A Craven County man who was on the run for allegedly killing his grandmother was captured alive Thursday, according to the county's sheriff's office.
The Craven County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook that 24-year-old Dominic Connelly was found in an abandoned building on Muddy Lane in Vanceboro. The capture was made possible after SBI cadaver dogs were brought in to help.
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Connelly appeared in court on Friday in a wheelchair, and investigators said he was "in bad shape" after having been on the run and hiding out for more than a month.
He will be held at Central Prison in Raleigh where he can get more extensive medical care.
Vanceboro is less than an hour from Havelock, where 72-year-old Patricia Lopedote was found dead inside a home on fire on Oct. 25. Connelly was named a suspect in her murder.
Lopedote’s vehicle was missing from the residence the day of her death, and it was found unoccupied in a parking lot on Pine Tree Drive near baseball fields in New Bern a few days later.
A few days after the car was found, the Craven County deputies responded to a Bojangles in Vanceboro after a possible sighting of Connelly. The deputy sheriff reportedly found him in the bathroom of the restaurant, after which authorities said Connelly used a knife to assault the deputy before fleeing the scene on foot.
Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said the deputy is back on the job and is "in good spirits."
During a media press conference Thursday, Hughes said Connelly was unarmed and taken into custody without incident.
Hughes said it's unclear how long Connelly was in that building. Deputies already searched the building he was in, but wanted to go back in with K-9s.
Connelly faces charges of murder, first degree arson, larceny of a motor vehicle. attempted first degree murder, felony assault on law enforcement causing serious injury and resisting a public officer.
