Police: Cary student died while trying to sell suspects drugs

The death of 16-year-old Katherine Burdick-Crow happened after police say she tried to stop teens who allegedly stole marijuana from her on Friday night, according to a search warrant investigators obtained on Sunday before charging four people with murder.

Burdick-Crow, known as Katie, died early Saturday morning after getting into an altercation at Walnut Street Park with three teens and a 20-year-old she had arranged to sell marijuana to, police say. Two of the buyers took the drugs, according to the search warrant, after she refused to show the group what they would be buying.

Police say Burdick-Crow, a Green Hope High School student, chased the teens who took the marijuana from her as they raced toward the 2003 Ford F150 pickup they had ridden in to the park.

Burdick-Crow jumped up on the side rail of the truck, reaching in through the driver’s side window as Joshua Odell Simmons, 17, tried to drive away, according to an account several witnesses provided investigators.

Simmons, 17, is accused of punching Burdick-Crow in the face several times through the driver’s window as she attempted to stop the truck, according to the account on the search warrants.

Simmons, a rising senior at Cary’s Panther Creek High School, was charged with murder on Sunday. Others accused of murder related to the incident are: Jourdan Chanquion Mack, 20, who graduated from Green Hope High in 2014; Abijah James Masse, 17, a rising senior at Green Hope; and Beth Marie Strange, 18, who graduated from Panther Creek in June.

All four were denied bail Monday during their first appearance in front of District Court Judge Keith Gregory, who told the four they could potentially face the death penalty or life in prison.

Cary police laid out the fatal scenario that they said began with a plan for Burdick-Crow to sell marijuana to Masse at the park on Lawrence Road, not far from Walnut Street’s intersection with Buck Jones Road.

Masse and Mack got out of a truck to meet Burdick-Crow, according to investigators who interviewed three witnesses and Mack, Masse and Simmons.

Burdick-Crow would not show the pair the marijuana, police said the suspects told them.

The two went back to the truck. Then, Mack and Strange walked to where Burdick-Crow was standing and took the drugs from her, the search warrant application said.

Mack and Strange took off on foot, and Simmons began to drive the truck away to pick them up, police wrote.

Burdick-Crow jumped onto a side rail of the pickup and was trying to stop it, reaching through the open driver’s side window, an affidavit from Detective J.A. Young said.

Simmons told invesigators it was then “that as he accelerated the ... truck, he punched Burdick-Crow in the face and head” two or three times and she fell to the pavement, Young said in the search warrant application.

Burdick-Crow died at WakeMed Raleigh hospital about 1:25 a.m. Saturday, Young told a magistrate who granted the search warrant.

They also wanted to find out whether there were any drugs or drug paraphernalia in the truck or any information about drug transactions, they wrote.

Julian Michael Hall, a lawyer representing Masse, told colleagues outside a courtroom on Monday that the case revolved around “a quarter bag of weed,” or roughly a quarter of an ounce.

Defense attorneys argued on Monday at the District Court hearing that murder was not the appropriate charge for what they described as an “accident.”

Though Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman declined to discuss the specifics of the case, she said that felony murder law in North Carolina allows prosecutors to hold defendants accountable for the consequences that occur during the commission of a felony crime such as robbery.

Prosecutors are expected to take their cases in July to a Wake County grand jury, which could offer more details on the specific charges.

Burdick-Crow’s family released a statement Sunday through the Brown-Wynne Funeral Home thanking the Cary police department for its efforts.

“Katie was a very loving, caring person and it is a shame her life has ended so soon,” it says. “We ask for your prayers and good wishes, but also your respect for our privacy at this time.”

Funeral arrangements were announced Tuesday. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 3, at Hope Chapel, 6175 Old Jenks Road in Apex. The funeral will be at noon. Attendees are asked to wear tie-dye attire.

This story was originally published June 30, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Police: Cary student died while trying to sell suspects drugs."