Hiddenite man charged in grandmother’s death

Sheriff’s Office says Jeffrey Michael Minton told detention officers he had killed his grandmother; deputies found Shirleen Prichard, 78, dead at her home.

A Hiddenite man was charged with first-degree murder Oct. 13 after authorities said he walked into the Alexander County Detention Center and told officers he had killed his grandmother.

Jeffrey Michael Minton, 34, voluntarily made the statement to officers on duty in the detention center lobby, according to a statement from the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to a residence at 65 Open Way Drive in Hiddenite, where they found Shirleen Prichard, 78, dead inside the home.

Minton was taken into custody without incident and charged with first-degree murder. The Sheriff’s Office said he is being held without bond at the Alexander County Detention Center.

His first court appearance is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, in Alexander District Court.

An Oct. 13 release order signed by judicial official D.B. Hall states: “FIRST DEGREE MURDER - BOND CAN ONLY BE SET BY A JUDGE.”

The order also cites “CRIMINAL HISTORY AND SERIOUSNESS OF OFFENSE AND HAS PENDING CHARGE.” It marks a finding that Minton was “charged with an offense while on pretrial release for a prior offense” and expressly states: “Your release is not authorized.”

State correctional records show prior convictions dating to 2009, including felony breaking and entering, DWI and misdemeanor property offenses.

His most recent listed convictions were in Alexander County in 2025: willful or wanton injury to real property on Feb. 24 and damage to property on April 28. Both sentence entries list probation and suspended sentences, with the April sentence running concurrently with the February sentence.

Minton was convicted of felony breaking and entering in Wilkes County in January 2013. Records show a subsequent probation revocation in Alexander County and a three-month incarceration term in 2015. He was released Aug. 2, 2015.

His record also includes DWI convictions in 2013 and 2017, resisting an officer in 2010, drug paraphernalia and underage alcohol offenses in 2011, and misdemeanor breaking and entering, larceny and injury to real property in 2009.

Court records separately list a pending case in Catawba District Court.

The Sheriff’s Office said the death remains under investigation. Its statement did not disclose a cause of death or an alleged motive.

The pending murder case is number 26CR429523-010.

All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.