CH Woman Charged With Murder In Stabbing on Hillsborough Street

CHAPEL HILL- A Chapel Hill woman faces murder charges after a man died last night at the Brookside Condominiums on Hillsborough Street, but a member of the condo’s board of directors says it’s an incident that should have been avoided.

Michelle Denise McClinton has been charged with first degree murder in the death of Darryn Maurice Dye.

The victim’s sister, who lives in the G3 unit of Brookside where the alleged murder took place, says the couple was out on the porch and seemingly getting along when McClinton came inside.

“I don’t know what the situation was and what went on between those two out there. So they came back in the house, and I thought she went in the kitchen to get a cup to pour some beer in,” she says. “Next thing I know, I turn around and he was standing by the door. I didn’t even know she even had a knife. Then I looked up and that’s when she poked him and he just fell out on the floor.”

She says the incident was a surprise.

“I don’t think she meant to do it,” she says.

Police responded to a reported assault at 529 Hillsborough Street shortly after 10 o’clock. Dye suffered stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The next-door neighbor in G4, Erica Alant, says she wasn’t home during the time of the incident.

“Last night we came home and there were cop cars outside, but it wasn’t too unusual and there was no screaming or anything going on of that nature and we just went to bed like normal and we woke up this morning and found out what was going on,” Alant says.

However, she says she isn’t surprised with the outcome.

“We’ve been complaining for probably five to six months to the organization to have them removed because they provide an unsafe environment. We have complaints constantly; they’re always screaming. We’ve had to call the cops on numerous occasions,” Alant says.

She told WCHL she has been and continues to be concerned for her safety.

G3 is one of multiple units at Brookside managed by CASA, a Raleigh-based housing management company. Eric Plow is on the Board of Directors at Brookside. He says this unit has a history of problems.

“We have made numerous, numerous complaints about the fighting, the yelling, the screaming, the disruptions that occur over there all the time for months and nothing ever gets done,” Plow says.

Plow confirms that there are other units at Brookside that are managed by CASA, but Alant said she has no problems with them.

Mary Jean Seyda, chief operating officer of CASA, says the managing company first made sure that the tenant of the property, the victim’s sister, was safe, and is working with Chapel Hill Police in the investigation.

“We’ve been in the development and property management business for 21 years, and an incident like this has never occurred in one of our properties at all,” Seyda says.

Plow says this is not the first time the G3 unit has had an issue.

“The tenants before this current one, same thing, we made numerous complaints for months and months and months,” Plow says. “Nothing ever got done. Neighbors are terrorized, neighbors complain. We get so many complaints, we pass them onto CASA. Nothing ever happens.”

And Plow says he’s frustrated with the ongoing situation.

“Your tax dollars and my tax dollars are supporting HUD, housing and urban development, and HUD hires CASA to manage their money, to distribute their money,” Plow says. “I don’t have any problem with CASA renting to disadvantaged people, people low on their luck, but when people start disrupting and terrorizing the neighborhoods, and CASA will not take decisive action to resolve the problem, that’s when I have a problem.”

According to the N.C Department of Corrections website, Dye had a long history of convictions for assault on women, dating back to 1997.

Plow shared a number of emails from tenants as well as correspondence to the housing management company. You can read some of those emails by clicking here.

CH Woman Charged With Murder In Stabbing on Hillsborough Street

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