A North Carolina man and a Michigan woman have been arrested and charged with the murder of a woman who went missing in July 2021. For awhile, the missing woman’s identity was a mystery.
According to the Huntersville Police Department, 47-year-old Alibria “Libby” Kerns, who hailed from Rowan County, N.C., was originally found dead on Jan. 26, 2022. The victim’s remains were found after investigators with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department shared information, based on a tip, with the HPD about a missing persons case that was believed to have ended in a homicide.
The victim’s remains were formally identified on Monday, Feb. 21, 2022.
Police found Kerns buried in a shallow grave behind a mobile home after executing a search warrant at the property, according to an HPD spokesperson. The two police agencies worked together to secure the area and conducted their search with the help of a cadaver dog.
Law enforcement released footage of the victim from a nearby security camera. In the short clip, Kerns can be seen walking through a grassy field across from the mobile home wearing a t-shirt, shorts and dark shoes with white soles. Police also described the footage as showing the 5’7″ woman “a silicone ring” on her left hand.
“It is from the suspect’s property,” the HPD said, when asked about the source of the surveillance footage.
During that early February press conference, an HPD spokesperson said their investigation led them to believe that Kerns was picked up sometime in early August 2021 by the two suspects at sometime right after 2:00 a.m. At the time, however, police were not sure who the woman in the grainy video was–saying that she did not match the description of any missing persons in the area. Law enforcement requested the public’s help in identifying the woman.
In the footage, police said, the woman was walking across the street from the suspect’s house at around 2:41 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2021–which led to law enforcement’s timeline of her disappearance.
On Jan. 27, 2022, Christopher John Nailor, 43, was charged with murder in the first degree, kidnapping and concealing a death. He is currently being held without bail in the Mecklenberg County Jail.
In early February, the HPD announced that a second suspect was also charged with murder in the first degree, kidnapping and concealing a death in relation to the Kerns case. That suspect, 36-year-old Cody “Red” Camarda Graham, was charged after an interview with HPD investigators that was conducted while she was incarcerated on unrelated charges in Grand Rapids, Mich. An extradition hearing is pending and she’ll remain in the Wolverine State until then.
According to jail records reviewed by Law&Crime, Graham is being held in Kent County on several theft allegations.
Details about the woman’s cause of death have not been released. Nor has a potential motive for the slaying emerged. During the press conference earlier this month, police declined to take any questions about the case citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Nailor and Graham are said to be the “sole suspects in this case,” according to the HPD.
[images: Christopher Nailor via Huntersville Police Department; Cody Graham via Kent County Correctional Facility]