The knock on the door of a modest home on Evans Street in Beulavville, North Carolina, was the sound of a long journey ending. Inside, authorities found Lekeyia Petteway, a woman wanted on charges that told a story of severe violence hundreds of miles away. Her capture last Wednesday closed a chapter that stretched across two states, bringing a fugitive sought for attempted murder back into custody.
For the small, tight-knit community of Beulavville, the arrest was a jolt. This isn’t the kind of place where state agents and fugitive apprehension teams normally swarm a residential street. Police Chief John Doe said his department got a solid tip. They learned Petteway was staying there, a woman accused of terrible crimes in Upstate South Carolina. So they called in the big guns—the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Apprehension Team and agents from the SBI’s Coastal District. Together, they moved in.
Back in Greenville County, South Carolina, Petteway was a wanted name on bench warrants. The charges were serious and painted a grim picture: attempted murder, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, and child abuse. The specific details of the alleged crimes haven’t been made public yet. But the weight of those charges meant authorities were determined to find her, no matter how far she ran.
And she had run far. Beulavville sits in eastern North Carolina’s Duplin County, a quiet agricultural area known more for its farms than for harboring fugitives. It’s over 300 miles and a five-hour drive from Greenville. How she got there, or who she might have known in the town, remains unclear. What is clear is that she couldn’t outrun a coordinated law enforcement effort.
The arrest itself was surprisingly calm. Officers confirmed Petteway was inside the Beulavville home. They made contact. There was no struggle, no dramatic standoff. She was taken into custody without incident, a quiet end to a frantic search. She’s now sitting in a North Carolina jail, waiting for the next step.
That next step is almost certainly extradition back to South Carolina to face the music. Local authorities in both states are being tight-lipped about a timeline. They haven’t said when she’ll be transported back to Greenville County. They also haven’t connected the dots yet on how long she’d been in North Carolina or what led investigators to that specific address.
For now, the people of Beulavville can return to their normal pace of life. And in Greenville, a community awaits answers and seeks justice. The arrest of Lekeyia Petteway proves that state lines don’t stop the pursuit of someone wanted for violence. A tip, a quiet street, and a knock on the door were all it took to bring her run to a stop.
