The man who killed his roommate and dumped his body off the N.C. 11 bridge in 2020 has been found guilty of murder.
James Robert Goins was found guilty of first degree murder and armed robbery today (July 31) in Bladen County Superior Court. Goins was sentenced to life without parole with an additional 100 months for the armed robbery charge. The jury was out for less than three ours.
Goins killed his former roommate, Kenneth Ross Covell, after a fight at an East Arcadia home, investigators said at the time. The two knew each other, having lived in halfway house in Wake County.
Volunteer searcher Chris Rhodes said he contacted law enforcement after being told about the killing, and finding blood on the N.C. 11 bridge over the Cape Fear River. The county line follows the river, so both Columbus and Bladen authorities searched for Covell. Rhodes eventually found the body lodged in some debris near the riverbank at the Riegelwood Golf Course.
Goins was convicted in Bladen County Superior Court of first degree burglary in 2015, according to prison records. He was released in 2019 on parole. He had previous convictions for theft, property and firearm violations in Brunswick, New Hanover and Bladen counties, stretching back to 1996.
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