SHERIFF: SLAYING SUSPECT TIED TO THEFTS

April 3, 1997

Byline: MILLICENT ROTHROCK Staff Writer

As brothers Ted and Ronnie Kimble appear in court for the first time since being arrested on murder charges, the Guilford County sheriff says deputies have linked Ted Kimble to a burglary ring.
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A day after being charged with murdering his wife, Ted Kimble could face additional charges involving a burglary ring.

Guilford County sheriff's deputies searched Kimble's business Tuesday night and found guns, a silencer, numerous how-to books about avoiding the law and stolen building supplies that link Kimble to a string of burglaries, Sheriff BJ Barnes said.

Barnes said charges relating to the thefts will be filed against Kimble and others involved in the crime ring as early as next week.

Until then, deputies will work to locate more stolen material.

Barnes said information from a suspect involved in the burglarly ring led officials to the stolen building materials, which the sheriff said Kimble had stored in a rented, 40-foot trailer parked across the street from his business, Lyle's Building Supplies.

Kimble and his brother, Ronnie Kimble, were charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the death of Ted Kimble's wife of two years, Patricia Blakley Kimble.

Investigators found the burned body of Patricia Kimble, 28, in the hallway of her Pleasant Garden home Oct. 9, 1995.

She had been shot once in the head before the house was set on fire.
Barnes declined to say if the cooperating suspect knew details about the death of Patricia Kimble.

That suspect will be charged in the burglaries, he said.

Deputies and detectives spent more than six hours Tuesday night and early Wednesday searching Lyle's Building Supplies, where they found Patricia Kimble's wedding portrait hanging in a sleeping area.
Investigators found the weapons and how-to books in the office area, Barnes said.

One of the guns was a .22-caliber handgun with a silencer.

The barrel of the handgun can be switched with a .45-caliber barrel, which was not located, Barnes said.

Officials believe the gun used to kill Patricia Kimble was a .45-caliber handgun.

The sheriff would not say if deputies have located the murder weapon.
Officials also found a sniper rifle and multiple rounds of ammunition.

Inside Kimble's desk detectives found a video and books on how to make explosives, a book on how law enforcement investigations work and how-to books on building silencers, making boobie traps, beating a polygraph and law enforcement interrogation, making false identifications and disappearing from society, Barnes said.

Inside the rented trailer, investigators found plywood, doors, ladders, a microwave oven, a dishwasher and a stove. Some of the items had been taken from a church that Barnes declined to name. Officials said Kimble was selling stolen goods through his business.

"It's all stolen, I'll tell you that," said Sgt. John Davis. "It was stolen from houses out in the county. This guy has a perfect outlet for all this stuff."
While investigators took inventory of the contents of the trailer Wednesday afternoon, the Kimble brothers made their first appearance in a courtroom across town.

During the proceedings, the brothers were appointed public defenders and learned that their case will go before a grand jury for possible indictments Monday.

During the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Nestor Capote called the slaying a "murder for hire" before the judge cut him off in mid-sentence.
Ted and Ronnie Kimble are under a suicide watch at the Guilford County Detention Center, where they are being held with no bond. Barnes said the brothers have refused to answer any questions.

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