Preliminary autopsy reports show the man killed in an alcohol-fueled fight at a party over the weekend died of gunshot wounds.
Capt. Shanon Smith of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office said 37-year-old Samuel Edward Effler, whose last know address was on Kilgore Drive, also sustained minor head trauma and his body was partially burned.
Doctors performing the autopsy in Boone Tuesday determined that Effler was dead when fire was set to his body, according to Smith.
The victim suffered three gunshot wounds – one to his abdomen, one to his chest and one to his shoulder – from a .22-caliber rifle.
The two suspects, 33-year-old Michael N. Warlick and 26-year-old Jerry Ryan Echols, both of 550 Main St. in Old Fort, remain in custody. Warlick is charged with murder and Echols with accessory after the fact of murder.
Smith said in an earlier interview that Warlick, Echols and Effler were drinking and partying at the house shared by the two suspects, when Warlick and Effler began fighting. Warlick brandished the rifle and shot Effler, according to the captain.
Authorities believe the killing occurred between 11 p.m. on Saturday and midnight on Sunday.
Warlick and Echols then drove Effler’s body to the Yancey County side of Curtis Creek and dumped it, Smith stated.
Investigators said the motive behind the argument is still unclear.
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