Banquet To Raise Money for Sharone White Bailey Scholarship Fund

The second annual Sharone White Bailey Scholarship banquet will be held this weekend at the Elks Lodge in Accomac.

 The banquet will raise money for a scholarship to be awarded to a needy student in memory of Sharone Bailey, who was murdered by a neighbor in 2010. Bailey was a community leader who served as a counselor and board member at Eastern Shore Rural Health among other community activities.

The banquet will begin with a social gathering at 5 PM with dinner at 6.

The cost is $35 per person.

 For tickets, contact Sheila Turner at 787-2267, Marcie White at 787-2107 or Betty Savage at 665-4010.

Epps Sentenced To 50 Years In Sharone Bailey Murder

Derrick Demond Epps of Exmore was sentenced Friday in Northampton Circuit Court in the murder of Sharone Bailey of Exmore.

Bailey, a well loved and respected mental health worker came home for lunch on July 9, 2010 and was repeatedly stabbed by Epps, who was also her neighbor.  After being stabbed Mrs. Bailey fled to a neighbors home where Epps followed her and stabbed her again.   She died following the attack.  Epps claimed he "heard voices."

Epps was convicted of 1st degree murder and declined a trial by jury.

In his sentencing Epps received 53 years for 1st degree murder, 10 years for breaking and entering and 2 years for assaulting a police officer.  Out of the total of 65 years 15 of them were suspended.

At 38 years of age, Epps will be 88 years old when he is released from prison.

GUILTY Verdict For Epps

EASTVILLE -- The man who chased and repeatedly stabbed Sharone White Bailey last year in a horrific daylight slaying has been found guilty.

Derrick Demond Epps, 37, of Exmore pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and two other charges in last July's killing of White, a business owner and counselor who just weeks before had been named the Eastern Shore Citizen of the Year.

Epps, who declined a trial by jury in a last-minute decision, could face life in prison when sentenced later this year.

Epps was the victim's neighbor and attacked Bailey on the afternoon of July 9, 2010, after seeing her return home from work at lunchtime.

Northampton County Commonwealth's Attorney Bruce Jones said Epps, who had been a counseling client of the victim's, had developed the mistaken idea that Bailey's family owed his family money.

Epps' attorney, Garrett Dunham, said the defendant had been previously diagnosed by multiple doctors as a paranoid schizophrenic and the condition played a significant role in the day's events.


Dunham said on the day of the attack, Epps was suffering from a schizophrenic episode and when the "command voices" became stronger, Epps armed himself with a large kitchen knife and confronted Bailey to ask for the money.

"Mrs. Bailey saw the knife and screamed. The defendant grabbed her and stabbed her," Jones said.

Bailey fell, recovered and ran to a neighbor's house for help. Seriously wounded, she left a blood trail visible in photos presented as evidence, Jones said.

Bailey was stabbed again before entering the home of elderly neighbors, where she collapsed. The neighbors called 911.

Epps went back to his house, but returned to the neighbors' residence because "a voice told him she was not dead," according to Northampton County Sheriff's Office Investigator Terry Thomas in a previous testimony.

Jones said Epps kicked through the neighbor's front door during the call and drove the knife into Bailey's chest, driving it down eight and a half inches. Officials said such a massive injury would have caused death within seconds.

Epps then returned a second time to his home, where police arrived shortly after receiving the 911 call. He fled to the woods, where he disposed of the knife, which was never recovered.

Epps was apprehended and taken to the Northampton County Sheriff's Office to await an interview. While in custody there, he told Deputy William Smith he needed to use the restroom.

"He took advantage of that opportunity not to use the restroom, but to knock Deputy Smith out of the way and flee the scene," Jones said.

Epps was taken back into custody after being shot with a Taser.

In addition to first-degree murder, Epps pleaded guilty to charges of entering a dwelling with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit murder and assault and battery of a police officer.

Norfolk Circuit Court Judge John C. Morrison found Epps guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder.

"The evidence certainly justifies his pleas," Morrison said.

Source;  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110714/NEWS01/107140376/Guilty-verdict-slaying

R.I.P. Sharone White Bailey

Trial Set For Fatal Stabbing Of Sharone White Bailey

EASTVILLE -- The murder trial of an Exmore man charged with the fatal stabbing of the 2010 Eastern Shore Citizen of the Year Sharone White Bailey will begin with jury selection Tuesday.

Derrick Demond Epps, 36, is charged with first-degree murder.

Epps allegedly saw Bailey, his neighbor, return home from work at lunchtime on July 9, 2010. He then allegedly went to his kitchen to retrieve a knife and repeatedly stabbed her, according to testimony at a September hearing.

After Bailey ran to a neighbor's house for help, Epps allegedly broke through the door and continued stabbing her while the neighbor called 911. Epps allegedly said he broke into the house because "a voice told him she was not dead," according to Northampton County Sheriff's Office Investigator Terry Thomas.

Bailey was found fatally wounded by police responding to the call. Epps was apprehended shortly after officers arrived at the scene.

While in custody, Epps attempted to escape while using the restroom -- allegedly shoving Northampton Sheriff's Office Deputy William Smith into a wall and running out the door before he was shot with a Taser and taken back into custody.

In addition to facing a first-degree murder charge, Epps is charged with entering a dwelling with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit murder and assault and battery of a police officer. He is being held at the Eastern Shore Regional Jail until the trial.

General District Court Judge Gordon Vincent certified the murder charge against Epps to a grand jury during a September hearing.

Epps "made no bones about what he did," Thomas said. "He said it was not a robbery, that her people owed his people."

The slaying of Bailey, 57, who had been named the 2010 Eastern Shore Citizen of the Year at a gala event just before her death, shocked the community.

Bailey was co-owner and clinical director of Therapeutic Interventions, a Belle Haven-based community mental health provider. She was also secretary of the Eastern Shore Rural Health Board of Directors, helping to spearhead efforts to raise funds for the new Onley Community Health Center and served on the Northampton Joint Industrial Development Authority, as president of Habitat for Humanity and as a board member of the Eastern Shore Coalition against Domestic Violence.

Bailey was a U.S. Army veteran, a choir member and secretary of the Trustee Board at the Macedonia AME Church in Accomac and had worked for Accomack County Social Services and the Eastern Shore Community Services Board.

Source;  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110711/NEWS01/107110302/Eastern-Shore-Citizen-Year-murder-trial-set

Murder Of Sharone Bailey Will Be Heard By Grand Jury

EASTVILLE — Sharone White Bailey’s accused killer allegedly stabbed her, chased her as she ran and then stabbed her repeatedly as she banged on a neighbor’s door for help.

Then, after she gained entry to the home of elderly neighbors, Derrick Epps broke through the door and continued to stab her.

“He must have killed her,” the neighbor, 84-year-old Alice Doughty, told a judge during a criminal hearing in Northampton court. “All that blood was on the floor.”

Later, while in custody, Epps made an escape attempt while using the restroom and apparent ran out of the sheriff’s office before being apprehended.

General District Court Judge Gordon Vincent certified the murder charge against Epps, 36, of Exmore, to a grand jury.

Witnesses presented by Commonwealth’s Attorney Bruce Jones told a horrifying story to a courtroom packed with the victim’s friends and family. Many wept quietly as they heard the story of her final moments on July 9.

The slaying of Bailey, 57, who had recently been named the 2010 Eastern Shore Citizen of the Year at a gala event, shocked the community.

On the day of her death, Bailey drove home from work in the middle of the day. Epps, her neighbor, saw her pull into her driveway and ran into his kitchen to get a long knife.

“He told her he wanted money,” testified Northampton County Sheriff’s Office investigator Terry Thomas, who said Epps told him the entire story of the slaying when he was arrested. Thomas said Epps told him he stabbed her “a few times.”

He told Thomas that Bailey fell to the ground and then got up and ran across the street. Thomas said Epps told him that Bailey was screaming for help when she got to the neighbor’s front door. He said he was continually stabbing her as she banged on the door.

Epps admitted he went back a few minutes later and broke through the Doughtys’ door, “because a voice told him she was not dead,” Thomas said.

The testimony of the neighbor, Joseph Doughty, 86, told more of the story.

“I heard a hard rap on the door. I jumped up. I opened the door, ” he said.

“She fell on the floor,” he said. “She asked me to call 911. She was trying to fight him off. He had this big, long knife.”

When Bailey fell, the defendant backed away, Doughty said. He testified that he quickly locked the storm door and the wooden door and ran to the telephone to call for help.

As he was talking to 911, Doughty said the defendant burst through the doors breaking the door frame and the wooden door.

“He came in the house and cut her again.”

His wife, Alice Doughty, appeared frail as she was helped to the witness stand by deputies.

Jones asked her if she knew Epps. She pointed to the defendant and said, “He lived next door.”

She recalled the scene with obvious pain, telling the same story as her husband.
“She came running in the door and he was right behind her,” she said, looking at Epps.

“When she fell, I was talking to her. He came into the house, cut her again,” she said.

In addition to the first degree murder charge, Epps is charged with entering a dwelling with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit murder and assault and battery of a police officer.

Northampton Sheriff’s Office Deputy William Smith transported Epps to the sheriff’s office after he was picked up walking on Broadwater Road.

He was being held in the conference room there when he insisted he had an urgent need to use the bathroom. Smith was instructed to take him.

Smith released one of the man’s handcuffs while in the bathroom. At that moment, he said, Epps shoved him into a wall and ran out the door.

Epps ran out the door of the building with Smith fifteen or twenty feet behind him. Smith said he deployed his Taser and Epps went down. He was again taken into custody.

“He made no bones about what he did,” investigator Thomas told the court, referring to Epps’ description of the day’s events. “He said it was not a robbery, that her people owed his people.”

www.easternshorenews.com