A Madison County woman has been charged with murder in a Hot Springs shooting that took place the early-morning hours of Oct. 24.
Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood said in a Facebook post Oct. 24 that Paula Plemmons Garrett, 50, of Hot Springs, was charged with murder in connection with the shooting.
No information has been given on the victim in this case.
Harwood said Madison County Sheriff’s Office detectives have been working with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to assist in the investigation.
Just before 1 p.m. Oct. 24, Harwood posted from his personal Facebook page that the Madison County Sheriff’s office “was currently working a suspicious death in Hot Springs,” adding that there was no threat to the community at the time.
For several weeks, the state’s official fatality count was lower than the number of deaths reported by BPR and other sources. That’s because Buncombe officials, in early October, said there were at least 72 people in the county who were killed by conditions caused by Helene. The Sheriff’s Office now says the initial number was inaccurate but declines to comment or answer additional questions about the process.
From the earliest point of government and law enforcement leaders sharing information about Helene’s death toll in Western North Carolina, there have been two main caveats in terms of determining accuracy:
- A prolonged search and rescue period (due to terrain and other challenges) may mean that people who died in the storm have not yet been accounted for.
- Authorities at the county level may share updates on the number of victims locally before state officials complete the usual process of determining the exact cause of death.
Below, you’ll find regular updates from BPR on the number of fatalities reported — both by the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office and county authorities.
Asheville lifted its boil water notice this morning, city spokesperson Clay Chandler shared this morning at a news briefing.
The notice was lifted after the city’s water department tested 120 samples over the weekend. Turbidity is under 15 and the city expects it to remain low enough to process and meet demand.
The city has been flushing the system of untreated water for about a week, Chandler said. No raw, or untreated water, has been in the system since last Saturday.
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