RALEIGH -- Uncertainty and fear have settled into a Raleigh neighborhood as police continue to search for a killer who beat a 62-year-old woman to death.
Police silence about what happened to State Board of Education member Kathy A. Taft, as well as news that someone may have attempted to break into a home on the same day she was attacked, have only intensified uneasiness in the Wayland Heights neighborhood.
"It's really scary," resident Julie Elkins said. "I have been living here for six years, and nothing has ever really happened. Now we have a murder and attempted break-in all at once. ... I'm having trouble sleeping at night."
Taft was found severely beaten at 2710 Cartier Drive, at the home of friend and tax attorney John M. Geil, on Saturday morning. Taft, who lived in Greenville, died at Wake Med Raleigh Campus on Tuesday.
Hours after emergency workers rushed Taft to the hospital Saturday, a resident on Wayland Drive a block away called police to report that someone had tried to break into her back door. Police have not yet made arrests in either case, but investigators are trying to determine whether the two incidents are related, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said Wednesday.
Police cordoned off Cartier Street for two days after the attack on Taft, allowing only residents to enter. Police have maintained an around-the-clock presence, and investigators are searching for evidence both in the surrounding woods and inside the gray, two-story house that remains encircled with yellow caution tape.
Hadley Cairns-Heath, a married mother of a toddler son, looked outside Tuesday and saw officers with the City-County Bureau of Identification searching for evidence at the white, one-story house where the attempted break-in was reported.
"I just don't know what to think," Cairns-Heath said." It makes me uneasy. I lock my doors all the time now, and I make sure I have my dog with me when I come out on the front porch. I think everyone in the neighborhood is feeling uneasy."
While the lack of information from police adds to the uncertainty, some residents say they understand it. Thomas Dameron, a 29-year-old sound engineer who lived on Wayland Drive for about a year, said it doesn't bother him that the police are not more forthcoming.
"I understand that the police need to keep these matters tight," Dameron said. "I just hope they will find a suspect."
Allison Dickens, who lives a couple of doors from where the break-in was attempted, said police have not told her much, though investigators did ask whether she knew of any landscapers who had been working in the neighborhood. Dickens said she is not worried.
"You can't tuck your tail and run," she said. "Things like this happen everywhere."
