Durham, NC: New details emerge in RTP murder-suicide

DURHAM, N.C. --
New details are emerging about a murder-suicide involving four people in Research Triangle Park Friday night.

According to the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, Brinton Millsap, 23, shot and killed Amesha Page-Smith, 24, Alexandria Baker Pierce, 23, and Adrianne Stevens, 22. He then turned the gun on himself.

Lt. Stanley Harris of the Durham County Sheriff’s Office discussed details Monday with NBC-17 in his first TV interview about the case. He said Millsap and Pierce were dating.

“We’re still trying to work out what’s going on as far as relationship-wise. Why the three victims were with him and how they contacted him, where did they contact him, where were they going - these are the things we want to know also. Some of these things we might not ever find out,” he said.

The vehicle was pulled off of Highway 54 near Park Office Drive, Harris said. Each of the women were shot multiple times. He said it was “obvious” everyone was dead at the scene when investigators arrived.

The three women were found inside the vehicle. Millsap, who was found outside the vehicle, had been a backseat passenger. Harris declined to say who was driving.

“You can only imagine that somebody had a weapon or something. The driver might have pulled over to address what was going on. We don’t know what was happening. Obviously that's passed on with the suspect. That’s frustrating to us because we can’t question him. We can’t interrogate him to see what was on his mind or what was on their minds,” he said.

On Monday, 911 calls were released, including from a man who said he was in the area when the shootings occurred.

"I was driving on Highway 54, um, and uh, I had to stop in the middle of the road and there was a guy outside of his car and he shot about three or four gunshots. I don't know if he was shooting into his car or outside of his car or where he was firing,” the man told the 911 operator.

An employee at a nearby Radisson Hotel also called 911. He said a man came in and said he believed there had been a shooting off of Highway 54. The man told the employee he did not want to get involved and had not called anyone.

The investigation continues. Harris said investigators still need to interview and re-interview some people in the case.