North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
ARDEN (AP) — A 59-year-old Buncombe County man is charged with fatally shooting his next-door neighbors in their driveway.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports (http://avlne.ws/172AgUC ) the shooting in Arden was the result of an ongoing dispute that started years ago over a trash can.
Erwin Jarvis is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 54-year-old Robert Matheson and 50-year-old Genise Matheson. At a court appearance Tuesday, a judge agreed to appoint him a public defender. He is next set to appear in court Oct. 22.
Asheville police Sgt. Dave Romick says neighbors called 911 after hearing about 10 gunshots Monday evening. Police found the Mathesons dead in their driveway. The couple’s 12-year-old son was inside the house and uninjured.
Police records show officers were called to the Matheson’s or Jarvis’ home more than two dozen times over the past three years, including nine complaints of loud music.
Neighbors say their bitter feud began over Jarvis using the Matheson’s city-issued trash bin.
Jerrell Jackson said Jarvis began using the Mathesons’ rollout trash container after the family moved to South Carolina for some time and left the home unoccupied. They got upset about that when they moved back to Arden, he said.
“You would think it would be something bigger than that — to kill two people in front of their son — but that’s all it was,” said Jackson, who lives beside the Mathesons’ home. “It’s been an ongoing beef. It started out being childish. I think over time it just kind of built up.”
