WAKE FOREST, N.C. – A Raleigh man was arrested for allegedly plotting to have a man killed, a man who was involved in a fatal Wake Forest crash that claimed the suspect’s mother’s life. Rhett Michael Barlow, 22, was arrested by the Wake Forest Police Department and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division.
The arrest came after Barlow allegedly solicited to commit the first-degree murder of Donald Caulder Jr., who was involved in the crash. According to the news release, Caulder was involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash along Capital Boulevard/US 1 in Wake Forest in March 2016, which resulted in the death of Barlow’s mother, Michelle.
Barlow’s mother, Michelle Simone Barlow, 42, of Wake Forest, died in a March 22, 2016, chain-reaction crash on U.S. 1/Capital Boulevard. She was an English teacher at Wake Forest High School at the time of her death. Caulder, who is now 36, was convicted in January 2017 of misdemeanor death by vehicle and was given an intermediate sentence with special probation.
Barlow was arrested on the base of Fort Liberty and is currently being held at the Wake County Detention Center under a $1 million secured bond. His first court appearance is scheduled for Wake County District Court.