Grand Jury indicts Buckley, Duls in Rule's murder

By Carey Phillips

Buckley is charged with first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Charges against Duls are accessory after the fact to murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.

The body of the 49-year-old Rule was found the morning of Feb. 5 in her Drury Lane home. An autopsy showed she died of numerous stab wounds to the torso and neck. Two knives and a "partial knife" were found at the scene, according to Sylva Police Chief Jeff Jamison.

Duls and Buckley are next door neighbors on Allen Street, a short distance from Rule's home.

Last month the Grand Jury returned bills of indictment against Buckley and Duls, charging both with two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of conspiracy to commit first-degree arson and attempted first-degree arson.

Those charges stemmed from a 2 a.m. Jan. 18 incident when Buckley and Duls allegedly tried to set fire to Rule's house. She and her housemate, Nancy Creech, were inside at the time.

Creech moved out shortly thereafter and was one of two people who found Rule's body when she returned to retrieve some of her belongings, according to Jamison.

At 96-hour hearings last month, Assistant District Attorney Monica Leslie alleged that Duls and Buckley tried to kill Rule in January because they owed her money and she had cut off their cocaine supply.

Buckley and Duls have been in custody since the March indictments with bonds set at $300,000 apiece.

"The defendants have been cooperative in the investigation," Jamison said.

Although he declined to provide details, he did say information supplied by the defendants allowed authorities to pin down the time Rule died.

There is no evidence Duls was present when Rule was killed, Jamison said, explaining why the 18-year-old has been charged only with conspiracy and accessory to murder. The accessory charge stems from Duls helping Buckley dispose of his bloody clothes by burning them, according to the indictment and Jamison.

The police chief said robbery was the motive for the crime. The indictment states Buckley took $5,000 in cash and controlled substances during the February robbery.

"There has been some indication that narcotics may have played a role in a series of events that culminated in Lynn Rule's death," Jamison said. "However, regardless of any underlying issues, they certainly don't justify or excuse Lynn Rule's life being forcibly taken from her on Feb. 3."

The recovery of physical evidence near the defendants' homes helped lead to the latest charges, said Jamison, who indicated both Buckley and Duls had consented to searches of their residences. The police chief expressed relief on having charges brought in the case.

"In my 25 years of law enforcement, it has been one of the most difficult cases," he said. "There has been a tremendous amount of work put forth by officers of the Police Department and the State Bureau of Investigation."

The variety of leads and possibilities officers received early in the investigation made the case difficult, said Jamison, who credited the spirit of cooperation between the Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff's Department and SBI with helping to solve the case.

In an unrelated case, the Grand Jury indicted Wallace Jason Rogers, 23, of Blountville, Tenn., with first-degree murder. He is charged in connection with the April 1 death of his 22-year-old brother, Cary Edwin Rogers.

The brothers were employed by J-Ton Construction Co., a Tennessee firm working on a new high-rise hotel for Harrah's Cherokee Casino. The incident took place on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Because both men are non-Indian, the case is being heard in the state court system.

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