Teen, man charged in Buncombe County triple murder return to county

Star Grant, 16, and Devan Oneal Loving, 28, were being brought back to Buncombe County to face murder charges after Tennessee authorities found the pair in a Gatlinburg motel room and both agreed to waive extradition. The return is a key step in the case, but it is largely procedural: extradition is the legal process that lets one state send a defendant back to another state to answer charges in court.

The charges stem from the deaths of three family members found at 18 Ashworth Drive in Fairview after Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a welfare check around 7:15 p.m. Thursday, May 7. Investigators said the victims died from gunshot wounds. They were identified as Travis Eugene Grant, 41; Kimberly Michelle Grant, 42; and Sharon Harwood Grant, 66. Sharon Harwood Grant was identified as Travis Grant’s mother.

Authorities said Star Grant had been reported missing before the two suspects were located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Gatlinburg police said they were found in a Motel 6 room, and Chief Ronnie Barrett said officers believed the suspects had been at the motel for at least four or five days. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Gatlinburg Police Department all assisted in the case.

Loving was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, felony conspiracy to commit murder and abduction of a child. Grant also faced three counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. By May 13, Star Grant had already arrived in Buncombe County and was being held without bond, while Loving was expected to be extradited later in the week and housed at the Buncombe County Detention Facility.

For Buncombe County residents, the immediate next step is not a new arrest but the courtroom process that follows arrival in North Carolina. The defendants will remain in custody as the case moves forward in local court, where prosecutors will continue pursuing the homicide charges tied to the Fairview home. Investigators said there was no threat to the public.