On July 17, 2023, at about 11:30 a.m., deputies responding to reports of gunfire at 3653 Fox Mountain Road in Mill Spring, North Carolina, found 45-year-old Robert Bo Forney dead from multiple gunshot wounds just outside the residence he shared with his son.

Witnesses said Forney had been in an earlier altercation that day with his son, 21-year-old Qualon Konter Sutton. Investigators determined an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was used and obtained a first-degree murder warrant for Qualon Sutton; he was arrested that evening near the Polk-Rutherford county line outside his mother’s residence. Qualon’s brother, 29-year-old Jaleel Rayshawn Sutton, later confessed to being present during the shooting and to driving Qualon away; Jaleel was charged with accessory after the fact and held on a $1 million bond. The AR-15 was recovered during a search of a Rutherford County home, and the matter was turned over to the 42nd Prosecutorial District Attorney’s Office.

Did anyone in the Mill Spring area know the Forney or Sutton families or see activity around Fox Mountain Road that morning?