Mom was ‘afraid’ of son, then he killed her in staged break-in, NC officials say

A man is going to prison after pleading guilty in connection with the 2023 shooting that left his mom dead, North Carolina prosecutors said.

In June of that year, Donald Ryan Fink called 911 and said his mom, 65-year-old Debra Fink, had been shot during a break-in, according to an Oct. 7 news release by the Forsyth County District Attorney.

When Kernersville officers arrived, they found the mom with a gunshot wound to the face and tried to save her but weren’t successful, prosecutors said.

At the time of the shooting, the woman couldn’t walk or stand because she was recovering from knee surgery, the district attorney’s office said.

During the investigation, detectives found the weapon used to kill the woman and an empty shell casing, along with a damaged doorframe, prosecutors said.

After talking to witnesses, officers learned Donald Fink had been seen with the same gun earlier that day and that he pointed it at a different woman, the district attorney’s office said.

Witnesses also told officers no one was seeing coming or leaving from the home, prosecutors said.

Later, after investigators determined Donald Fink had inconsistencies in his statements, he confessed to staging the crime scene by kicking down the door, the district attorney’s said.

Although Fink told officers the shooting was an accident, evidence officers found didn’t support this, as he had gunshot residue on his hands and his DNA was found on the gun, prosecutors said.

Witnesses told officers Fink had stolen money from his mom, had threatened to shoot her before and that she was “afraid of her son,” prosecutors said.

On Oct. 7, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to 28 years and 9 months to 35 ½ years in prison, officials said.

Kernersville is about a 90-mile drive northwest from Raleigh.