PEMBROKE, N.C. — Authorities in Robeson County have charged a 27-year-old Maxton man with murder after deputies found three people dead early Sunday in a camper parked outside a home on Melinda Road near Pembroke, investigators said.
The case moved from a predawn death call to a late-night arrest in less than a day, drawing wide attention in southeastern North Carolina because three people were killed at one rural property and investigators quickly named a suspect. Ethan Lee Spaulding is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Triston Goins, 28, Howard Dean Jones, 51, and Ashley N. Jacobs, 35. Officials have said little about how the victims died or what led to the encounter, leaving autopsy results, court records and future hearings as the next major markers in the case.
Deputies were sent at 6:39 a.m. Sunday to 1141 Melinda Road in the Prospect community outside Pembroke after a report that two people had been found dead inside a camper on the property, according to the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. When deputies arrived, they found a third person dead there as well. By later Sunday, investigators publicly identified the victims as Goins of Maxton, Jones of Lumberton and Jacobs of Pembroke. The investigation then shifted from securing the scene to tracking a suspect. At about 10:30 p.m., investigators arrested Spaulding at the Robinwood Apartments in Red Springs after what the sheriff’s office described as a short standoff. Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said the arrest marked “a significant step toward justice” after a day that began on a quiet county road and ended with a suspect in custody.
Spaulding was booked on three counts of first-degree murder, along with robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and discharging a weapon within an enclosure to incite fear. He was ordered held without bond. Court records cited by local media showed he appeared in Robeson County court on Monday, March 23, and was scheduled to return April 2. Investigators said the victims’ bodies would be taken to the North Carolina medical examiner for autopsies to determine the cause and manner of death. The sheriff’s office has not publicly explained what evidence directly tied Spaulding to the deaths, whether one victim was targeted more than the others, or whether the encounter began as a robbery, an argument or something else. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting the investigation, though officials have not described that agency’s role in detail.
The case has also spread grief across several corners of the county. Goins was from Maxton, Jones lived in Lumberton and Jacobs was from Pembroke, the town closest to the scene. In a largely rural county where towns sit only a short drive apart, the deaths quickly became a regional story rather than a case tied to one address. Wilkins said investigators believe illegal drugs were part of the backdrop, calling the killings another example of drugs “playing a major role” in violent crime in Robeson County. Even so, officials have not said what substance they believe was involved, whether drugs were found at the scene, or what happened inside the camper before deputies were called. Wilkins also said the case was not connected to the March 9 death of Jame P. Lowery, 51, in Pembroke, a separate death that had already drawn local attention.
Much of the public record remains thin. Authorities have not released a fuller court filing laying out the sequence of events at the property, who made the first call for help, or how investigators moved so quickly from the scene on Melinda Road to the apartment complex in Red Springs. That is not unusual in the first days of a homicide case, when detectives are still interviewing witnesses, reviewing digital evidence and waiting for lab results. But the lack of detail has left the public with a sharp outline and many open questions: three people dead in a camper, a suspect jailed by the end of the same day, and a sheriff who says drugs helped drive the violence. The next public clues are likely to come from autopsy findings, later court appearances and any additional charging records that explain what prosecutors believe happened in the hours before deputies arrived.
On Melinda Road, neighbors described a scene of shock after word of the deaths spread. Perry Neville told WMBF that when he drove by the property he saw “cop cars, yellow tape, a lot of people praying, some crying.” He said gunfire is heard in the area from time to time and said he wants the violence to stop. Wilkins echoed that sense of alarm in his statement after the arrest, saying “No community deserves to live in fear.” Together, the remarks showed how the case landed in the Prospect community: not only as a criminal investigation, but as a break in the rhythm of a rural Sunday morning, where neighbors know one another and a single scene can touch families in several towns at once.
As of Tuesday, March 24, Spaulding remained jailed without bond, and the investigation was still active. The next public milestone is his scheduled April 2 court date, while autopsy results and fuller court records may begin to explain what happened at the camper outside Pembroke.
Author note: Last updated March 24, 2026.