Man was assaulted before being shot dead, authorities say

HILLSBOROUGH -- The young men accused of killing Joshua McCabe Bailey first interrogated and assaulted him in a garage behind the home of Brian "Beef" Minton and his parents at 714 Smith Level Road in Chapel Hill, according to search warrants released Thursday.

"After the assault, Bailey was duct-taped and escorted to ... Minton's mother's car, which was a large, gray newer model sport utility vehicle," according to the search warrants. The vehicle is a 2005 Toyota Sequoia, according to the warrants.

Authorities say Matt Johnson, 21, shot Bailey in the head with a 9 mm pistol and helped bury him in a shallow grave July 29 off Twisted Oak Drive west of Chapel Hill. An informant told investigators that two shots were fired at Bailey and that Minton had a .38 caliber handgun at the time. It is not clear whether investigators think Minton also shot at Bailey.

Another informant told investigators that Minton's mother Mishele, 37, used a fake name to rent a U-Haul truck from her husband's rental service at Minton's Glen Lennox BP station at the merge of N.C. 54 and U.S. 15-501 east of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, according to the warrants.

The informant told investigators that Minton, Jacob "Jake" Maxwell, 18, and Chris Manley, 23, used the U-Haul to move Bailey's body to a second burial site near Jordan Lake.

A resident on Big Woods Road in Chatham County told investigators he saw Brian Minton and two others pull the U-Haul into his yard in late August.

Another informant told investigators that Minton's father, Gregory, 41, advised his son to use clear plastic sheeting, a tarp and white plastic suits to conceal evidence of Bailey's murder. Authorities found clear plastic sheeting at the scene of the shooting off Twisted Oak Drive and a dark blue fitted sheet, clear plastic sheeting, a tarp and black trash bags with Bailey's body in Chatham County.

Previous search warrants have indicated that Gregory Minton advised his son to use acid to destroy Bailey's body. On Aug. 25, surveillance footage from a Lowe's Home Improvement store shows Maxwell exiting a large, dark-colored SUV and purchasing two gallons of hydrochloric acid, according to the warrants.

The new warrants indicate Maxwell, Brian Minton, Jack "Black Jack" Johnson, 19, Ryan LaDar Davis Lee, 20, and Brandon Hamilton Greene, 26, were all present when Bailey was killed. They are all charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping and are jailed with no bail, as is Matt Johnson.

Minton's parents and Manley are all charged as accessories after the fact and are jailed in lieu of $1 million bail each.