THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9504290344
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Geoffrey Kent Ferguson, who was charged this week with killing five people in Connecticut, is being transferred to a Raleigh prison for safekeeping.
At a hearing Friday morning at the Pasquotank County Courthouse in Elizabeth City, District Court Judge Grafton Beaman granted a prosecutor's motion to move Ferguson, 44, to Central Prison in Raleigh until his next hearing May 24.
The Powells Point man is accused of murdering five men - three of them tenants - at a Redding, Conn., home Ferguson owned. He also is charged with setting the house on fire after the April 18 slayings.
Ferguson reportedly had tried to evict Scott Auerbach, David Froehlich and Jason Trusewicz, all in their early 20s, after a rent check bounced.
The landlord later learned the men had the legal right to stay in the house until the dispute was settled in court.
The roommates, who had lodged complaints against their landlord for health and zoning violations, also told Connecticut officials Ferguson ransacked their house and stole or damaged their belongings.
The three men and two houseguests, David Gartrell and Sean Hiltunen, were shot in the head with a .22-caliber weapon on April 18 and left inside a burning house.
Since Ferguson's arrest at his Powells Point home two days later, he has been held at the Currituck County jail.
District Attorney Frank Parrish asked Friday that Ferguson be moved to the Raleigh prison for safekeeping.
The Currituck jail is ``insufficient and inadequate to safely keep the prisoner,'' according to the motion. The facility holds up to 18 inmates and had 15 as of Friday morning. The maximum security Central Prison in Raleigh can hold up to 1,100 inmates.
The nature of the crimes and publicity surrounding the case also made it in Ferguson's best interest to leave Currituck County, the motion said. Ferguson is now being held without bond.
Defense attorney H.P. Williams Jr. unsuccessfully challenged the transfer.
``It's my understanding Mr. Ferguson is causing no problems in the jail,'' Williams said during the 30-minute hearing. ``He would like to remain in Currituck County - close to his family.''
Ferguson was silent during Friday's proceedings as he sat next to his attorney wearing an orange jail uniform, handcuffs and shackles.
Williams also asked for a full copy of the fugitive warrants from Connecticut, which include a 25-page affadavit, to help him advise Ferguson on whether to challenge or waive extradition.
KEYWORDS: MURDER by CNB