A memorial service to honor a Ravenscroft School
teacher has been postponed for the second time due to the threat of incoming
winter weather.
The service to honor Zoe Welsh was initially
rescheduled for Sunday, Feb. 1, but school officials said it has been pushed
back to Sunday, March 29, to “ensure safety of Zoe’s family and friends, our
families, employees, and alumni traveling from near and far.”
“We appreciate your continued patience and
resilience as we navigate these unavoidable challenges. Our priority remains a
safe and meaningful gathering for all who loved Zoe,” officials said.
The rescheduled service will be held at Jones
Theatre at 3 p.m. Officials said doors will open at 2:15 p.m.
Attendees are encouraged to wear “bright sunshine
colors” to celebrate Welsh. Officials said this event remains private for Zoe’s
family and the Ravenscroft community.
It will be closed to the media and the general
public.
Exterior of the N.C. State Chancellor’s home, called The Point, on the school’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC, seen on Dec. 20, 2011. A woman was arrested Sunday after allegedly breaking into the home while Chancellor Kevin Howell was inside.
Chris Seward
cseward@newsobserver.com
RALEIGH
A woman was arrested Sunday after police say she broke into N.C. State Chancellor Kevin Howell’s home while he was inside.
As first reported by CBS17, Maya McKenzie Barbour, 44, is charged with first-degree burglary in the incident on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, according to her arrest warrant.
Police were called to the home about 8:45 a.m. after a woman was discovered sleeping inside the $3.5 million home, according to N.C. State spokesperson Mick Kulikowski.
Barbour is not affiliated with the university, Kulikowski said.
Police say she entered the home “with intent to commit a larceny,” though court documents don’t specify what she allegedly planned to steal.
Court records show Barbour has been in and out of jail in Cumberland and Wake counties multiple times since the spring of 2024. In 2025 alone, she had multiple charges, including indecent exposure and second-degree trespassing, dismissed in five cases.
Court documents repeatedly list Barbour as being homeless, and before Sunday’s incident, she had most recently been arrested in November in Raleigh on a charge of simple assault. The Wake County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charge Jan. 23, two days before the alleged break-in, because Barbour had served more time in jail than she would have been sentenced to, according to court records.
Barbour was involuntarily committed in Cumberland County in July 2025 after she allegedly refused to speak with a forensic evaluator who wanted to determine her capacity to proceed with a trial on charges of indecent exposure and resisting a public officer.
“Defendant’s speech is frantic and disorganized. defendant is unable to answer questions about her case in a sensical [sic] manner,” an assistant district attorney wrote in a July 14, 2025, filing. “Defendant’s answers to questions about her social/biological history are inconsistent and contradictory. Defendant does not seem to understand the charges against her.”
Barbour’s charges were dismissed July 22, 2025, and she was subsequently committed to Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville for an unspecified amount of time.
Local advocates have called for updated procedures and legislation involving defendants with mental health concerns after the killing of Raleigh teacher Zoe Welsh earlier this month. Welsh was allegedly beaten to death by 36-year-old Ryan Camacho, who had been in and out of jails in Durham and Wake counties and deemed incapable of proceeding with a trial in a larceny case weeks before Welsh’s death, The N&O previously reported.
Barbour also faces pending charges in Robeson County in a Sept. 17, 2025, incident where she allegedly stood in the middle of the southbound lane on Interstate 95 for several hours, according to court documents.
Court records show she failed to appear for scheduled hearings in that case Dec. 15 and Jan. 8.
Barbour remained in the Wake County jail without bail as of Monday afternoon as she awaited her first court appearance on the latest charge. She’s been ordered not to return to N.C. State’s campus until authorized to do so.
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com.
Lexi Solomon joined The News & Observer in August 2024 as the emerging news reporter. She previously worked in Fayetteville at The Fayetteville Observer and CityView, reporting on crime, education and local government. She is a 2022 graduate of Virginia Tech with degrees in Russian and National Security & Foreign Affairs.
Rep. Mark Harris, a North Carolina Republican whose district covers parts of Mecklenburg County and Charlotte, speaks during a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee hearing in Charlotte on crime and public safety in the wake of the light rail stabbing at Charles R. Jonas Federal Building in Charlotte N.C., on Monday, September 29, 2025.
KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH
Knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten is covering the 2026 election for The Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer.
After Raleigh teacher Zoe Welsh was tragically killed during a break-in at her home, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein is calling for the state to do a better job when it comes to mental health.
But his comments are being taken out of context.
In calling for more mental health crisis legislation, Stein said he believes it’s important for the state to be able to help people with mental health issues that may pose a risk to the public.
“There are these behavioral health urgent care centers, BHUCs, that the state is now setting up, which can be very helpful, so that if somebody is having a mental health crisis, 24/7, they have a place to go that’s not the emergency department,” Stein said. “Because that’s not the right place. Jail is not the right place. We need to treat folks.”
Stein was clearly talking about initiatives that could prevent violent crimes like this from occurring in the first place, not ways to discipline perpetrators after the fact. But that hasn’t stopped some Republicans from distorting his comments.
In a post on X, U.S. Rep. Mark Harris implied Stein was saying the alleged perpetrator does not belong in jail.
“Get this… Governor Stein believes that jail is not the place for a 20 TIME REPEAT CRIMINAL and alleged MURDERER!” Harris wrote in a post on X, claiming Stein “and his buddies in the Democrat Party care more about criminals than victims.”
In addition to a lengthy criminal record, Ryan Camacho, the man charged with killing Welsh, had a history of mental health challenges, court records show, and his lawyers sought a hearing on his mental capacity just one month ago. Prosecutors asked to have Camacho involuntarily committed, but that request was denied.
In another X post, Senate leader Phil Berger shared a screenshot of an article about Stein’s comments and said “criminals belong behind bars.” The screenshot included no context about what Stein actually said, just a headline that could easily mislead people into thinking Stein was talking specifically about Welsh’s alleged killer.
Obviously, if someone commits a crime, especially murder, they should face appropriate legal consequences. To suggest that Stein, who led the North Carolina Department of Justice for eight years as attorney general, doesn’t believe in justice is ridiculous. But what do we do about those who haven’t yet committed a crime and might be at risk of doing so if they don’t get the help they need? What do we do about people like Camacho who have committed crimes and served their time for them, but are at risk of committing more or worse crimes if left untreated?
The mischaracterization is particularly disingenuous given that this is an issue where Stein and Republicans actually share some common ground. After the fatal killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail last year, both Democrats and Republicans agreed changes needed to be made regarding the state’s involuntary commitment process. But both Harris and Berger are up for reelection this year, so there’s always a chance they may just be distorting Stein’s comments for political gain.
Studies have shown that better access to mental health care can help reduce crime, because it addresses underlying factors that can make crime more likely to occur. Stein is right: Letting jails and prisons serve as de facto mental health facilities is both unsustainable and unhelpful. They are not equipped to provide robust mental health services, which only makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again when someone is released.
The problem is that there are not enough beds or resources to provide real mental health support to those who need it. One of the key provisions of “Iryna’s Law,” which passed with bipartisan support, would require more mental health evaluations of people who have been arrested to determine whether they should be involuntarily hospitalized, but there have been obstacles with funding and implementation. GOP leaders have said mental health legislation and funding will be a top priority when the legislature returns in the spring.
But North Carolina has a divided government, which means that there’s very little that can be achieved without some degree of bipartisanship. Democrats and Republicans need to be working together to make our state safer, not pointing fingers and spreading falsehoods. Doing the latter will only divide us further.
Related Stories from Raleigh News & Observer
Paige Masten is the deputy opinion editor for The Charlotte Observer. She covers stories that impact people in Charlotte and across the state. A lifelong North Carolinian, she grew up in Raleigh and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2021. Support my work with a digital subscription
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina schoolteacher was killed Saturday morning after a home break-in turned deadly, police said.
Officers responded just after 6:30 a.m. local time to the 800-block of Clay Street and found a woman critically injured.
Zoe Welsh, a teacher at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, was given aid and rushed to a hospital, but died from her injuries.
Police learned that Welsh had called 911 to say a man was inside her home. While she was still on the phone with dispatch, the intruder attacked and beat her.
“The Ravenscroft community is devastated by the loss of our beloved colleague and friend Zoe Welsh,” a spokesperson for the school told our sister station, ABC11 in Raleigh. “Zoe has been a cornerstone of our Upper School Science Department and the Ravenscroft community for years. Her loss is deeply felt by all of us who had the privilege of working with her and learning in her classroom.”
Additional officers who responded to the surrounding area found the suspect, identified as Ryan Camacho, 36. He was taken into custody and questioned.
Ryan Camacho
Raleigh Police Department
Later, Camacho was charged with murder and felony burglary.
Neighbors in the area said they don’t recognize Camacho and can’t believe this type of crime happened in their neighborhood.
“It’s devastating for people who live in this area, it’s crazy, kind of shocking. To hear about this stuff going on so close to me, I literally live right down the street here, I really don’t know what I can process what I can do,” says Joshua Carpenter, a neighbor to Welsh.
Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce released a statement on the incident, saying, “I am deeply heartbroken for this mother, friend, and mentor to many in our community, and for the unimaginable trauma her family must endure. We extend our deepest sympathy to Ms. Welsh’s family during this incredibly difficult time.
Whenever there is a loss of life in our community, it affects us all. As a department, we share in the sadness of this loss. The arrest of the suspect sends a strong message that criminal acts will not be tolerated in the City of Raleigh.
I am profoundly grateful for the dedication and professionalism of the responding officers, whose swift and diligent actions led to the quick apprehension of the suspect in this case.”
The case remains under investigation.
“We are providing grief counseling and support resources for faculty, staff, and students as we all return to campus on Monday,” a Ravenscroft spokesperson said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.”
Zoe Welsh, a science teacher at Raleigh’s Ravenscroft School, was killed in her home Saturday.
The fence surrounding 819 Clay Street was shut Sunday afternoon, with a wooden board covering one of the home’s two front windows. Police had cleared from the area, and people were enjoying a sunny day across the road in Fred Fletcher Park.
A red SUV was parked in the driveway. It displayed a breast cancer awareness logo on its license plate and a bumper sticker from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Early Saturday morning, Raleigh police had responded to a report of a burglary in progress at this house. The burglar began to attack the victim, school teacher Zoe Welsh, while Welsh was still speaking to the police, the police say.
“The complainant was screaming, but I am silent now,” a Raleigh police dispatcher said at 6:34 a.m. Saturday, according to a call simulcast database. Six minutes later, an officer at the scene reported, “I have a female down. She’s got a severe hemorrhage to the left side of her head.”
Welsh was taken to a local hospital, where she died. Officers searched the neighborhood and arrested Ryan Camacho, 36, who was charged Saturday with murder and felony burglary.
Public records show Camacho has a criminal record dating back to 2005, including a 2019 conviction for discharging a firearm into an occupied Wake County property, for which he was incarcerated. More recently, he was convicted of seven misdemeanors in November 2024 in Durham County, with one of the charges being breaking and entering.
‘You could tell she really cared for her students’
With questions on this apparent homicide still unanswered, Welsh’s friends and former students on Sunday shared fond memories of a beloved educator.
“A lot of conversations with friends today, of just how genuinely nice she was,” said Lisa Ginger of Raleigh, who knew Welsh since they attended Daniels Middle School (now Oberlin Magnet Middle School).
Ginger recalled Zoe’s two siblings, including how her late older brother, Reed Mullin, was the drummer for the Grammy Award-nominated metal band Corrosion of Conformity. “Raleigh’s a big city now,” Ginger said in a phone call. “But when you grow up here, and you have ties to the area, you tend to cling to those from here.”
A mother of two in her late 50s, Welsh taught science at Leesville Road High School in the Wake County Public Schools System before taking a position at the private Ravenscroft School in North Raleigh.
“She wanted to make biology a fun and interesting topic for all students,” wrote Lauren Knight, who graduated from Ravenscroft in 2010, in a private Reddit message to The News & Observer. “I particularly remember and loved the photosynthesis song! She spent extra time helping me grasp concepts and you could tell she really cared for her students.”
Ravenscroft spokesperson Elizabeth McKinnon said the school will offer students, instructors and staff grief counseling and other support resources as classes resume Monday after winter break.
“The Ravenscroft community is devastated by the loss of our beloved colleague and friend Zoe Welsh,” the school wrote in a statement. “Zoe has been a cornerstone of our Upper School Science Department and the Ravenscroft community since 2006. She previously served as the science department chair.”
Brian Gordon is the Business & Technology reporter for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. He writes about jobs, startups and big tech developments unique to the North Carolina Triangle. Brian previously worked as a senior statewide reporter for the USA Today Network. Please contact him via email, phone, or Signal at 919-861-1238.
