North Carolina | Fayetteville man faces death penalty in violent slaying of family members

Cumberland County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a Fayetteville man accused of slaughtering his grandmother, 13-year-old sister and 4-year-old cousin in an attack at the family home from which other children — including an 11-year-old who called 911 — escaped.

The state's formal declaration that Mackendy Darbouze would be tried for his life came during a May 7 hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Darbouze, 26, a native of Haiti, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Feb. 21, 2025, deaths of Beatrice Desir, 77, Gloria Darbouze, 13, and Garmaelle Joseph, 4, according to court records. The night of his arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on him.

Child calls for help as violence unfolds

According to search warrant affidavits and court testimony, the violence unfolded shortly before 9 a.m. when the 11-year-old called 911 and reported his brother had stabbed his family members.

When Fayetteville police officers arrived at the two-story Bellarthur Lane home, Darbouze met them at the door with blood on his face, hands and pants, the affidavit states. Desir, Gloria and Garmaelle were found inside suffering from multiple stab wounds. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.

Three other children — the 11-year-old, a 7-year-old and an infant — were also in the home during the attacks, District Attorney Billy West said during an earlier court hearing.

A probable cause affidavit states that surveillance cameras inside the home recorded Darbouze taking a knife from a knife block in the kitchen and walking from room to room.

The affidavit states that the security cameras did not record the homicides, but juveniles inside the home who survived the slayings were seen "crying, screaming and saying that Mr. Darbouze had a knife and that he was stabbing people."

A bloodied knife believed to be the murder weapon was recovered from his bedroom.

Darbouze is being held without bail while he awaits trial. A court date has yet to be set.

He is the second person that the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office formally declared May 7 would be tried capitally. The same day the Darbouze matter was formally declared a capital murder case, the state said it intended to seek the death penalty against Avantae Deven, 65, in the deaths and dismemberments of two of her adopted children, Blake and London.

The indictments allege the children died in 2017 and 2020. The case didn't come to the attention of authorities until another adopted child called 911 in November 2023, threatening to harm himself and saying he hadn't seen his brother in years.

Source: fayobserver.com, F. T. Norton, May 8, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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