Investigators said surveillance video and blood on the suspect’s hands helped identify Kayla Rose Bessette.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A police affidavit says investigators tied Kayla Rose Bessette to a violent attack on a 79-year-old man through grocery store video, blood seen on her hands and statements she made after her arrest.
The filing, used to support charges of attempted murder, breaking and entering, robbery and assault by strangulation, describes the evidence police said they gathered after a May 30 robbery call on Murdock Road. The case began with a victim’s account but quickly expanded to include video from a Food Lion, an arrest near a bus stop and an interview in which police said Bessette admitted forcing her way into the man’s home. The records place each step within a small area of east Charlotte.
Officers were called to an apartment in the 1400 block of Murdock Road after the reported robbery. The 79-year-old victim told police he had just walked from the Food Lion at 3009 The Plaza when a woman who had asked him for money followed him home. He said he tried to close his front door when he got to the apartment. Police wrote that the woman, later identified as Bessette, forced her way inside before the door could shut, pushing the case beyond a street encounter and into a home invasion allegation.
The first account in the affidavit came from the injured man. He told officers Bessette pushed him onto his bed, jumped on top of him and strangled him. He also said she reached into his pockets and removed all of his money before leaving. Police have not released the amount taken, and the filing does not say whether investigators found cash when Bessette was arrested. The victim’s statement gave police a description of the woman and the route from the store to the apartment, which became the backbone of the early investigation.
Detectives then turned to the grocery store. The affidavit said investigators recovered surveillance video from the Food Lion that showed the suspect and helped confirm Bessette’s identity. The records do not describe the full video, including whether it showed the woman speaking with the victim, leaving the store area or following him from the property. Even with those details missing, police cited the footage as a key part of the identification. In a case built around a movement from a public store to a private home, video from the store became one of the few fixed pieces of evidence outside the victim’s apartment.
The next fixed point was a bus stop near the grocery store. Police said they found Bessette there after the attack and saw blood on her hands. The affidavit does not say whose blood it was, whether it was tested or whether Bessette had any visible injuries of her own. It also does not say whether she was carrying anything taken from the victim. Still, officers used that observation, together with the victim’s account and the store video, to support the arrest. The location of the arrest also kept the timeline close to the original Food Lion.
After Bessette was taken into custody, police said she received Miranda warnings before speaking with investigators. According to the affidavit, she admitted breaking into the victim’s home and trying to kill him while stealing his money. The filing said detectives asked whether her intent was to kill the victim. Police wrote that Bessette did not deny that intent and “smiled with satisfaction” when asked. The affidavit also said she stated several times that she did not regret what happened and that the victim “deserved it.” No motive was listed in the filing.
The charges show how prosecutors may divide the same alleged episode into separate legal claims. The attempted murder charge is tied to the alleged intent to kill. The assault by strangulation count focuses on the act police said caused physical injury. The breaking and entering charge addresses the forced entry through the front door. The robbery charge centers on the cash taken from the victim’s pockets. North Carolina law treats assault causing physical injury by strangulation as a felony, and the attempted murder charge raises the case to one of the most serious categories in the local court system.
The affidavit leaves several points unresolved. It does not say whether the victim called police himself or whether someone else reported the robbery. It does not provide a detailed medical summary, though later reports said the man suffered serious injuries. It does not explain why Bessette allegedly followed the victim or whether she had contact with him before that day. It also does not state whether investigators found fingerprints, DNA evidence or the money allegedly taken from the apartment. Those omissions do not end the case, but they mark areas that could be addressed in later court filings.
Bessette’s legal situation widened after the Charlotte arrest. Lincolnton police later announced warrants charging her with first-degree murder and common law robbery in the death of Tony Maddox, a 70-year-old man reported missing May 27. Maddox was last seen May 26, and searchers found his body June 2 in a wooded area near Lincolnton. Authorities said Bessette was already in Mecklenburg County custody on the Charlotte charges when the new warrants were obtained. Officials have not released detailed evidence in the Maddox case, and the two matters remain separate criminal cases.
The Charlotte affidavit now stands as the clearest public account of the May 30 attack. It names the store, the apartment block, the charges and the alleged statements made after arrest. It also records the evidence police said they had at the earliest stage: the victim’s account, Food Lion video, bloody hands and Bessette’s alleged admissions. Prosecutors would still have to prove the charges in court, and the record available publicly does not show a conviction in the case.
Bessette remained the named defendant in the Charlotte home invasion case and the later Lincolnton murder case. The next public milestones are expected through court filings in Mecklenburg and Lincoln counties.
Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.