A North Carolina man whom authorities said went on a killing and theft spree across three states pleaded guilty recently to murdering an Oglethorpe County man and is now expected to be transferred to Arkansas, where a prosecutor said he will face another murder charge.
"Arkansas has not yet indicted him, but he did confess to the Arkansas killing of an 84-year-old man after the Oglethorpe County murder," Northern Circuit District Attorney Parks White said Tuesday.
New Yorker Charged: NY man faces charges in $700K Oconee clinic fraud case | Exclusive
Michael Thomas Dusch, 30, of Moore County, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in Oglethorpe County Superior Court on Aug. 18 to numerous charges including murder, false imprisonment, identity and card fraud, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.
Dusch received a life sentence with the possibility of parole on the charges stemming from the February 2025 bludgeoning death of David John Stewart, 69, who resided alone in a ranch-style house outside Winterville.
Stewart grew up in Spokane, Washington, and his three surviving sisters still reside in the western states. While they were unable to attend the sentencing, Patricia Carlson of Nampa, Idaho, said by phone Tuesday that she and her daughter were able to watch the Oglethorpe court proceedings on video.
"He didn't say anything. He didn't offer any remorse or 'I'm sorry,'" Carlson said. "He said nothing. It was a very empty feeling when it was over. I'm glad now I didn't make the trip back there because it was basically pointless."
"All he did was just stand there. No emotion whatsoever," Carlson said, adding that family kept up with court proceedings through updates from the district attorney's office.
Carlson said her brother was a kind person who at the time of his death was working from home for an engineering firm in Kansas. Stewart, who had a doctorate from the University of Arkansas, left Washington state about 40 years ago and lived his life mostly in Arkansas and Georgia, she said. He was reserved and didn't socialize much, she said.
"He wouldn't hurt anything. It was devastating. What kind of monster would do something like that?" his older sister said about the violent beating done with a metal pry bar.
White said that the crime spree began after theft and child pornography charges were filed against Dusch in North Carolina, where he fled after stealing an RV. He drove to Georgia, where White said he used an app to locate older, single men. After arriving at Stewart's home, Dusch was invited inside, where the aggressor bound his victim, then made Stewart provide banking account information so he could transfer funds from the victim to his own account, according to White.
Then Dusch bludgeoned Stewart in the head and dragged his body into the nearby woods of the rural house located off Double Bridges Road, according to White. Dusch stayed at the house for a couple of days, once traveling into Athens, where a video camera captured him ordering food at a Whataburger, White said.
Upon leaving Georgia, Dusch traveled to Arkansas, where White said he purchased a crossbow at a Sports Academy. "He figured it would be a weapon that didn't make a lot of noise," the prosecutor said.
White said Dusch again used the dating app to locate an older, single man. Authorities said Dusch shot William "Bill" Harris, 84, in the head inside his home in the Delaware community near Russellville, Arkansas. The body of the deaf man was found by his step-son-in-law, Ronald Fondren, who went to the house after the elderly man never responded to family calls. The victim had been beaten before he was killed, according to Fondren in an earlier interview.
Dusch was arrested in Denton, Texas, after an officer on patrol ran the plate on the RV and found it was reported stolen in North Carolina. Items found in the RV linked him to the slaying of Stewart and the slaying in Arkansas, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Arkansas authorities.
"He lawyered up when questioned about the RV," White said. When GBI Agent Thomas Haas informed White about Dusch's decision, the district attorney said he told the agent to question him again, because that didn't mean he had invoked his Miranda rights in the murder investigation.
When Haas traveled to Arkansas and questioned Dusch, the suspect again requested a lawyer, but minutes later he voluntarily agreed to talk, but wanted a banana and Coke beforehand, according to White.
"He gave a full confession to both murders," White said, adding that Arkansas prosecutors plan to use the murder conviction in Georgia against Dusch.
Crystal Fondren, the step-daughter of Harris, said Tuesday by phone in Arkansas that she was unaware Dusch had pleaded guilty to the murder charge in Georgia.
Fondren said she was told by local authorities that Arkansas State Police were awaiting what happened in the Georgia case before they pursue a murder indictment against Dusch.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: North Carolina man admits Winterville murder after multistate spree