Charges brought in Wiggins murder

CLINTON — Carl Earl Andre Wiggins, 49, has been formally served with a warrant charging him with an open count of murder in the death of his wife Kiara Rene Wiggins.

Sampson County Sheriff’s officials, along with the District Attorney Ernie Lee, made the announcement during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Members of the sheriff’s office met with Lee on Aug. 9 to discuss the case and from there the recommendation came to obtain the warrant for the murder. Wiggins had his first appearance before a District Court judge Wednesday morning. He is being held without bond.

“The next step will be to ensure that he has court appointed counsel,” said Lee.

Lee said the next step after that will be his office receiving all the reports and evidence surrounding the case, and sending that discovery to the other side, which includes full and complete disclosure.

In this process it will be going to a Sampson County grand jury for an indictment, which Lee explained is how the case is moved up to Superior Court.

“It is one of my jobs as District Attorney to determine if a case is a capital or non capital,” said Lee. “In the State of North Carolina the only time that you can seek the death penalty is first degree murder. However, not every first degree murder is a capital case.”

In NC there are 11 aggravating circumstances that can elicit capital status, and the state cannot go out of those, and only one of the 11 is required. The majority of the NC cases are noncapital said Lee. He additionally explained that whether it is a death sentence or life without parole is ultimately left to the jury.

“In North Carolina first degree does carry a mandatory life without parole,” said Lee. “It is not a death sentence.”

Lee said that that is considered a rule 24 hearing, probably right after the grand jury and around the arraignment time.

“The State Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet listed an exact cause of death, but reported Kiara Renee Wiggins died of homicidal means,” a release from the sheriff’s office says.

“My office, along with the District Attorney’s office, will continue to work together to bring Kiara’s family the closure and justice deserved, said Sampson Sheriff Jimmy Thornton. “I ask for continued prayers for her family moving forward and know they will find the comfort needed through community support.”

Prior to the indictment, Carl Wiggins was charged with multiple other felonies stemming from a multi-county car chase with a stolen vehicle after he became a person of interest in regards to his wife’s whereabouts. Wiggins has been in and out of prison since the 1990s, with a plethora of charges from assault to drug offenses.

“The District Attorney’s office will also soon be in contact with the family of Kiara Wiggins and provide them with the victims rights services they are entitled to by law and deserved during this difficult time,” said Lee.

“From what I have seen the sheriff’s office has put a tremendous amount of effort into this investigation,” Lee stated.

This investigation has been ongoing in the midst of multiple other cases, keeping the sheriff’s office investigators exceptionally busy over the last few months.

“Pretty much with this case we have worked it every single day since the report came out,” said Lt. Lawrence Dixon. “There’s been a lot of evidence that has been collected and reviewed…. It would be nice to have witnesses come forward. This one took a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck.”

“We took a shot at our best effort and it worked out,” said Dixon.

A $5,000 reward was initiated with the public for information on the case, but nothing substantial came from the public to warrant that disbursement said Thornton.

Kiara Wiggins, 39, of Roseboro, went missing two months ago. Her body was found on Boykin Bridge Road just over a week ago.

Dixon said that the estimated date of death would have been June 12, and that her body had been there a month or so, based off the evidence they have collected. Dixon confirmed that Wiggins has not made any statements at this time.

“This is a continuing investigation,” said Dixon.

It was also mentioned that neighbors and family have said that there has been a history of domestic violence, which Dixon said that they are looking into as well.

When the body was found, family alerted that it was hers before the sheriff’s office released the information. Dixon said that the sheriff’s office was waiting for official confirmation from the Medical Examiner’s Office.

“That identification was started late in the evening and into the next morning,” he said. “We did meet with the family to let them know of our findings.”

Thornton was able to share that information about the charges with the family, and said that they were relieved.

“Relief,” he said. “At least they know their suspicions turned out to be correct. The fact that we found the body, and charges have been filed, I am sure that it is a heavy burden that has been lifted off their shoulders.”

Family said that they lost contact with her around June 9, and had not seen her since then. They contacted the sheriff’s office to report her missing on June 18.

Multiple agencies have worked on this case including the State Bureau of Investigations, NC Highway Patrol, Bladen County Sheriff’s Office, Four Oaks Police Department, Sampson County Emergency Management, the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh and the Sampson County Medical Examiner.