Mayberry: Chopped & Posed

Kenneth Wayne Arnder was eighteen in the summer of 1978. He was the second youngest of six children, and his mother, Wilma, raised the family alone after her husband left, working at a chicken plant to keep them. Kenny was tall and long-haired, an easygoing young man whom people described as a pot smoker and a friendly presence. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Born in 1940, he was bright, with an IQ said to be between 130 and 160, and had grown up in Shelby before his parents moved the family to Mount Airy when he was twelve. He blamed Mount Airy for the change in him. this part of the story is covered for now He came out hardened and went on to a long record that included drugs, safe-cracking, carrying a gun, arson for hire, forgery, breaking and entering and shooting into an occupied building. Police treated him as the first man to talk to whenever there was a crime in town. He also kept what was described as a human body part in a jar at his house, saying he got it from a biker gang and kept it to show off at parties.

details of the account remain covered until revealed He needed a ride to Kibler Valley in Virginia, a remote wooded area near the state line, because he said he had stolen tyres from a car and the owner was looking for him. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it That evening, at about six o'clock, he arrived at the Arnder house in Mount Airy, and Wilma, who had seen him a few times before, let her son go with him. this part of the story is covered for now Around midnight he came back to the house without Kenny, saying there was a party going on.

Kenny did not come home the next morning, 21 July, and Wilma reported him missing. Four days later, on 25 July, a body was found in a gully beside a dirt road in a rural part of Mount Airy. It was covered with branches and leaves and had been lying out in the July heat long enough to decompose badly. The body was on its back with the arms outstretched like a crucifixion and the legs together. There was a gunshot wound between the eyes, and both hands had been cut off above the wrist in a clean cut. The hands were never found. Identification was made through dental records. details of the account remain covered until revealed He had called her several times while Kenny was missing, and had called again after the body was found to lament the tragedy.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He was talkative. He showed them the guns in his house, but they were different calibres from the murder weapon and the police let the matter drop. He told an investigator that Kenny got his drugs from Tommy McBride, that McBride thought Kenny had stolen drugs from him, and that McBride had offered money to have Kenny killed. He said he had refused the offer, and that Ronnie Tate and a man named Hershberger had taken the contract instead. this part of the story is covered for now

The story the police kept hearing was that Kenny owed McBride 375 dollars for drugs and that McBride had offered Randy Bowman 1,500 dollars to kill him. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now In early 1980 he came looking for Michael Tate, told the household that he and Tate had cut off someone's hands in Kibler Valley, and said he had ways of taking care of people. That summer Randy Bowman overheard him in a holding cell at the Surry County courthouse saying he had killed somebody and then had to kill him too. During four months as Ricky Williams's cellmate in 1980 he admitted killing Kenny because Kenny had ripped somebody off for drugs, and during a fight he threatened to cut Williams's hands off as he had done to Arnder.

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Virginia and North Carolina fought over jurisdiction; Virginia won because the killing was said to have happened at the park in Kibler Valley before the body was driven back to North Carolina. The case was weak. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it A deputy and his wife overheard. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it His diary, begun on 20 June 1983, described drug and alcohol use, guards turning their heads, marijuana grown in cells and the planning of the 1984 mass escape from Mecklenburg Correctional Center, which he helped plan before withdrawing. Excerpts were published in the Virginian-Pilot in 1984. this part of the story is covered for now In 1995 the US Supreme Court voted 8-0 against him and Governor George Allen refused clemency. details of the account remain covered until revealed His last meal was a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of water.

Wilma Arnder never got a full answer. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now She rarely visited the grave because the stone angel's hands were repeatedly broken off, just as Kenny's had been, until the family replaced the stone.