Tommy Davis will never forget Maxine McCrary, the 92-year-old woman, who with her 65-year-old daughter, Nancy Burgess, was murdered Friday night.

Davis and the McCrary family formed a friendship that started more than 10 years ago when he was introduced by mutual friends.

“When I first went there her husband was still living,” Davis recalled in an interview today with rrspin.com. “He was sick.”

McCrary had Davis, who is 63, cut the grass for her. From then, a friendship with the entire family began. “She was a nice person. She treated me nice. She would put everything on me. I would cut the yard, do her flowers, wash down her house.”

McCrary still drove and after her husband died would get Davis to ride with her to put flowers on his grave.

Meeting McCrary’s daughter

Through this friendship he met Burgess. “She would always give me stuff. Her husband would give me money. Her husband would send me nice shoes and socks.”

Davis would visit McCrary about every other day whether it was to do work or just watch television with her for a few hours. “She was the nicest person I ever worked for. She never had no argument, no falling out.”

If Davis was sick and didn’t show up for a few days, McCrary would call or come over to his house outside Roanoke Rapids. “The last time she and her son came over to the house. The whole family treated me nice.”

Sunday Davis talked to McCrary’s son. “I told him it hurt me when I found out it happened. He told me, ‘she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you because you were the one who kept her going this long.’”

Gorham

That’s why Davis was so surprised Tony Maurice Gorham, a 28-year-old neighbor, would allegedly murder McCrary and her daughter sometime after 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. by stabbing them Friday. “If you go there and ask that woman for anything it won’t nothing but a word. She was a good hearted person. She would have gave it to him. He borrowed the yard rake. I can’t understand why did he do that. What was his idea? She would have gave it to him.”

Davis had no feelings for Gorham. “I always thought there was something funny about that boy. When she wasn’t home he would come over and tell her I had been there. I would go back that evening and tell her I had done some work. I didn’t know nothing about that boy. She didn’t ever tell me his name. I didn’t know if she knew his name or not.”

Thursday would be the last time he saw his friends. “I told her I was coming Thursday. She told me she wanted me to do something with some flowers, the grass needed cutting. I said the holiday (Mother’s Day) was coming up and I would cut the grass.”

He began cutting the grass around 10:30 Thursday morning and Burgess drove up between 11 and 11:30.

He took a break and talked with Burgess and her mother. When he finished cutting the grass he was paid and was told to come back Saturday morning for more work. “They said they weren’t going to be here Friday. When I rode back Saturday morning that’s when I saw all this action going on. I didn’t ever get to see them no more. The last time I spoke to them I said, ‘y’all have a good day.’ I knew if I would have saw them the weekend they would have bought me a plate for Mother’s Day.”

Davis watched the police at the house on 311 Highway 158 for about five minutes and left on his bicycle. “I didn’t know what happened.”
He stopped by the launderette in South Rosemary. “I was talking to some guy sitting there. The TV was on and it popped up on the Channel 5 news and I said, ‘Oh, my God,’ and when I came back by there everything was gone.”

Davis said McCrary was in good health for her age. After taking a fall, she would ask her friend to take her hand when she went outside. “I never worked for nobody like that, that treated me so nice. She was just the sweetest lady as you wanted to be, her daughter, her son.”

Looking back to Friday

Talking about what happened Friday, Davis said, “When I think about it, it just hurts me so bad. Why did he want to take those people’s lives. If he wanted money, if wanted to to rob them, why didn’t he just rob them and take the money? He didn’t have to kill them. I can’t understand why you would do that to her, his next door neighbor the way he used to go over there and borrow and use her tools and things. Why would he wait and was he intending to do this or what did he have in mind? I wonder if she was by herself would he have had a mind to do this.”

If Davis needed anything the family would help him. “I just don’t understand that boy,” he said of Gorham. “I didn’t know the boy was going over there using the phone. I always told her don’t let anyone in you don’t know but she said he seemed like he was a nice person but I just wish she had never opened that door that night. She would have been there.”

Davis also talked to Gorham’s girlfriend Sunday. “I never had no use for that boy. For some reason I never talked to the boy. He would come over there and borrow the yard rake. He’s never been over to the lady’s house when I was there. I guess she was free hearted, I guess she would have never thought anything about (anyone) doing anything like that.”

Even Gorham’s girlfriend didn’t understand, he said. “She said he drank a lot. I didn’t know the boy drank. The only thing I ever saw was the boy at home. He would come over and use the yard rake. He would come over and use the phone.

“The only thing I hate is he took them people’s life. That’s the only thing I hate. He didn’t have to do that. I believe if he went over there and asked she would have give it to him.”