Columbus Correctional Institution inmate found guilty in stabbing death

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A man incarcerated at Columbus Correctional Institution has been found guilty of fatally stabbing another inmate.

A Columbus County jury found David Mark Fields guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder in the death of Scott Whitmeyer. Fields was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“On September 28, 2019, Scott Whitmeyer, an inmate at Columbus Correctional Institution was stabbed fourteen times by inmate David Fields,” a news release from the District Attorney’s Office states. “The Columbus County Sheriff’s Office along with the Columbus Correctional Institution staff, began an investigation into Whitmeyer’s death. Surveillance footage from the prison showed Fields as the individual who stabbed Scott Whitmeyer fourteen times with a prison shank.

“Fields was also seen on surveillance video changing shirts after discarding the shirt he wore to commit the crime in the bathroom. Columbus Correctional employee Timothy Moody was able to retrieve the murder weapon that inmate Fields used and later flushed, in the prison sewer system. Fields is quoted telling Columbus Correctional Officer Spillman, ‘It is what it is, it’s on camera,’ when asked what happened to Scott Whitmeyer.”

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