Woman Pleads Not Guilty in Murder of Man She Says Gave Her Daughter Drugs

Appearing pale and shaken, a Lancaster mother who allegedly gunned down a 23-year-old construction worker she accused of giving drugs to her teen-age daughter pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Friday to a charge of murder.

Lancaster Municipal Judge Ian Grant set a Sept. 27 pretrial hearing for Belita Fox, 40, a housewife and mother of three, in the slaying early Wednesday of Kevin Furman.

Authorities say Fox burst into Furman’s house in Lancaster and shot him at least three times in his bed. Sheriff’s deputies arrested her without incident at the scene after she telephoned her 17-year-old daughter, Cheryl Wilson, from the room where the body lay, then called the 911 emergency number to surrender.

Furman’s family and friends expressed anger at those they say have depicted the case as a mother avenging herself on a drug dealer. Detectives have said Furman and his roommates were not drug dealers.

“He was a good kid,” said Furman’s sister, Terri Smith, 31. “She shot him in cold blood.”

Friends said Furman occasionally used marijuana and methamphetamine, but denied that Furman had corrupted Wilson. Furman dated Wilson briefly but backed away from a romantic relationship because she was a minor, they said.

Tim McCreary, who said he was asleep on a couch in Furman’s house the night of the shooting, said Fox stormed past Furman’s roommates into Furman’s bedroom, yelling that her daughter--who suffers from a heart murmur--had become ill because of drug use.

Furman yelled back, “Hold on just a damn minute, lady,” McCreary said.

“She said, ‘I’ve got a .38 (caliber pistol) in my purse.’ I heard a click, then a shot. My brother kind of started going toward Kevin’s room. Then she shot a bunch more times, and we got out of there.”