Last Monday, two detectives from the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office drove to the Lumber River in southeastern North Carolina and listened to Eve Waddell tell them about her husband, William Anthony Spivey.
Mr. Spivey, a former police chief in Chadbourne, North Carolina who has been charged with more than 70 felony charges, was boating on the river the day before and left a note in the truck saying he wanted to commit suicide , Ms. Waddell. told the detectives.
But authorities learned that the ship that was afloat was empty, and Mr. Spivey, who was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, February 21, was missing. Or perhaps dead.
Shortly after midnight on Feb. 24, authorities said they found Mr. Spivey, 36, hiding near an apartment complex in Loris, South Carolina, and charged him with obstruction of justice for faking his death in what Columbus County Sheriff Jody Green is described as “difficult trick”
“To paraphrase Mark Twain, the news of Mr. Spivey’s death was greatly exaggerated,” John David, District Attorney for Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus Counties, said at a press conference on Friday.
Mr. Spivey was held at the Columbus County Detention Center Tuesday on $6 million bail. No lawyers were listed in the prison records. The lawyer who previously represented Mr. Spivey, Michael Mills, did not return calls on Tuesday asking for comment.
The search for Mr. Spivey, which authorities say included the use of helicopters, boats and diving teams at a cost of $64,205 to taxpayers, was the latest in a string of legal challenges for the former boss.
Last spring, Mr. Spivey was indicted on more than 70 felony charges, including theft or destruction of evidence, embezzlement and opioid trafficking, in connection with his work as police chief in Chadbourne, a city of 1,500 people in about 190 miles south of Raleigh. Mr. David, the district attorney, said Mr. Spivey repeatedly raided the department’s evidence room, stealing drugs and thousands of dollars. According to Mr. David, he also stole firearms and sold them to friends and relatives.
Mr. Spivey was named Chief in July 2018. He was removed from office in March 2021 following a misconduct investigation by the NC State Bureau of Investigation and resigned in April, according to the Horry County Police Department.
In June, he was charged with an additional embezzlement charge for stealing $8,000 meant for the family of a leukemia patient, according to the Columbus County District Attorney’s office.
Mr. Spivey was released from prison in September after posting a $500,000 bail, Mr. David said. In January, he was charged with theft after being accused of stealing catalytic converters from an auto repair shop, according to an arrest warrant issued by the Tabor police department.
Mr David summed up the latest round of allegations as “disappointing”.
Almost from the moment Mr. Spivey was reported missing, authorities began to doubt he was dead. In an attempt to avoid an earlier court hearing, Mr David said he claimed to have Covid-19 and presented a fraudulent note as evidence. He added that when officials heard about the suicide note, there was immediate skepticism.
Skepticism intensified when investigators saw evidence that “does not support a suicide scenario,” the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Inside the boat was a 22-caliber rifle with an empty cartridge. Investigators also reviewed security footage and conducted interviews, which provided additional evidence that Mr. Spivey was alive and on the run, though they did not provide details.
The Columbus County News reported that its editor, Jefferson Weaver, received a suicide note from Mr. Spivey saying he was in “a dark place.”
“I would do anything to get rid of this pain,” the letter said, “that’s why I made this choice!”
On Wednesday, an arrest warrant was issued for Mr. Spivey. That night, investigators received word that Mr. Spivey was in South Carolina, Captain Kevin Norris of the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. He was at the home of an aunt, Brenda Rowell, said Michelle Tatum, a public affairs officer for the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office.
Shortly after midnight, police found Mr. Spivey near an apartment complex in Loris, South Carolina. After he plunged into a creek behind an apartment building and threatened that he would “have to shoot” the officers if they tried to capture him, authorities took him on the ground and in restraints, according to the Horry County Police Department’s incident report.
Two other people, Debbie Bridgers Sasser and Harold Dean Sasser, a married couple who are Mr. Spivey’s neighbors, were arrested in connection with faking Mr. Spivey’s death and charged with obstruction of justice. Mr. Sasser allowed Mr. Spivey to borrow his truck, which investigators found by the river, Ms. Tatum said.
Michael Caviness, Ms Sasser’s lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Sheriff Green said in a statement that “additional charges and arrests are possible.”
“Spivey was found alive and well,” he said. “We think it’s a job well done.”