WAKE FOREST, N.C. (AP) — A Raleigh man has been arrested for attempting to have a man murdered, nearly eight years after the same man was involved in a crash that took the suspect’s mother’s life.
Rhett Michael Barlow, 22, was apprehended by the Wake Forest Police Department and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, according to a statement from Wake Forest town officials. Barlow is accused of soliciting to commit the first-degree murder of Donald Caulder Jr. on November 28, 2023.
The fatal crash involving Barlow’s mother, Michelle Barlow, occurred in March 2016 along Capital Boulevard/US 1 in Wake Forest. Caulder, who was 36 at the time of Barlow’s arrest, was convicted of misdemeanor death by vehicle in January 2017 and given an intermediate sentence with special probation.
Barlow, who was on National Guard active duty at the base of Fort Liberty, was taken into custody and is being held under a $1 million secured bond at the Wake County Detention Center.
Michelle Barlow, 42, was a teacher at Wake Forest High School and had been working in the Wake County Public School System since January 2015. She taught English at Panther Creek High School before transferring to Wake Forest High School in August 2015.
Barlow’s first court appearance is scheduled for Wake County District Court on Monday at 1:30 p.m.