Chapel Hill man accused of murdering, sexually assaulting Durham woman last fall
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- Anson Haviland, 51, was arrested Thursday on charges of murder and attempted rape.
- Haviland is accused of killing Kenashi McGraw, 44, in Durham in September.
- McGraw was found dead at a homeless encampment in the woods off Glenn School Road.
Six months after a Durham woman was brutally killed near a homeless encampment, her alleged killer has been arrested, The News & Observer has learned.
Kenashi McGraw, 44, was found dead Sept. 18 in a wooded area near the Glenn School Road Walmart in Durham, The N&O previously reported. She had been stabbed twice and asphyxiated with a plastic bag stuffed down her throat; police also believed she’d been sexually assaulted.
Anson Allen Haviland, 51, of Chapel Hill was arrested Thursday on charges of murder and attempted first-degree rape in the killing, arrest records show.
Charging documents don’t specify if Haviland and McGraw knew one another, but Haviland described himself as also being homeless in a July 2025 Gofundme for rotator cuff surgery.
How police found the suspect
A search warrant in the investigation indicate a man with the initials “A.H.” came to Durham police headquarters three days after the killing with information in the case.
The N&O did not previously report on the search warrant to maintain the integrity of the case as police worked towards an arrest.
“A.H.,” who lived at the encampment, told police he’d overheard two men talking about sexually assaulting McGraw before killing her, according to the warrant.
“While speaking with A.H. I observed a cut on his pinky finger in which he stated he recently cut it while opening something,” a detective wrote. “The information provided by A.H. in reference to the stab wound to the neck found on the victim is information only someone with intimate knowledge of the injuries would possess as the neck wound injury was not visible without manipulating the Victim’s body.”
The detective met with A.H. again four days later in Chapel Hill. During this conversation, A.H. said he’d left the Durham camp the morning of the crime for Chapel Hill and spoke with McGraw before walking to the bus stop, according to the search warrant. He agreed to a detective’s request for a DNA swab.
“After providing the buccal swab, A.H. began to make comments about possibly being in a relationship with the female victim and explained that they had consensual intercourse for his birthday on 09/13/2025,” the warrant says. “A.H. stated it only happened one time and he has not tried to do it any other time.”
Victim was a mother, loved ‘dearly’ by family
McGraw, a native of New York who moved to North Carolina in the early 2000s with her then-husband. She became homeless after her schizophrenia left her unable to work, McGraw’s father, Lawrence Corriders, told The N&O.
“It could be an absolute stranger, and if they needed five dollars ... Kenashi would take whatever she had in her pocket and give every bit of it,” Corriders said.
The mother-of-one cared deeply for her family and enjoyed stargazing with her dog Bubba. But life took a hard turn for her in 2018 after her younger sister died in Raleigh; she, too, had battled schizophrenia, according to Corriders.
“I personally think when Keisha passed, Kenashi blamed herself, ’cause I know I spent time letting her know that it was not her fault that her sister passed,” he said. “So she carried that.”
In a message to The N&O on Thursday, Corriders shared a statement on McGraw’s family’s behalf in reaction to Haviland’s arrest.
“We are relieved that an arrest has been made and pray that the individual wouldn’t have an opportunity to inflict this kind of pain upon anyone else again,” he wrote. “A life was taken away from family and friends who loved her dearly.”
Haviland remained in the Durham County jail without bail as of Thursday evening.
