McDowell County, NC: McDowell man faces death penalty in triple murder trial

Nebo slayings took place in '08
BY CLARKE MORRISON • SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

MARION — Jury selection began this week in the trial of a McDowell County man charged with a shooting rampage that took the lives of his own daughter, his girlfriend and the woman's daughter.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Stephen Monroe Buckner, 52, a former youth prison guard.

The killings took place at his home on U.S. 70 in the Nebo community the morning of Jan. 18, 2008. Authorities said the shootings apparently stemmed from a decision by his girlfriend, Vicky Lowery, to move out of the house.

Buckner is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Lowery, 42, her daughter, Chelsea Gregory, 14, and his daughter, Rebecca Rose Buckner, 25. Authorities said all three suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

If convicted of the charges, the McDowell County Superior Court jury will be asked to decide between the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

The defendant also is charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Gina Marie Edwards, a relative of Lowery. Edwards, 21, was shot in the arm but managed to escape and call for help from a neighbor's house.

“Everybody in my house has been shot, and he is trying to shoot me,” the neighbor recalled Edwards as saying.

Deputies called to the scene were met with gunfire, resulting in charges against Buckner of six counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

The officers returned fire and struck Buckner, who a neighbor said staggered about 20 feet into his yard and collapsed. He spent several days at Mission Hospital being treated for his wounds.

According to a search warrant, Buckner told a deputy outside his house that “everyone inside was dead.” Investigators seized about 60 items from the home, including a 12-gauge shotgun and a .357-caliber Magnum handgun. They also collected bullets, bullet fragments and blood samples.

The month before the slayings, Buckner left his job with the state Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center in Black Mountain.

It was the end of a career in public service that started in 1988 and included nine years as a corrections officer at the Western Youth Institute in Morganton.