Police charge 3 in slaying of former Cleveland, Tenn., woman

Ronald Lee Anthony Jr.,30, Sarah Rene Redden, 18, and Travian Devonte Smith, 20. All three are facing murder charges and are in the Wake County Jail.

Melissa Huggins-Jones

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina police say they've found no prior connections between a woman killed in her apartment and three people charged with murder.

Raleigh police detectives said Wednesday they've charged the suspects with killing Melissa Dawn Huggins-Jones days before her 31st birthday last week. Huggins-Jones had moved to Raleigh two weeks earlier from Cleveland, Tenn. for a new job and a fresh start. She was originally from Elizabethtown in Bladen County.

The suspects in custody are 23-year-old Ronald Lee Anthony Jr., 18-year-old Sarah Rene Redden and 20-year-old Travian Devonte Smith. All three are facing murder charges and are in the Wake County Jail.

Huggins-Jones' 8-year-old daughter found her mother covered in blood inside their new home and sought help from construction workers building apartments in the complex.