Man pleads guilty to 2017 murder of Western Carolina University student
Jacob Ray was shot dead nearly 5 years ago at Western Carolina University. On May 27, the second defendant involved in his death, Zavion Southerland, pleaded guilty and was sentenced 276 to 344 months at the N.C. Division of Adult Corrections.
On Oct. 6, 2017, Southerland and Aja Makalo arranged to buy 2 pounds of marijuana from Ray, a 21-year-old Henderson High graduate studying computer science at WCU. During the drug date, Ray was fatally shot around midnight, according to university law enforcement officials. After being hospitalized on life support at Mission Hospital in Asheville for three days, Ray died from his injuries.
Five years later, Southerland, a 21-year-old Charlotte resident who had no association to the university, has admitted to second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch.
Prosecutors previously believed Southerland had used Ray's 9 mm handgun in the drug deal gone wrong. But during Makalo's trial in 2019, Assistant District Attorney Chris Matheson informed the judge that Ray was shot in the back of the head with a bullet from a .380 caliber pistol, Southerland's own gun, according to prosecutors.
“For the purpose of sentencing, (Superior Court Judge Marvin) Pope consolidated the remaining charges into a single charge of robbery with a dangerous weapon, imposing a consecutive prison penalty of 59 months minimum to 83 months maximum,” Welch said in a press release, which makes Southerland’s total prison sentence a maximum of 35.5 years.
After claiming the shooting was in self-defense during the trial, Southerland’s co-defendant Makalo later pleaded guilty on Oct. 2, 2019, to second-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery. She was sentenced to serve up to 25 years in prison.
Ryley Ober is a news intern with the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at ROber@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Man pleads guilty to 2017 murder of Western Carolina Student
