Michael Curtis Hallyburton, a 63-year-old White male from Morganton, North Carolina, was killed on August 31, 2025, in what authorities ultimately classified as a double homicide on Swink Street in Burke County’s Antioch community. The first sign of trouble was a structure fire that sent smoke rising above the wooded area. A nearby go-kart track race director and a friend reportedly noticed white smoke before it darkened and called 911.
They also described hearing small explosions that grew louder as the fire intensified, sounds they compared to propane tanks exploding. Fire departments, emergency personnel and law-enforcement agencies converged on the property and remained involved in the scene investigation into the night.
As firefighters battled the burning residence, the scene became more disturbing than an accidental fire. According to medical examiner investigation information later reported publicly, a firefighter discovered Hallyburton slumped inside a pickup truck in the yard. His body was lying across the passenger seat. Investigators determined that he had suffered two gunshot wounds to the back of his head and another gunshot wound to his neck. Joseph Kincaid Byrd Jr., the second victim, was discovered inside the residence in the kitchen area and had also been shot repeatedly in the head and neck. Fire damage made Byrd difficult to identify at first, and investigators later used dental X-rays to confirm his identity.
The Burke County Sheriff’s Office initially described the incident as a death investigation while working with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Burke County Fire Marshal’s Office to determine both the origin of the fire and how the victims died. By September 5, authorities formally announced that the Swink Street deaths were being investigated as a double homicide. A later sheriff’s office update confirmed that both victims had suffered gunshot wounds. The investigation expanded to include assistance from agencies including the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Virginia State Police and Hickory police. Several dogs survived the fire and were turned over to Burke County Animal Services.
People who knew Hallyburton told local news media that he worked as a carpenter and was known for helping people when they needed assistance. Neighbors and relatives believed he may have been at Byrd’s property helping with work there when he was killed. In the days following the deaths, investigators did not publicly identify a suspect or disclose a motive, and they offered a $2,000 reward for information that could lead to an arrest. Investigators were also examining whether the fire had been deliberately set, although authorities had not publicly announced a definitive cause for the blaze at that stage of the investigation.
The investigation produced an arrest on September 15, 2025, when the Burke County Sheriff’s Office took Michael James Moretz of Morganton into custody. Moretz was charged with two counts of felony murder in connection with the killings of Hallyburton and Byrd and was ordered held without bond. The arrest came after investigators executed search warrants and followed leads developed during the roughly two weeks after the killings. Authorities identified Moretz as the person accused of responsibility for both deaths, but his arrest and charges do not constitute a conviction.
Search-warrant information reported by WSOC provided a glimpse into what investigators were examining. A vehicle possibly connected to Moretz was reportedly seen traveling toward the Swink Street property roughly 30 minutes before the fire and later traveling back in the opposite direction after smoke was observed. Moretz’s family said he had known Byrd for decades and had previously sold two mobile homes to him. A family member also told investigators that Byrd had sold prescription pills to Moretz. During a search of the Moretz family property, deputies seized three. 22-caliber pistols for examination. Those details represented investigative evidence and allegations rather than findings of guilt, and authorities did not publicly announce a confirmed motive. Moretz’s parents publicly maintained that they did not believe he committed the killings.
The criminal case progressed during the following months. Moretz was indicted in October 2025, and by December prosecutors had requested that the murder prosecution proceed as a capital case, meaning the state believed evidence supported at least one statutory aggravating circumstance that could make the death penalty an available punishment if he were ultimately convicted. Prosecutors were not required at that stage to publicly identify the particular aggravating circumstance on which they intended to rely. His defense attorneys continued seeking discovery materials and reviewing the evidence gathered by investigators.
By June 2026, the prosecution remained pending rather than resolved by trial or conviction. Moretz appeared in Superior Court for a procedural hearing focused largely on preserving physical evidence and ensuring that the defense received outstanding discovery. Defense attorneys Charles Bostian and Victoria Jayne raised concerns about obtaining remaining material, including body-camera footage and a recorded law-enforcement interview with Moretz. The court granted motions intended to preserve evidence and required that any testing capable of damaging evidence be observed by both the prosecution and defense. The residence itself had been heavily damaged by the fire and was later demolished by the family that owned it because of concerns about people entering the remains of the property.
Superior Court Judge Daniel Kuehnert also disclosed that he personally knew one of the victims and said he would recuse himself from handling the case beyond preliminary procedural matters. The judge emphasized in court that Moretz remained presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. As of the latest publicly available reporting before August 18, 2026, no trial verdict or conviction had been reported. The case remained a pending capital murder prosecution, with Moretz’s next court appearance scheduled for August 24, 2026, as prosecutors and defense attorneys continued reviewing evidence surrounding the shootings, the fire and the events that placed Hallyburton and Byrd at the Swink Street property on the day they were killed.
