NORTH CAROLINA MAN RECEIVES LIFE PRISON SENTENCE FOR CHEROKEE COUNTY MURDER

A North Carolina man received a life prison sentence today after he was found guilty of stabbing a man to death in the parking lot of a Cherokee County convenience store.

Arthur Shane Beck, 29, of Kings Mountain, was found guilty of murder at the conclusion of a three-day jury trial. Beck repeatedly stabbed 60-year-old Blacksburg resident, Ray Von Cannon, in the parking lot of the Kangaroo convenience store on July 6, 2004. The victim died as a result of a chest wound. He was murdered minutes after he finished his work shift at the Shelby Highway convenience store.

A witness watched Beck commit the fatal attack. A second witness got into his truck and followed Beck while he walked on the shoulder of Frontage Road. Beck ran into the woods when the witness told him police were on the way.

Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies captured him later in the evening at the Meadow Creek Industrial Park.

In a post-arrest interview with sheriff’s deputies, Beck said he dated Von Cannon’s step-daughter, Amanda Pruitt. He said Pruitt and her mother Nancy Von Cannon approached him a short time after the relationship began and they asked him to kill the victim. Nancy Von Cannon and Pruitt claimed that Ray abused them. On the date of the crime, Pruitt and Nancy Von Cannon supplied Beck with a pair of gloves and the murder weapon. They also drove him to the convenience store, according to Assistant Solicitor Michael Morin.

Beck will serve every day of the prison sentence. He is not eligible for parole. Accessory charges are still pending on Nancy Von Cannon and Pruitt.