Autopsy: Two men whose remains found at Clemmons house were shot to death

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CIT WSJ_1017_Pazuzu

A front-end loader and workers from the Clemmons public works department cleared debris from the back yard at 2749 Knob Hill Drive, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, where the remains of Joshua Fredrick Wetzler and Tommy Dean Welch, missing since 2009, were discovered last week. 

Josh Wetzler

Josh Wetzler

Tommy Welch

Josh Wetzler

Josh Wetzler

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Michael Hewlett/Winston-Salem Journal

Joshua Fredrick Wetzler and Tommy Dean Welch — the two men whose skeletal remains were found in the backyard of a Clemmons house — were shot to death in 2009, a medical examiner has determined.

The remains of the two men were found Oct. 5 in shallow graves in the backyard of 2749 Knob Hill Drive. Pazuzu Illah Algarad, 35, and Amber Nicole Burch, who lived at the residence with Algarad’s mother, were each charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. According to arrest warrants, investigators allege that Algarad killed Wetzler in July 2009 and that Burch helped bury the body. Then, in October 2009, Burch is alleged to have killed Welch and Algarad is alleged to have helped bury the body, according to arrest warrants.

A third person, Krystal Nicole Matlock, 28, is charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. She is alleged to have helped bury Wetzler, according to the arrest warrants.

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Chief Deputy Brad Stanley of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill has told law enforcement not to release specific details about the killings. O’Neill has said that he could not answer questions about the case because the investigation is still open.

Stanley said he could not say how many times the two men were shot, whether they were shot with the same gun and whether the gun or guns used to kill the two men were found.

He said that investigators soon plan to release the house to the owner, Algarad’s mother. At least one deputy has kept watch at the house since Oct. 5. Several times over the past week, deputies, CSI units and the State Bureau of Investigation have been on the scene. Clemmons utility crews have removed debris from the property and hauled it away in dump trucks.

Forsyth County housing officials determined that the house is unfit for human habitation. Debris, mold and animal feces have been found in it. Cynthia Lawson, Algarad’s mother, is listed as the house’s owner. Dan Kornelis, the director of Forsyth County’s housing and community development department, said officials would send a notice to Lawson once the house is released by law enforcement and a hearing would be held to determine what repairs would be needed before anyone could live in the house.

Stacey Carter, Wetzler’s former girlfriend and the mother of his son, told the Winston-Salem Journal that she last saw Wetzler in July 2009. She didn’t report him missing until six months later, after he failed to make contact with his family during the Christmas holidays. It wasn’t unusual for Wetzler to disappear for months at a time, but she said she became worried after the holidays came and went without hearing from him. She said he would not have let Christmas pass without contacting his son.

She reported Wetzler missing to the Davie County Sheriff’s Department in February 2010. At some point, she said she had heard a rumor that Wetzler was buried behind Algarad’s house on Knob Hill Drive and contacted the police.

In 2010, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the house. Judge William Z. Wood of Forsyth Superior Court sealed the search warrant Feb. 26, 2010. The warrant remains sealed.

Rusty Welch, Tommy Welch’s brother, told the Winston-Salem Journal last week that family members had made plans to meet at Rusty’s apartment in Clemmons the day his brother disappeared. Tommy had been walking from the apartment he shared with his mother on Cook Avenue in Clemmons to Rusty’s apartment on Colonial Arms. Tommy never showed up, according to his brother.

Investigators have not said publicly what, if any, connection Wetzler and Welch had to Algarad and Burch.

According to court documents, Algarad regularly performed “Satanistic rituals” and animal sacrifices at the house on Knob Hill Drive. Family members of Welch and Wetzler said the men had no interest in such activities.

Algarad, Burch and Matlock are scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court on Thursday. Algarad and Burch are in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed. Matlock is being held on a $250,000 bond.

mhewlett@wsjournal.com

(336) 727-7326

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CIT WSJ_1017_Pazuzu

A front-end loader and workers from the Clemmons public works department cleared debris from the back yard at 2749 Knob Hill Drive, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, where the remains of Joshua Fredrick Wetzler and Tommy Dean Welch, missing since 2009, were discovered last week. 

Josh Wetzler

Tommy Welch

Josh Wetzler

Josh Wetzler