Woman charged in Greensboro after helping Durham murder suspects escape

A Burlington woman was jailed in Greensboro on Wednesday after investigators said she helped two men wanted in a Durham double homicide escape and brought them to the city after the killings. Samantha Batten, 22, had already been indicted on June 1 on two counts of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and was not given bond after her arrest on Wednesday, June 25.

The case began in Durham just before midnight on March 13, when police said Tevin Devonne Bumey and Jarrett Lamon Godfrey were shot to death inside a vehicle in the 3500 block of North Roxboro Street near Old Oxford Road and Regency Place Apartments. A woman in the car was also shot and survived with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Police later identified the dead as Tevin Burney, 23, and Jarrett Godfrey, 26, both of Durham.

Prosecutors identified D’Monte Kinney and Xavier Darrell-Shikeem Hodges, both 26, as suspects in the shooting. Court records show both men face two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and discharging a weapon into an occupied motor vehicle in operation.

Batten’s indictment put Greensboro into the middle of the case. Investigators said she helped the suspects escape, destroyed evidence and brought them to Greensboro shortly after the shooting. That turned the city into part of the post-homicide trail even though the violence happened in Durham, a reminder that violent cases often spill across county lines before law enforcement can close the gap.

North Carolina General Statute 14-7 allows an accessory after the fact to any felony to be indicted and convicted even if the principal felon has not yet been convicted. In practice, that means prosecutors can file charges against someone they believe knowingly helped a suspect avoid arrest after a homicide, even while the murder case itself is still moving through the courts.

For Guilford County, the arrest is a local court and public-safety matter as much as a Durham homicide case. Durham police and Greensboro police both maintain public crime and records portals, and the North Carolina Judicial Branch offers public self-service terminals at clerk of court offices. Batten’s first appearance in Durham County court had not been scheduled by Thursday morning.