Police seek homicide victim's family
Mar. 16—HIGH POINT — Police are investigating the circumstances of a homicide in a vacant retail building this past weekend that left a man with ties to western North Carolina dead and a High Point man charged with murder.
The High Point Police Department hadn't released the name of the dead man as of Monday afternoon because officers were having difficulty finding his next of kin, police Lt. Matt Truitt said. The man was homeless, he said.
However, a police report listed the victim as Jerry Dale Barnhart, 60, a disabled man with a last known address in Lenoir, though it was unclear how long ago he might have lived in Lenoir. A person at the address told the Lenoir News-Topic on Monday she did not recognize Barnhart's name.
Antonio Lynn Foust, 59, of Blair Avenue was charged with first-degree murder. He was being held with no bond allowed.
The homicide took place at a closed auto parts store in the 2000 block of S. Main Street at the interchange with Interstate 85 Business. When officers arrived at the vacant store around 8 a.m. Saturday, they found a man lying in front of the building who appeared to be dead. Two people were inside the vacant store and were questioned by officers, according to a police report.
A police report indicates that Foust was arrested at the location of the homicide.
On Saturday, police said the victim suffered multiple wounds but did not release any other information about the injuries.
Police are awaiting autopsy results to release the cause of death, Truitt told The High Point Enterprise.
Foust has an extensive criminal record dating back to 1985, according to information from the N.C. Department of Public Safety. His convictions include second-degree rape, causing injury or damage through explosives, indecent liberties with a child, second-degree sexual offense, uttering forged papers, obtaining property by false pretense and failure to notify a change of address for a sex offender.
Foust's incarceration time in the state prison system totals three years and one month, according to the state Department of Public Safety. He was last incarcerated in February 2018.
Foust has served prison time for offenses in Guilford and Randolph counties.
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
