In the early morning of January 23, 2025, at about 12:45 AM, deputies from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office performed a well-being check at a home in the 5600 block of Medicus Lane in Hope Mills, North Carolina. They found 50-year-old Johnny Haywood Fisher deceased inside the residence, and the discovery was treated as a homicide.

Within days, law enforcement arrested 18-year-old Jonathan Michael Hatchell and charged him with first-degree murder; he was processed at the Cumberland County Detention Center and held without bond. Authorities have not released details about the relationship between Fisher and Hatchell or a motive for the alleged killing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Detective Senior Sergeant Brinkley or submit an anonymous tip through Crimestoppers. Did anyone in the Hope Mills area see or hear anything that night, or know Fisher or Hatchell’s connections locally?