Nekime Oxendine #

Introduction #

Nekime Oxendine is a sergeant with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol who was indicted on September 9, 2026, on a first-degree murder charge in the off-duty shooting death of Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Adam Bean outside a Hope Mills home on March 27, 2026. Oxendine, 44, an 18-year veteran of the Patrol, was named by a Cumberland County grand jury in an indictment that transformed a months-old, lightly detailed “domestic dispute between two off-duty officers” into one of North Carolina’s most closely watched law-enforcement criminal cases . The New York Post pushed the story nationally on September 10 under a love-triangle framing, reporting that Oxendine allegedly gunned down a fellow cop after a years-long romantic rivalry over a woman both men had dated .

Background Information #

Oxendine’s full name is Nekime Matu Oxendine, and Patrol records cited in coverage put his tenure with the State Highway Patrol at 18 years at the time of the shooting . The man he is accused of killing, Capt. Adam David Bean, 42, was the assistant chief of detectives at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, where he had worked since March 2006 — nearly two decades — and had just been posthumously recognized with a Merit Award at the sheriff’s office’s 2026 VALOR Awards Ceremony . At the center of the case is a woman who also works for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and whom most outlets, including the Post and The News & Observer, have not named because she is described as a victim of domestic violence; The News & Observer reported she is also the sister of Col. Freddy Johnson Jr., the head of the State Highway Patrol . According to text messages spanning 2022 and 2023 cited in search warrants, she dated Oxendine first, then entered a long-term relationship with Bean and lived with him until December 2025, before reconciling with Oxendine in February and March 2026 .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from search warrants, statements to investigators and news reports including WRAL, ABC11, The News & Observer and the New York Post. Nekime Oxendine has been indicted but not tried; the indictment is a formal charge, not a conviction, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. No denial by Oxendine appears in the coverage cited.

According to search warrants obtained by The News & Observer and reported by the Post, the trooper’s jealousy had surfaced in text messages as early as July 2022, when — while dating the woman — he wrote “I see u have been talking to Adam!!! Best Wishes!!!” and “Better tell that [expletive] to get ready too!!!” after accusing her of a tryst with Bean . Investigators found the pattern persisted through the reconciliation: in February and March 2026 he asked her whether Bean was more attractive than he was, said Bean still had “the key to ur heart,” and questioned her commitment up until roughly a week before the shooting .

The woman’s account to investigators, as summarized in the warrants, holds that on the night of March 27, Bean asked her to come outside her Hope Mills home or he would blow his horn and make a scene; that Bean then “exited his vehicle and moved aggressively toward Oxendine” after the trooper walked out; that Oxendine fired two warning shots into the ground; and that Bean kept advancing before Oxendine fired several shots at him, causing him to collapse in the front yard . WRAL’s account of the warrants adds that, per the woman, Bean arrived that night upset to find Oxendine’s truck parked at her home on Seattle Slew Lane . Deputies found the woman performing CPR on Bean, who had blood on his chest and left arm, and he succumbed to his injuries; in a brief 911 call the woman told the operator “we just had somebody get shot” and that “the gun is secure” .

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The indictment landed after the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation completed its probe and handed its findings to a special prosecutor with the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, and a grand jury voted the first-degree murder charge on September 9 . A judge ordered Oxendine held without bond, and he is being held in Moore County at least until his next court appearance . The same day, the sheriff’s office honored Bean posthumously at its VALOR Awards, praising the role his “forward-thinking leadership” played in modernizing the agency’s career-development and pay structure . The State Highway Patrol said it “respects the integrity of the judicial process,” called the event “difficult and tragic for all involved,” and confirmed a separate internal investigation was continuing . National attention followed the Post’s September 10 write-up, which framed the case as a trooper allegedly gunning down a fellow cop over a “heated love triangle” .

Current Status #

Oxendine is in custody in Moore County, held without bond by a judge’s order, and is slated to return to court in early November 2026 . The Patrol says he remains on administrative duty pending the outcome of its internal investigation, which continues separately from the criminal case . No trial date has been reported, and the first-degree murder charge carries with it the presumption of innocence; nothing in the case has been adjudicated beyond the indictment itself.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

An 18-year law-enforcement career now sits in jeopardy: a sworn State Highway Patrol sergeant is facing a first-degree murder indictment, in jail without bond, with his agency keeping him on administrative duty rather than in the field while its internal probe runs its course . Whatever the criminal case’s outcome, the warrants’ account of years of jealous text messages — sent by a serving trooper about a fellow officer, both connected to a sheriff’s office employee who is the sister of the Patrol’s own commander — has made the case a reference point for questions about internal-oversight failures across two agencies. Bean, posthumously decorated by his department, left behind a nearly 20-year career celebrated by colleagues, while the identity of the woman at the center of the case remains protected by most outlets as a domestic-violence victim . Because Oxendine has been charged but not tried, all claims about the shooting remain allegations, and this page will stand or fall on what the courts ultimately establish.