Court cases are proceeding slowly against four defendants charged in connection to the murder of a Mountain City, Georgia, woman.
Chris Shields, Jessica Smith, Andrew McCrackin, and Lenore Wilson were all scheduled to appear in Macon County Superior Court in Franklin, North Carolina, this week. All four of the defendants have been granted continuances until June.
All four are charged in relation to the May 2022 shooting death of Tina Walkingstick Friszell.
SEE RELATED: Co-defendants in Mountain City woman’s murder appear in court
An administrative hearing was scheduled Monday, March 24, for Chris Shields. However, he and his attorney were not in court. According to sources close to the case, Shields could not be transported to court due to security protocols at Central Prison in Raleigh.
His case was continued. Another administrative hearing is scheduled for him in June of this year.
Smith and Wilson were supposed to appear in court on Tuesday of this week. On Monday, Smith was granted a continuance until June. She bonded out of jail in September 2022 after her bond was reduced.
Court was cancelled for Tuesday, March 25, forcing Wilson’s hearing to be moved to Friday.
On Friday, Wilson and McCrackin were both scheduled to have administrative hearings but both defendants were granted a continuance in their cases until June as well. None of the defendants appeared in court.
Shields could face the death penalty once the case goes to trial. In addition to capital murder, authorities charged him with destroying human remains, felony conspiracy to commit murder, concealing a death, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
According to prosecutors, Shields shot Frizsell to death in a shed at his residence on South Tryphosa Road in Otto, North Carolina.
The mother of two was killed the day before her 43rd birthday.
Smith is charged with concealing a death, destroying a body, felony conspiracy to commit murder, and as accessories after the fact. Smith is accused of helping to move and burn Frizsell’s body to conceal her death.
SEE ALSO: Ledford killed ahead of murder trial in which she was a witness
Wilson is charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping. The charges stem from her alleged refusal to allow Frizsell and Angie Ledford to leave the shed where the murder took place when they had an opportunity. Ledford was an eyewitness to the Frizsell murder.
Ledford was murdered 14 months later in Clayton, GA in August 2023. Her killer, Keegan Phillips, recently accepted a plea deal from the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. Phillips will serve a life sentence plus six years.
SEE ALSO: Rabun County man sentenced to life in Ledford murder case
McCrackin is charged with concealing a death, destroying a body, felony conspiracy to commit murder, and as accessories after the fact. He is accused of helping to move and burn Frizsell’s body to conceal her death. The same charges as Smith.
As the case begins to move forward, the four defendants could go on trial later this year.
