No death penalty for suspected killer

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Johnston authorities looking for women's remains

A spokeswoman with the Johnston County Sheriff's Office confirmed today that the department dispatched a search and rescue team to rural Battleboro this morning to aid in the search for one, possibly three women who have been reported missing.

The search comes a little over a week after the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office charged a convicted sex offender with the death of one of six women whose bodies have been found in the swampy woodlands of rural Edgecombe County, about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh.

The man, Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, has been charged with the strangulation death of Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, whose body was found in a wooded area along Marriot Farm Road.

Deputies search for 3 missing women

The Johnston County Sheriff's Office sent a search-and-rescue team to Edgecombe County on Wednesday to aid in the search for as many as three women who have been reported missing, a spokeswoman said.

The effort comes a little more than a week after the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office charged a convicted sex offender with the death of one of six women whose bodies have been found in the swampy woodlands of rural Edgecombe County, about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh.

Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, of Rocky Mount was charged with the strangulation death of Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, whose body was found in a wooded area along Marriott Farm Road.

Edgecombe arrest ended months on the lam

Antwan Maurice Pittman had apparently been living at several addresses, for months avoiding police who were searching for him on charges unrelated to the murder charge on which he was arrested Tuesday.

Pittman, 31, was charged by the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office with the strangulation death of Taraha Shenice Nicholson. She was one of six women found dead over the past four years, their bodies dumped in the desolate, swampy woods about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh.

Edgecombe deputies arrested him at the Nash County jail, where he had been held since Aug. 13. He is being held without bail.

Police probing killings identify sixth woman

Edgecombe County authorities on Monday identified the remains of a woman whose death they are investigating as one of a string of homicides over the past four years.

The remains of the victim, Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, 33, of Rocky Mount, were discovered Feb. 13 off Melton Road by a state prison crew and Rocky Mount workers cleaning up the area, according to the Rocky Mount Police Department.

Smallwood was one of six women who were the victims of homicides dating to 2005. A multi-agency task force formed at the request of the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office has been investigating the deaths since late June. Five of the bodies were recovered from a swampy, wooded area in rural Edgecombe County, about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. Smallwood's body was discovered about seven miles from where the others were found.

Suspect in Rocky Mount killing had record at 16

Although neighbors say they knew little of Antwan Maurice Pittman, the man indicted Tuesday on a murder charge, North Carolina court records tell at least part of his story, starting at age 16.

Pittman was arrested last week by a task force formed to investigate the killings of six women whose bodies were found in the swampy woodlands of rural Edgecombe County about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. He is charged with the murder of Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, but authorities have declined to say whether he may be implicated in the other killings.

He is being held in Central Prison while he awaits trial.