Snow Camp woman arrested in firearm case tied to domestic threat

Amanda Kristen Heavener of Snow Camp was charged after Alamance County investigators said she helped put a gun into the hands of her husband, Charles William Heavener II, a convicted felon who later became the focus of a domestic-threat investigation at their Coble Mill Road home. Authorities said the case grew out of a broader probe that began more than three months earlier, when deputies found a firearm in Charles Heavener’s possession and started tracing where the weapon came from.

Heavener, 43, was charged May 12 with one count of aiding and abetting in the commission of a felony-level offense and taken into custody May 13. She was later released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. Investigators said several of the firearms at issue were purchased by Amanda Heavener, and one report said Charles Heavener received the firearm he discharged from her at their shared home address at 7395 Coble Mill Road in Snow Camp.

Charles Heavener was arrested Feb. 10 after deputies responded Feb. 9 to a report of an alleged sexual assault in the 7000 block of Coble Mill Road. He was charged with felony indecent liberties with a child and felony possession of a firearm by a felon, and his bond was set at $200,000 secured. Court records also show a prior felony conviction from 2000 for speeding to elude law enforcement, a record that made any later firearm possession legally prohibited under North Carolina law.

The case has widened beyond a single weapon. In February, deputies said Charles Heavener also faced allegations that he fired gunshots inside his home to terrify his wife, along with felony child abuse. Investigators further alleged that he showed a minor how to commit suicide by slitting wrists, a claim that sharpened concern about both the gun access and the household danger surrounding the case.

North Carolina General Statute 14-415.1 bars anyone convicted of a felony from purchasing, owning, possessing, or having custody, care or control of a firearm. The Alamance County case now shows how that prohibition can still be sidestepped when investigators believe someone else helped place a gun within reach of a person barred from having one. In this case, the charge against Amanda Heavener turns the focus from possession alone to the chain of decisions that allowed a prohibited man to arm himself inside a Snow Camp home.