WAKE FOREST, N.C. (AP) — A Raleigh man has been arrested for allegedly seeking to have a man killed, the same man involved in a deadly crash nearly eight years ago that resulted in the death of the suspect’s mother.
According to officials, Rhett Michael Barlow, 22, was apprehended by the Wake Forest Police Department and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. Authorities stated that Barlow was taken into custody on November 28, 2023, after soliciting to commit the first-degree murder of Donald Caulder Jr., who was involved in the fatal motor vehicle crash that claimed the life of Barlow’s mother in March 2016.
The news release identified Donald Caulder Jr. as the man convicted of misdemeanor death by vehicle in January 2017 and was given an intermediate sentence with special probation.
Following his arrest, Barlow was transported to the Wake County Detention Center, where he is being held under a $1 million secured bond. His first court appearance is scheduled for Wake County District Court on Monday at 1:30 p.m.
Michelle Simone Barlow, 42, tragically died in a chain-reaction crash on U.S. 1/Capital Boulevard in March 2016. She was an English teacher at Wake Forest High School and had previously worked at Panther Creek High School before starting in Wake County Public School System in January 2015.
The arrest of Barlow has reopened wounds for the community and brought attention back to the 2016 crash that claimed the life of Michelle Barlow. The details of the case are likely to be closely followed as it proceeds through the legal process.