BURLINGTON (MCT) — Authorities say a man charged last week with killing his wife allegedly lied about an injury to his hand, was having an extramarital affair and had concocted a liquid to induce sleep prior to his wife's murder.
More details about the death of 27-year-old Marie "Natasha" Oris-Thomas and the alleged role that her husband, Alphonza Leonard Thomas III, 27, had in it were released in search warrants obtained by investigators Friday.
Thomas was charged Feb. 2 with first-degree murder and first-degree arson after Oris-Thomas was found dead in the home they shared at 1155 Maple Ridge Road the day before. Thomas remains in the Alamance County jail under no bond.
The Alamance County Sheriff's Office was called to the residence at about 9:16 p.m. Feb. 1. When deputies arrived, they found the house on fire. After the fire was out, deputies found Oris-Thomas found dead on the kitchen floor. An autopsy revealed she died from a blow to the head. Thomas was not at the home.
Warrants say Thomas allegedly made numerous calls from his cell phone to his wife's cell phone prior to her death. Those calls stopped after 9:16 p.m. Feb. 1.
Investigators didn't find Thomas until 2 p.m. Feb. 2. In an interview with detectives, Thomas allegedly told authorities he hadn't been at his house since Jan. 31. During the interview, detectives noticed that the fingers on his right hand had fresh cuts on them with what looked like dark soot around the wounds, according to the warrants.
The warrants say Thomas injured his fingers on Jan. 31 while building a concrete retaining wall on his properties. Investigators interviewed Thomas' co-worker at American General Finance Co. in Durham, and she told authorities that she didn't observe any injuries onThomas' hands on Monday, according to the search warrant.
There also didn't appear to be a retaining wall in the front of the house, according to warrants.
Authorities did find a concrete, downspout splash in the back of the house that had a "substantial amount" of brownish red stains on it. That same type of stain also was found in the snow.
Authorities also said they interviewed Thomas' mother, who lives in Durham, and a woman he dated in high school, who he was allegedly having an extramarital affair with.
Authorities say that the woman Thomas was having an affair with told them that she attempted to break off their relationship, but Thomas allegedly told her to "wait a little longer" because "he and his wife were not going to be together," according to the search warrants.
Detectives said they talked to a long-time friend of Thomas' from Durham. Thomas, according to the warrants, approached his friend in late January about obtaining "something to make someone go to sleep." On Jan. 29, Thomas allegedly went to his friend's residence and mixed a bottle of 5-Hour Energy drink with Ecstasy, Tylenol PM, some type of liquor, the anti-depressant trazodone and ground cinnamon.
The friend said he saw Thomas on Feb. 1, the day Oris-Thomas was killed, and that Thomas allegedly told him he tried to get Oris-Thomas to drink the liquid. Thomas allegedly said that she "took a sip of the drink, spit it out and poured the rest of the liquid down the drain of the sink," according to warrants.
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