WINDSOR – A Kelford woman is behind bars here after she was arrested Friday afternoon by the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of murder following a homicide earlier this week in the western part of the county.

Sheriff John Holley said Samantha Gabriel Demery, 24, of 738 Black Jack Road in Kelford is being held in the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail in Windsor under no bond on a count of first-degree murder.

The arrest follows a three-day investigation into the death of Willie Henry Jenkins.

Holley says the Sheriff’s Office received information on Tuesday, Feb. 23 that Jenkins, an 83 year old male, had been murdered.

Deputies were later dispatched to Jenkins’ residence, 3625 Governor’s Road in Kelford, as a follow-up to the call and discovered Jenkins dead inside the home.

Holley said only a preliminary determination has been made as to the cause of death pending the result of an autopsy by the State Medical Examiner’s Office that is not yet complete at this time. There is no word at this time as to a motive in the murder.

Following the discovery of the body, the Sheriff’s Office began their investigation assisted by members of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).

Holley said his office worked off tips from the public as well as information received during the probe.

“This was just good old-fashioned doggedly hard police work,” said Sheriff Holley in making the announcement of the arrest. “We acknowledge the cooperation of several different law enforcement agencies’ involvement in getting the job done, and I want to say I’m very proud of the work of all my deputies here in the Sheriff’s Office.”