Second suspect arrested in Greene Co. double murder

SNOW HILL — Greene County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a second man Monday suspected of murdering of two local brothers this past summer.

Deputies and State Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Maurice Wesley, 30, of Maury while he appeared in a county courtroom on an unrelated probation violation charge.

“By working with the SBI and the DA’s office, we finally received enough information to charge him with the murder of the two victims,” Sheriff Lemmie Smith said.

Wesley and 19-year-old Robert Lee Smith Jr. of Stantonsburg — who turned himself in during September — are charged with two counts of first-degree murder each in the deaths of James and Antwan Cox during July.

The Cox brothers, 24, and 26, respectively, resided in Lindell and were reported missing July 23. Their charred bodies were found a week later in James’ vehicle behind a local hog farm. It took the SBI a month to identify them from dental records and DNA samples.