CATAWBA COUNTY, NC — Rickey Payne, 44, was sentenced to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of second-degree murder and concealing/failing to report a death.
Payne pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing Loretta Chadwick, 48, of Hickory, in June 2013 and concealing her body under the bed in a Hickory motel room. Officials say Payne and Chadwick had been in a relationship for about seven years at the time of the murder, and had checked into the motel together on June 3rd. Payne checked out of the room a day later, according to reports, but stayed in a different room for a couple more days.
Officials say Chadwick’s body wasn’t found until four days after the murder. Employees were doing maintenance on the mattress and box springs when they made the discovery. Officials even say that another guest had stayed in the room during that time, unaware of Chadwick’s body below the bed.
Autopsy results showed that Chadwick died from asphyxiation due to manual strangulation, according to reports. Payne told different stories on where Chadwick had gone, according to reports, and even told a friend that he had killed Chadwick after she asked him to do it. Payne later confessed to detectives about killing Chadwick.
Payne was sentenced Tuesday to an active prison term of 26 to 32 years following the plea.
