ASHEVILLE - An Asheville veteran who was convicted last year ofstabbing a dog to death in a city park was killed in Morganton, according to Morganton police and court records.
James Wesley Henry, then 45, pleaded guilty Feb. 10, 2025 to felony cruelty to animals for stabbing a dog named Beignet while the dog's owner played pickleball nearby.
The dog was killed at around 3 p.m. on June 26, 2023. Liesbeth Mackie was playing pickleball at Weaver Park when she heard yelping from her dog, which was leashed under a shade tree, according to prosecutors. A man, later identified as Henry, held the dog in the air by its throat and stabbed the animal until it died.Henry was initially found incapable of proceeding to trial after a mental evaluation, but after a long
wait for an open bed at Broughton Hospital, a new evaluation found that he was mentally fit enough to proceed with his court case, the Citizen Times previously reported.
Henry was found dead at approximately 1 a.m. on Sunday, July 26 after Morganton Public Safety officers heard multiple gunshots coming from the area of West Union Street and Hillside Lane, according to a news release. Officers responded and found someone lying facedown in the road, the news release said.
While the news release did not identify Henry, Ke'von Mack, 18, of Morganton, was charged with murder, and the arrest warrant states that he is accused of killing Henry.
Kara Fohner is the Public Safety Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email her at kfohner@usatodayco.com or call her at 980-241-8671.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Man convicted of killing dog found dead in Morganton
