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Triangle Local

Fayetteville, Cumberland County

Fayetteville: Man charged with murder in Owen Drive death

WRAL and CBS 17, both citing Fayetteville police, report a first-degree murder charge after Rogers Melvin, 75, was found dead on Owen Drive. The name, the time, and the place line are not the same. The count is an accusation.

DevelopingOfficials are still releasing information. We update this story as facts are confirmed.

By Alexandru Stanciu · Published

The Market House on Hay Street in downtown Fayetteville

File photo: Epicjeff (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

What we know

Confirmed

  • WRAL staff byline. article:published_time 2026-11-15T01:44:10Z and article:modified_time 2026-11-15T03:54:41Z. Those instants are 8:44 p.m. and 10:54 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. The visible clocks read 11/15/2026, 1:44:10 AM and 3:54:41 AM, which match the UTC figures. This file does not treat those labels as a second Eastern time. JSON-LD datePublished and dateModified use the same UTC instants.Confirmed by WRAL page, read Nov. 15, 2026
  • WRAL, citing the response in Fayetteville, says officers answered a medical call Tuesday morning in the 1600 block of Owen Drive. The station says they found Rogers Melvin, 75, unresponsive, and that he was pronounced dead at the scene.Confirmed by Fayetteville Police Department, as reported by WRAL
  • WRAL says Joseph Watts, 42, was arrested Saturday and charged with first-degree murder. It says he is held at the Cumberland County Detention Center without bond and will appear in court on Monday. The headline and the deck describe a death investigation.Confirmed by WRAL only, for the age 42, Saturday, the jail, the bond, Monday, and the words death investigation
  • Saturday, read against WRAL's Eastern publication time on Nov. 14, 2026, is that same date. Monday is Nov. 16, 2026. Tuesday is Nov. 10, 2026. WRAL did not print those three calendar dates.Confirmed by WRAL page, read Nov. 15, 2026
  • WRAL asks anyone with information to contact Detective C. Cross at 472-210-2381, and it lists anonymous tips to Fayetteville/Cumberland County Crime Stoppers at 910-483-8477. CBS 17 does not print a detective or a tip number. The digits 472-210-2381 are left as WRAL printed them.Confirmed by WRAL only, for both phone numbers and the detective's name
  • CBS 17 (WNCN) has no reporter byline. article:published_time is 2026-11-15T03:49:50+00:00, and article:modified_time is one second later. That publish instant is 10:49 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 14, 2026. The analytics publicationDate on the AMP page, 2026-11-14T22:49:50-05:00, is the same instant. JSON-LD prints 2026-11-15T03:49:50-05:00, and a time element prints 2026-11-14T22:49:50+00:00. Those two do not match the UTC meta tag. This file uses 10:49 p.m. Eastern and does not treat the other two stamps as extra publication times. A CMS initialCreator value is not used as a byline.Confirmed by CBS 17 AMP page, read Nov. 15, 2026
  • CBS 17 says Fayetteville police made an arrest in a homicide investigation. It says investigators said Rogers Melvin was found unresponsive behind an eye care center on Owen Drive around 7 a.m. Tuesday, that the 75-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene, that officers announced Joseph Brian Watts was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, and that investigators say he is held without bond in the Cumberland County Detention Center.Confirmed by CBS 17 (WNCN), citing investigators and officers
  • The 1600 block and the medical-call description are WRAL's. The eye care center, the 7 a.m. clock, the middle name Brian, and the words homicide investigation are CBS 17's. CBS 17 does not print a block number, an age for Watts, Saturday, or a court day. WRAL does not print Brian, an eye care center, or 7 a.m. Both name Rogers Melvin, age 75, Owen Drive, a death at the scene, a first-degree murder charge, and the Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond. No house number appears in either account.Confirmed by Comparison of WRAL and CBS 17, read Nov. 15, 2026
  • The picture on the CBS 17 page is captioned as department vehicles at a Wednesday night homicide investigation on a different Fayetteville street. That scene is not this case. It is not used. WRAL's page includes a short video object with the same headline as the article. The video and its image are not used. This file relies on the article text.Confirmed by CBS 17 page image caption and WRAL video object, read Nov. 15, 2026

Alleged or reported

  • Joseph Watts, 42, committed first-degree murder in the Tuesday death investigation.WRAL's charge account, including the age and Saturday. A charge is an accusation. Watts is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Do not merge CBS 17's middle name into this sentence.
  • Joseph Brian Watts committed first-degree murder.CBS 17, which said officers announced that arrest and charge. The middle name is CBS 17's. The station did not print an age. A charge is an accusation. Watts is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Still unknown

  • Cause of death. Neither station reported one
  • A motive
  • Any relationship between Rogers Melvin and the man who was charged
  • How investigators connected Watts to the death
  • Whether the medical call and the eye care center are one location detail. The 1600 block is WRAL. The eye care center is CBS 17. No house number is used
  • Watts's age on CBS 17. The age 42 is WRAL only
  • The middle name on WRAL. Brian is CBS 17 only
  • The day of the arrest on CBS 17. Saturday is WRAL only
  • A court date on CBS 17. Monday, read here as Nov. 16, 2026, is WRAL only, and WRAL did not print that calendar date
  • What WRAL's 10:54 p.m. Eastern update changed. Only the current text was read
  • Which of CBS 17's disagreeing time stamps, other than the UTC meta tag and the matching analytics stamp, is a display bug. The publication time used here is 10:49 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 14
  • A detective name or a tip number on CBS 17
  • Whether 472-210-2381 is listed on a department page. It is printed here only as WRAL has it
  • A Fayetteville Police Department release on the department's own site. The accounts used here are WRAL and CBS 17

What this means for you

Public safety
A first-degree murder charge is an accusation. Joseph Watts is presumed innocent unless he is proven guilty in court. This story is not an official or emergency notice. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.

Instructions from Fayetteville Police Department, as reported by WRAL and CBS 17

This site is not the Fayetteville Police Department, the Cumberland County Detention Center, or the courts. Questions about the case go to the department or to the tip lines named in the story. This is not an emergency service. If anyone is in danger, call 911.

What happened

In Fayetteville, Rogers Melvin, 75, was found dead on Owen Drive on Tuesday, and a man is charged with first-degree murder.

WRAL, citing Fayetteville police, reported that officers answered a medical call Tuesday morning in the 1600 block of Owen Drive. Melvin was unresponsive when officers arrived, and WRAL says he was pronounced dead at the scene. CBS 17 gives a different place detail. Investigators said he was unresponsive behind an eye care center on that street around 7 a.m. Tuesday, and that station writes that the 75-year-old died there. The block number is WRAL's alone. CBS 17 alone has the business detail and the 7 a.m. time. This story keeps those lines apart and prints no house number.

Tuesday was Nov. 10, 2026, read from the weekend dates on the two pages. Neither page printed Nov. 10.

WRAL says Joseph Watts, 42, was arrested Saturday on a first-degree murder count. CBS 17 says officers announced an arrest of Joseph Brian Watts on that count. The age and Saturday are WRAL's. The middle name Brian is CBS 17's. CBS 17 prints no age and no arrest day. Saturday was Nov. 14, 2026. WRAL left that calendar date off the page.

WRAL describes the case as a death investigation. CBS 17's first sentence calls it a homicide investigation. Each label stays with the station that used it.

Both accounts say he is held at the Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond. WRAL alone adds a Monday court appearance. That Monday is Nov. 16, 2026, and the station did not print Nov. 16. CBS 17 does not mention court.

The charge is an accusation. Neither account is a conviction. Neither station reported a cause of death, a motive, a relationship between the men, or how Watts was connected to the death.

WRAL posted at 8:44 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 14 and updated the story at 10:54 p.m. that night. The clocks shown on the page, 1:44 a.m. and 3:54 a.m. on Nov. 15, match the UTC timestamps. This file does not treat them as Eastern times. CBS 17's article timestamp is 10:49 p.m. Eastern the same night.

WRAL lists Detective C. Cross at 472-210-2381, and it lists Fayetteville/Cumberland County Crime Stoppers at 910-483-8477. The CBS 17 story has no detective and no tip number. Those Crime Stoppers digits are the anonymous line recorded in the Nov. 11 Fayetteville shooting file after a Nov. 13 check of the organization's contact page. This story did not reload that page. The detective number is printed here exactly as WRAL has it.

Related coverage

Cumberland County stories are on the county page. Crime files are in the public safety section. The Independence Place Drive shooting is a separate case: earlier file. An Oct. 21 report about a dumpster on this same street is a different, unconfirmed file: that report.

Triangle Local is not the Fayetteville Police Department and not an emergency service. If someone is in danger, call 911.

Photos

Text-only. No photograph or video from WRAL or CBS 17 is used. That page image is a courtesy photo from a different Fayetteville scene, on Amanda Circle, and it is not this death.

Why it matters

Rogers Melvin, 75, was found dead on Owen Drive in Fayetteville, and a man is charged with first-degree murder. Cumberland County readers need that count labeled as an accusation, and they need the two accounts kept apart where the name, the time, and the place detail differ.

Updates

  1. Nov 15, 2026, 6:25 AM

    First published. WRAL's medical call, 1600 block, age 42, Saturday arrest, Monday court date, death-investigation label, and Detective C. Cross stay with WRAL. CBS 17's eye care center, 7 a.m. line, middle name Brian, and homicide-investigation label stay with CBS 17. Both report Rogers Melvin, 75, dead at the scene, a first-degree murder charge, and no bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center. No house number. The charge is an accusation. lead is true, so this file is the homepage lead for its Eastern publication day. The Nov. 13 RDU pin is an older day, and the selector does not keep a pin past the next Eastern day. onTikTok is false. Text-only. No outlet photo or video.

Sources

  1. Man charged with murder in connection to Fayetteville death investigation (WRAL staff. article:published_time 2026-11-15T01:44:10Z, which is 8:44 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 14, 2026. article:modified_time 2026-11-15T03:54:41Z, which is 10:54 p.m. Eastern the same night. Visible clocks 11/15/2026, 1:44:10 AM and 3:54:41 AM match those UTC figures and are not read as Eastern. Medical call Tuesday morning in the 1600 block of Owen Drive. Rogers Melvin, 75, unresponsive, pronounced dead at the scene. Joseph Watts, 42, arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Saturday. Cumberland County Detention Center, no bond, court on Monday. Detective C. Cross at 472-210-2381. Crime Stoppers 910-483-8477. No middle name Brian, no eye care center, no 7 a.m. clock, and no house number. A video object on the page is not used. Text-only. No WRAL photo is used.)

    Official sourcePublished by Fayetteville Police Department, via WRAL · Checked Nov 15, 2026, 6:25 AM

  2. Man charged with First Degree Murder in Fayetteville man's death (CBS 17 / WNCN. No reporter byline. article:published_time 2026-11-15T03:49:50+00:00, which is 10:49 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 14, 2026. article:modified_time one second later. An analytics publicationDate of 2026-11-14T22:49:50-05:00 matches that instant. JSON-LD datePublished 2026-11-15T03:49:50-05:00 and a time element of 2026-11-14T22:49:50+00:00 do not, and they are not used as the publication time. Copy read on the AMP page: arrest in a homicide investigation; Rogers Melvin found unresponsive behind an eye care center on Owen Drive around 7 a.m. Tuesday; the 75-year-old pronounced dead at the scene; officers announced Joseph Brian Watts was arrested and charged with first-degree murder; held without bond in the Cumberland County Detention Center. No 1600 block, no age for Watts, no Saturday, no Monday, no detective, and no tip number. The page image is a courtesy photo of a Wednesday night scene on Amanda Circle and is not used. A CMS initialCreator value is not a byline. Text-only.)

    Official sourcePublished by Fayetteville Police Department, via CBS 17 (WNCN) · Checked Nov 15, 2026, 6:25 AM

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