Tony Maurice Gorham will spend the rest of his life in prison without the chance for parole following a plea agreement announced in Halifax County Superior Court this morning.

Judge Alma Hinton sentenced Gorham to two consecutive life sentences for first-degree murder in the May 7 stabbing deaths of Maxine McCrary and Nancy Burgess.

The state agreed to drop charges of armed robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Captain Andy Jackson of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department told the court this morning police were dispatched to 311 Highway 158, McCrary’s home, shortly after 11:30 p.m. on May 7.

Jackson told the story of the phone call police received that night asking for a welfare check, which is also noted in court documents.

Those documents note Gorham gave a written statement admitting robbing and killing both victims. They say he used a kitchen knife and took $200.

The documents also say McCrary’s son, Jim, was speaking to Burgess between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. when Burgess, 65, asked him to hold on because Gorham was at the door and wanted to use the phone.
Burgess asked Jim to call back and when he did he could not get through.

Officers found both women unresponsive on the floor with stab wounds.

At Gorham’s house, which is next door, investigators found red stains that appeared to be blood on the left side of the rear storm door and found a red stain located on the lower portion of the front door.
Officers seized as evidence the following: A telephone, a cell phone, one earring from the couch, one earring from the floor, a swab from the inside backdoor, a swab from the outside backdoor, a gold purse, hair, a burgundy purse and additional swabs.

The clothes Gorham wore when he murdered the women along with the weapon were found in a dumpster at Bobby’s Supermarket, Jackson told the court.

“This was Mother’s Day weekend,” District Attorney Melissa Pelfrey told the court. “Mr. McCrary planned to go to the Roanoke Rapids area to celebrate Mother’s Day. It’s obvious they had to come for another reason.”

Grandchildren and great-grandchildren watched Gorham take the plea. “They both declined to speak to the court,” Pelfrey said, “after they were assured life means life with no possibility of parole. They were amenable to accept this plea. It’s fair to say they were a very close family.”

Jim was very involved in his 92-year-old mother’s life, Pelfrey said.

Pelfrey told the court the women sustained multiple stab wounds, “But death was instantaneous.”

Sam Dixon, one of the attorneys for Gorham, who had an alcohol and crack addiction, said his client was so remorseful he would trade his life. “Tony Gorham is so sorry this happened.”