Crime

'Amazing' N.C. Woman Who Was 'Scared' About Breakup Is Killed by Ex in Murder-Suicide

"She was everything," said murder victim Xamegga Whitfield's older sister

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Published on October 25, 2021 12:00 PM

Relatives of a North Carolina woman killed last week by an allegedly abusive ex-boyfriend in a tragic murder-suicide claim that she was trying to leave the relationship.

Family members of Xamegga Whitfield, 25, spoke to WRAL, and said that she was shot to death on Thursday morning by the man she had been trying to break up with: 20-year-old Michael Culpepper.

Fayetteville Police released a statement on Thursday's murder-suicide, but have yet to officially identify the victims.

According to the statement, officers were called to a Fayetteville neighborhood on Thursday morning, just before 7:30 a.m.

"The preliminary investigation revealed a male subject shot a female subject and then a nearby resident contacted 911 to report the incident," reads the statement.

"Responding officers located an adult male on his knees, outside of the residence, in the roadway holding a handgun," it continues. "As the first officer was arriving, the male subject turned the handgun on himself and shot himself."

Whitfield was located by police and pronounced dead at the scene.

Culpepper was taken to a nearby hospital, where he eventually died.

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"She was amazing," a tearful Cierra Bell, Whitfield's older sister, told The Fayetteville Observer. "She was my baby. She was so smart. She was everything."

Bell told WRAL that the couple had an argument the night before the murder-suicide.

"I guess, last night, they had got into it or whatever, and then, he had busted my mom's rent-a-car window because they were moving stuff into her house," Bell said. "The next morning, my mom said [Whitfield] was already scared."

Anyone with information pertinent to this investigation is asked to call Det. J. Olsen at 910-709-1958 or reach out to Fayetteville Crimestoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477).

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.