The Brutal End of John and Annie Starnes: A 1963 Charlotte Mystery
In the quiet Charlotte neighborhood of Mulberry Church Road, May 19, 1963, marked the end of an era—and the beginning of a mystery that has lingered for over six decades. John and Annie Starnes, an elderly couple who had built a life of community and resilience, were found brutally stabbed to death in their modest home. The blood-streaked walls and doorframes of their master bedroom told a story of a violent struggle, a stark contrast to the peaceful retirement they’d earned. Discovered days after their deaths, their case gripped the city, drawing parallels to other regional crimes and pointing to a suspect who slipped through justice’s grasp. Today, it remains one of Charlotte’s most enduring unsolved murders.
A Life of Hard Work and Harmony
John and Annie Starnes were no strangers to starting over. Originally from Rutherford County, North Carolina, they uprooted their lives in the late 1940s to chase opportunity in Charlotte. There, they opened the Pilot Restaurant near State Highway 74, across from the old State Highway Patrol Barracks. The eatery became a local fixture, serving comfort food and camaraderie to a loyal clientele. By the mid-1950s, with John nearing his late 60s, the couple retired, selling the business to settle into a quieter chapter at 3651 Mulberry Church Road. Their brick ranch home, built in the early 1950s, was a testament to their modest success—a place to enjoy their golden years surrounded by friends and neighbors.
That peace shattered in May 1963. For days, the Starneses went unseen, an absence that stirred unease among their tight-knit community. Charles B. Wright, a fellow restaurant owner and friend, grew concerned when the couple didn’t answer their door. On May 19, he alerted the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). What officers found inside was a scene of unimaginable horror: John and Annie, both in their 70s, lay dead in their bedroom, each bearing multiple stab wounds. Blood splattered the walls and streaked the doorframes, suggesting a desperate fight for survival. The couple had been dead for at least two days, their bodies unnoticed in a neighborhood where they were once so present.
A Suspect Emerges—But Slips Away
The investigation moved quickly, fueled by the savagery of the crime and its echoes of two similar murders in Virginia around the same time. Suspicion soon fell on Luther Durham Jr., a man from Guilford County, North Carolina. Durham, then in his early 30s, was already a person of interest in the Virginia cases, where elderly victims had also been stabbed in their homes. When CMPD interviewed him, Durham offered an alibi: he claimed he’d been with his girlfriend, Alice Fritz, along with her sister Myrtle and stepfather George, traveling through the region when their car broke down. He even suggested he’d dropped the group off at the Starneses’ home, alleging John had opened the door for them—a detail that raised eyebrows but lacked corroboration.
The timing was tantalizing. Detectives noted the proximity of the Virginia murders and pressed Durham for answers. He hinted at having information but tied his cooperation to the outcome of his Virginia trial. If convicted, he’d stay silent; if acquitted, he might trade secrets for leniency in Charlotte. In December 1965, Durham was convicted in Virginia on unrelated homicide charges and sentenced to life plus 14 years. True to his word, he clammed up, taking any knowledge of the Starnes murders with him. By 2019, Durham, Fritz, and her family were all deceased, leaving the trail cold and the CMPD with little to pursue.
A Crime Scene of Questions
The Starnes home offered scant clues. There were no signs of forced entry, suggesting the killer might have been known to the couple—a theory bolstered by Durham’s claim of a prior encounter. Yet, the ferocity of the attack hinted at rage or desperation, not a casual visit gone wrong. Missing items were minimal, if any, ruling out robbery as a clear motive. The parallels to the Virginia cases—stabbings of elderly victims in their homes—suggested a possible serial offender, but without Durham’s confession or new evidence, it remained a hypothesis.
For years, the house at 3651 Mulberry Church Road stood as a grim monument, its reputation deterring new occupants. Eventually, it was demolished, erasing the physical scars but not the memory. The CMPD’s Cold Case Unit still lists the Starnes murders among its 600 unsolved homicides, a file dusted off periodically but never closed. Advances like DNA analysis hold promise, but no testable evidence from 1963 has been publicly identified.
A Legacy Unresolved
John and Annie Starnes left behind more than a crime scene—they left a community shaken and a family forever altered. Their deaths severed a thread of Charlotte’s post-war fabric, a reminder of a time when trust was assumed, and doors were left unlocked. For locals, the case lingers as a whispered legend, its brutality at odds with the couple’s gentle legacy. Did Luther Durham Jr. wield the knife that night, or did he merely exploit the coincidence for leverage? Was the killer a stranger or a face from their past?
As of March 17, 2025, the answers remain buried—perhaps with Durham, perhaps in faded records yet to be uncovered. The CMPD urges anyone with information to call 704-336-7600 or Charlotte Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. For John and Annie, justice is a debt unpaid, their story a haunting chapter in Charlotte’s true crime annals, waiting for its final word.