That needs to be taken into consideration because he's not in his right state of mind," Butler said.

She stood across the street from the house with other family members for hours, even lending their hand in helping bring the standoff to a peaceful end.

"We don't ever want anything bad to happen. If you want a peaceful resolution, you want somebody to come out safe. We don't want to hurt anybody. We don't want anybody to be hurt. We want them to be taken into custody safely. And that's what happened here, especially with the help of the family, to be able to talk to him and get him calmed down and to actually come out. That was a big help," Sgt. Alpha Caldwell said.

When Carlisle finally agreed to give up and turn himself in, Butler felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders.

"I was excited because I was like, 'oh my God; we serve a mighty God.' We do because we -- by all over here praying and talking to our ancestors -- like, just come outside," Butler said.

Investigators did not go into detail about how they connected Carlisle to Loughran's death or how they tracked him to the home on Mesa Drive. However, they did say he barricaded himself inside a home on Caramel Drive in December 2022, when police sought him on 11 warrants. In that case, he ultimately surrendered, and was taken into custody without incident.

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