A Raleigh man pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to first degree murder in the death of former Elizabethtown resident Melissa Huggins-Jones.
Ronald Lee Anthony, 25, was sentenced to life in prison in Wake County Superior Court in the beating and stabbing death of Huggins-Jones in May 2013 inside her Allister North Hills Apartments home off Six Forks Road in Raleigh.
Huggins-Jones, who was 30, had moved to Raleigh from Cleveland, Tennessee, two weeks earlier for a new job. She graduated from East Bladen High School in 2000. Several members of Huggins-Jones’ family still live in Bladen County.
Anthony is one of three suspects charged in the murder. The others are Travion Devonte Smith, 22, of Raleigh, and Sarah Rene Redden, 20, of Wake Forest. All were arrested less than two weeks after the killing.
An autopsy determined Huggins-Jones died from blunt force trauma.
Huggins-Jones’ body was discovered May 14, 2013, covered in blood, after her then 8-year-old daughter had left the home shortly before 7:30 a.m. and asked a construction worker for help.
A laptop stolen from the apartment directly below Huggins-Jones turned up in Wake Forest, and investigators were able to use DNA evidence to link the computer to the suspects, according to reports.
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