Speaking to Xpress at the Buncombe County Detention Facility on Feb. 27, Lewis Kyle Wilson asserted his innocence against charges of brutally assaulting and kidnapping a prostitute last November. Wilson has also been named a “person of interest” in an unsolved 2006 murder and two other prostitute assaults in Asheville’s Riverside area.
“I’m innocent of the charges,” Wilson said about the allegation that on Nov. 19 of last year he picked up and attacked a prostitute. “She attacked me,” he said, without saying how the woman got into his vehicle. “I did not intend to harm her, I was just trying to get away from her and I got a number of cuts doing that. There was a knife in the middle of the seat and she grabbed it. I got cut and struggled with her for the knife. She got hurt in that worse than I did.”
After they fought in his vehicle, he said, he dropped her off on the side of the road “and she walked about a half mile. She said [in her emergency-room report to police] that she’d fled [from Wilson’s residence]. But that’s not true. I dropped her off and then she went and called the police.”
Why didn’t Wilson go to the hospital himself or call the police to press assault charges?
“I’d never been to jail before,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell the police I’d gotten in a fight with a prostitute. I was afraid they’d charge me.”
Instead of calling authorities, Wilson claims, he “cleaned up, passed out. The next thing I know, the cops are banging on my door.”
He said he would reveal more information about his version of events that night at his trial. As of today, the court has not set a date for that trial.
“I don’t want to reveal everything right now,” Wilson said.
Since his Nov. 26 arrest on charges of first-degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill, Wilson has been held in the detention facility under a $115,000 bond.
Those who knew Wilson have described the case as causing “complete mayhem” in the community.
Wilson also said that bags of hair found in his house came from when his girlfriend had shaved his head (“I was going to donate it to Locks of Love,” he asserts), and that a box of teeth, also found in the police search, were his own wisdom teeth.
He also declared that he had nothing to do with the murder of Kelly Lane Smith, a local prostitute whose dismembered remains were found in July 2006 in the Riverside area, not far from Wilson’s residence.
“I think I was in Danville, Va., at the time,” he recalled.
Wilson said that he was inviting the Asheville Police Department and law enforcement to get evidence, and believed that once the forensics are analyzed, they will prove his innocence.
“They were coming out to my property with cadaver dogs. I said, ‘Great! Do it! I want to prove my innocence.’ They asked for head-and pubic-hair samples in the hospital: I was pulling out my hair,” he said, motioning to his head, “I was offering it. I’ll give them all the DNA they want. The nurses were saying they’d never seen anyone so willing to give DNA.”
He also declared that he had no knowledge of the two other brutal prostitute assaults — one on May 11 and one on Aug. 6. Both women identified Wilson’s vehicle and properties he maintained, and the one involved in the May incident — who also claimed she was raped — later identified his photo in a lineup.
“I’ve never heard of or seen either of them,” he told Xpress.
While named a “person of interest” in the murder and other assaults, Wilson has not yet been charged with those crimes. APD Capt. Tim Splain has said that it may take months to analyze the forensic evidence, and that the two prostitutes in the other assault cases have declined to pursue criminal charges.
Wilson attacked the media coverage of the case, including articles in the Asheville Citizen-Times and Xpress.
“After I beat these charges, how am I going to go back to work?” he said. “With these stories out there, how am I going to repair my life?
“I do take responsibility for putting myself in that situation,” he added, leaning forward, head against the glass in the visitation room. “If I’d been home reading a book that night, this never would have happened.”
— David Forbes, staff writer
Voilent crime in our town is downplayed to the point of absurdity. Keep it nice on paper for the tourists and prospective condo buyers. Anyone remember Amber Lungrin? My girlfriend used to hang out with her, they would do each others hair.
Those who knew Wilson have described the case as causing “complete mayhem” in the community.
I have yet to see any mayhem.
While “complete mayhem” is probably an overstatement for most in the community including myself, I have to say I’m thoroughly creeped out by these charges.
Through a mutual acquaintance and oddly only during the months surrounding Ms. Smith’s death, I saw Mr. Wilson quite a bit; a few social gatherings, gave him lifts, went to a movie with him and my friend.
As peripheral as our interactions were, I’m still pretty stunned by the suggestion of his involvement, so I think for some that were/are close to him, this is some seriously grisly sadism to contemplate.
so, is he being framed?
Anyway I can get a copy of the entire interview David?:
Finally, Kyle has been give a chance to speak! The APD wants to solve cases and are willing to do whatever it takes to do so. They are human, they make mistakes and place premature judgement just like the rest of us. Wait for the evidence,don’t accept random hearsay from bitter people. Just because someone claims something does not make it truth. People have their own agendas;ones that do not necessarily involve truth. Those that know Kyle believe in him and are glad he has been given this chance to speak.
Mtn. Express, where are your interviews of all the othr inmates in our local jails? Why did you select Kyle Wilson to talk to and to award him a the opportunity to speak out from behind the wall?
Does his being white have anything to do with your decision to choose him over other inmates of color? Are you racially motivated?
Why are you giving him preferential treatment over other inmates? Would you kindly cite specific examples of the “mayhem” you referred to in your interview of Kyle? Do you contend that your interview in any way falls into the catagory of responsible journalism?
Kyle Wilson will get his day in court. Your lame attempt to influnce or otherwise pollute the thinking of the jury pool is shameful.
Do you think that this accused serial rapist is being illegally held by the authorities? I’f you do please “man-up” and say so..otherwise just shut up and do some real journalism in your funky little rag.
Waiting for your coverage of the facts of this case I am.
Many people that know Wilson know he is fully capable of the charges he is accused of. Just because he claims to be innocent doesn’t make it true.
Seems to me “support system” has their own agenda.
seems to me “support system” is pretty self-explanatory. duh. i’m just saying wait for the evidence to speak. is every person condemned in the media automatically guilty, do they not get a chance to defend themselves? How many men are incarcerated right now that are innocent? How many people have been unfairly portrayed by the media. I guess if the newspaper makes a person look guilty, they must be. Right?
Why don’t YOU wait for all the evidence before you go off on his innocence? He was charged because there was evidence against him- like pools of blood all over his property. Duh.
If Wilson was attacked by the prostitute in his vehicle and then dropped her off in the road why did the police find pools of her blood all over his property?
Many that know wilson, know him to be the boy who cried wolf and who WAS the wolf.
Someone very close to Mr. Wilson and myself recently had a discussion about the American incarceration debacle overall and how it’s current (past few decades) tendencies have been more about job creation for rural caucasians at great expense to the civil liberties of racial and economic minorities in the industrial-prison complex to offset out-sourced older manufacturing livelihoods and less about the rehabilitation purpose incarceration was theoretically intended to serve.
Nobody on this forum knows the particulars of this case yet or what it’s ultimate outcome will be.
What we can discuss though is generally that we’ve lost control of the design of our criminal justice system. It’s not about the 15: jurors, advocates, and judge, who’ve become deities doling out retribution. Criminal justice should be about punishing evenly, thoughtfully, on a case by case basis; imposing terms of guided self-evaluation in a meager setting on the guilty and finding a service for them to provide to society to earn their board, with regular evaluations to determine if they are repentant and capable of another go at citizenship, not in the “eyes” of a mythological character or even their victim, but to atone for the aggression they selfishly perpetrated against the overall progression of our species in moving towards deeper enlightenment and the greater good.
Understandably, salacious tragedies like this one turn even moderates blood-thirsty. But, the worst and best of nature resides in all of us. Being the proud wielder of moral superiority is the fastest route to an actual hell on earth for the wielder. The “spiritual” certainty we convince ourselves is waiting for those we judge in a non-existent afterlife, we inadvertently bestow upon ourselves in the here and now.
Outrage, moral superiority, and chastisement will certainly manifest an unpleasant reality we’ll all have to endure as long as victim empathy is the sole correct social response to crime. Freedom is power, first world human responsibility is great, and we all make poor, percussive decisions everyday. Even our pious vegans must destroy life to continue their own, and that is a fault none of us sentients can escape from; we must destroy other life to continue our own. So how very far can that fine line of self-preservation stretch, regardless of purpose, between us average consumers of plant and animal products and our more sadistic brethren?
This case is about a woman who was chopped into pieces. If Wilson did’nt do it, someone did. Dosent look good for him though.
Why is the Mountain Xpress censoring my comments and why are you not responding to my inquiries as to why Wilson’s “support system” is permitted to declare his innocence but I am stopped from stating I believe him guilty?
You can’t have it both ways Mountain Xpress.
cjordan,
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner. We will allow posters to say they believe someome is guilty of crimes, but we won’t approve posts that say someone is guilty of a major crime before that person has been convicted of said crime.
I hope that clarifies our policy — please let me know if you have questions.
Jon Elliston
Managing Editor
Wilson is GUILTY, imo (of course), and ranting about the injustices in our criminal justice system is not going to make him any less guilty.
I hope I’m not being grouped into said “support system”. I personally never harbored any particular contempt or empathy for the accused in the piece here but I suppose my “rant” was influenced by the death of a distant relative by marriage recently. He was guilty as charged of a drug crime, exceptionally attractive, very young, and probably murdered while in solitary confinement by privatized guards due to a love affair with a man of another ethnicity.
That said, I’d hoped our urban transients, genuflecting to the gods of geographical fad the way they do, would be capable of a more delving discussion about this crime than “hang ’em high!”
I suppose that’s too much to hope from our distending clutch of self proclaimed “conscious” settlers. I’ll stop before I spew the venom I possess for these ~self righteous with a stroller to prove it conservatives in punk jeans and storied tattoos “progressives”~ who are undermining the last few bastions of liberalism with fashion statements and life styling tripe who land where they do for the “lokal artz seen“.
Referring to the charges, I welcome this type of morbid antithesis of a Mayberry into my periphery even if it means confronting…what’s that…human nature, some fear, disgust. Maybe meeting an abrupt death at 30 is a better end than rotting away at 80. These are the contemplations of true liberals, true imbibers, true humanists. It’s certainly more interesting to discuss than lactation and the least bad art circulating.
This Asheville nuevo quo with their burning sage pitchforks and hemp hangman’s noose, lifting their offspring up in the light of the organic bonfire glow, are the same closed minds swaddled in muddled convictions that have trekked behind enlightenment since the beginning of culture, basking in it‘s remnants for a generation or two, catching up just long enough to ensure it takes two steps back before escaping them for a more secluded locale.
Wow, that was one of the most stunningly pretentious things I’ve read in a while. You still havent talked about peoples right to not be cut into little pieces.
There seems to be a lot of people trying to condem Kyle without all of the facts and before a court of law hears his case. So he is a suspect, big deal. The public has no one else to be mad at for these crimes so Kyle is the only name and face they have to be mad at.
Kyle and I were pretty good friends in high school. I was also friends with his sister and met his parents maybe once. He was a guy not unlike any teenager. He was creative and cared about his fellow man. He let me drive his mazda manual transmition which he laughed at me when I oversped the rotary engine and it shut down on safety lockout. He was definately not the worst of the bunch we used to hang out with. Kyle was pretty smart too. So unless you know Kyle better than I do, or have in your posession some evidence that the police don’t, than we all need to allow him to be innocent until proven guilty. Let’s not let any media or public mob sway the opinions to a point of untruth or injustice.
Just because you knew him in high school has no baring on his life ten years later.
Three women have identified Wilson as their attacker. How many more have to come forward before some of his so called friends realize he is a very disturbed man?
I know what the police know which is obviously more than you know.
cjordan – I’ve known Kyle for quite some time, and anyone who says he’s capable of this horror, doesn’t know him. He’s been friends with me longer than anyone else has. The media does have a tendency to jump to conclusions, and because of that, I don’t think Kyle can get a fair trial in Asheville anymore. Why are you so quick to accuse him? Hiding something, are you? Want someone else to be blamed for something they didn’t do? He didn’t do this, I firmly believe that. “Support system” may have ulterior motives, yes – to save an innocent man, and try to find the correct killer.
wOw: Do you think his family knew of Markoff’s illegal activities?
Dr. S: I think his family may have known of his darker side, although not specific criminal acts. If they found him to be difficult to deal with, they most likely discounted some of the rougher aspects of his personality and, like any family, were proud of his accomplishments. I have found that many of the faults of criminals were overlooked for many years because they were bright, accomplished and talented. One need only recall Ted Bundy!
wOw: Did his fiancée, Megan McAllister, suspect anything?
Dr. S: Either he hid the sinister qualities or she herself experienced some of it firsthand and discounted it because she was so impressed by all the positives. She may also have been as shocked as anyone once his crimes came to light. She clearly did not know him as well as she thought. This is not uncommon. Perpetrators of heinous crimes are very adept at concealing their criminality even from people who think they know him well. I have known women who have dated and married these individuals not really knowing whom they were getting involved with.
wOw: Can a person like Philip Markoff truly love someone? Did he genuinely love his fiancée and family?
Dr. S: If by love, you mean show mutual respect, caring and affection and put himself in the place of others, it is extremely doubtful that he is a truly loving person. That he may do nice things for people and appear to be kind, concerned and loving is possible. Appearances belie reality! In fact, such a person is extremely self-centered and shows only superficial consideration to others. He lives a double life in which he hides his darker nature from most individuals who encounter him.
wOw: What do you label such a man as Philip Markoff?
Dr. S: It’s very difficult to diagnose someone who you haven’t evaluated. Solely relying on media accounts, perpetrators of a series of violent crimes are likely to have an “anti-social personality disorder.” Formerly, they were called sociopaths and psychopaths. These are individuals who have no concept of injury to others because again in life they are determined to prevail. They are not thinking about the needs, desires or wants of other people. It’s all about them.
Mountain Xpress is censoring my comments.
JKSmom, you do not know Wilson better than I do and length of time has nothing to do with when a person chooses to show the darkness in their soul.
Wilson has shown the sickness he carries within to more than one person in this community and count your blessings, you were not one of them.
Mountain Xpress is censoring my comments.
JKSmom, you do not know Wilson better than I do and length of time has nothing to do with when a person chooses to show the darkness in their soul.
Wilson has shown the sickness he carries within to more than one person in this community and count your blessings, you were not one of them.
Jksmom here, I forgot my username and/or password.
To CJordan..
I’m sorry, who are you? I mean, if you’ve known him longer.. Who are you? I didn’t realize you were so intimate with him.
All I have to say is that Kyle stuck with me when all but one of my friends (now my husband) abandoned me because of circumstances beyond my control. I still believe he’s innocent.
Also – who is Philip Markoff? I’m curious – I’ve got an interest in serial killers, and I don’t think I’ve heard of him.. talking of which.. Did you hear they think they found the original Zodiac?
Philip Markoff is the Craigslist Killer. He was a well respected medical student with a fiance, also, a medical student. He led a double life and the people “closest” to him had no idea he was targeting prostitutes and robbing them at gun point. He, also, had a collection of women’s panties hidden in the apartment he shared with his fiance. Are you going to tell me she was in on it too?
Men like Markoff and Wilson are master manipulators and they intentionally keep segments of their lives compartmentalized and “friends” separate from each other so no-one gets too close and begins to figure things out.
Why would you continue to believe that THREE women made up stories, the SAME story mind you, about Wilson? Maybe one but THREE? Mountain Xpress censors my comments but I know for a fact Wilson is capable of these crimes as I have witnessed his violence first hand.
Philip Markoff is the Craigslist Killer. He was a respected medical student who lived a double life. The people who were closest to him had no idea he was targeting prostitutes and robbing them at gun point. One woman resisted and he murdered her. His fiance, also a medical student, had no idea he had a collection of women’s panties hidden in the home they shared.
Men like Markoff and Wilson intentionally compartmentalize their relationships so they can get away with their crimes. It is not surprising you don’t know me. All it means is that Wilson kept us apart for his own sick reasons. Please don’t be fooled because Wilson “stuck with you”. He’s a master manipulator just like Markoff. Wilson never did anything that didn’t serve him the most.
wOw: Can a person like Philip Markoff truly love someone? Did he genuinely love his fiancée and family?
Dr. S: If by love, you mean show mutual respect, caring and affection and put himself in the place of others, it is extremely doubtful that he is a truly loving person. That he may do nice things for people and appear to be kind, concerned and loving is possible. Appearances belie reality! In fact, such a person is extremely self-centered and shows only superficial consideration to others. He lives a double life in which he hides his darker nature from most individuals who encounter him.
I remember now, cjordan. I didn’t know that he had been through trial and conviction, though.
It’s also not surprising I don’t know you, because I live in Jersey now… but I have met truly evil men, and Kyle never struck me as such.
Now, I could be wrong. But I don’t think I am.
I don’t want to fight with anyone, over this. We don’t know what happened at these alleged assaults. We can’t ever know, truly. All I know is that Kyle was there for me. He had previous opportunity to harm me as well, but he didn’t.
It’s possible they made up the stories. Anything is possible. I just can’t see it, though. I’m sorry, but I can’t.
You won’t convince me he did it, and I can’t convince you he didn’t. But that’s what makes our country great, isn’t it?
Point being, I must paraphrase a famous quote…
“I don’t agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to your opinion.”
We’ll watch this, and see where it leads. Till then, though, take care. Be safe.
-jksmom119
jksmom,
So now that Wilson has pled guilty to a VIOLENT FELONY do you still believe him innocent?