Man held in hemp grower’s slaying
Deangelo McFarland. PHOTO COURTESY OF DCDC
The Darlington County Sheriff’s Office has charged a man with murder in the Feb. 27 slaying of a North Carolina hemp grower who reportedly flew into the county to sell “hemp” and “flowers.” Deangelo McFarland, age and address not available, was booked into the county jail March 11 and charged with murder, possessing a stolen gun, and drug offenses, jail records show. McFarland is accused in the death of Christopher Benton McLeod, 29, of Carthage, N.C. McLeod, who helped run a licensed, family-operated hemp-growing farm in Carthage, flew into Darlington County at the Hartsville airport with his father, Joseph Martin McLeod, to sell hemp and flowers, the elder McLeod told deputies. When the younger McLeod met with the people he came to see, there was a gunshot, the elder McLeod told deputies, and Christopher McLeod was fatally wounded. After talking to law-enforcement officers, Joseph McLeod was arrested and charged with gun and drug offenses. Darlington County Sheriff James Hudson launched a manhunt for the suspects in the shooting that included bringing in bloodhounds and a helicopter, but no one was found immediately. Before McFarland’s arrest, Hudson said two suspects were being sought. — Bobby Bryant