North Carolina Man Arrested in Texas Connected to Murders in Georgia and Arkansas, Child Exploitation Case
Michael Thomas Dusch, 29, of North Carolina, was arrested on March 6, 2025, in Denton, Texas, and is now connected to a multi-state investigation involving two homicides, a stolen RV, and an ongoing child exploitation case.
On March 2, 2025, deputies with the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas responded to a residence on River Mountain Road, located between the communities of New Blaine and Delaware, after a relative found William Harris, 84, deceased inside his home. Harris had been dead for approximately one week. Authorities determined he had been killed by a crossbow bolt. Several firearms and financial documents were missing from the home, and the suspect was seen days earlier attempting to cash a check using Harris’s account at a bank drive-thru. The suspect, who drove away when questioned, was using Harris’s vehicle at the time.
At that stage, investigators had no immediate suspect. That changed when a Georgia passport used in the fraudulent transaction was linked to a man recently murdered in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office were actively working that case when they were contacted by the Denton Police Department, who had found documents belonging to the Georgia victim inside a recreational vehicle (RV) during an unrelated arrest.
On March 6, a Denton patrol officer equipped with a newly-installed license plate reader scanned a North Carolina license plate on an RV in a local parking lot. The vehicle was flagged as stolen out of North Carolina. The officer approached the RV and made contact with Michael Dusch, who had outstanding warrants for child exploitation and vehicle theft in North Carolina. Upon detaining Dusch and conducting an inventory search of the RV, the officer located documents belonging to the murder victims from Georgia and Arkansas.
Unaware of the murders at the time, Denton Police contacted law enforcement in Oglethorpe County after discovering the Georgia victim’s documents. Additional evidence was later found connecting Dusch to the Arkansas homicide as well.
A multi-agency team quickly assembled in Denton. On March 8, Arkansas State Police agents, Logan County Sheriff Jason Massey, Lt. Mark Walker, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tyler Barham, GBI agents, and Oglethorpe County investigators traveled to Denton. They met with Denton’s Criminal Investigation Division and Crime Scene Unit to conduct a detailed forensic examination of the RV. During the search, a crossbow—believed to be the murder weapon—was recovered, along with additional physical evidence.
Dusch was extradited to Georgia, where he faces murder charges. He is also expected to be formally charged in Arkansas in connection with the death of William Harris. Investigators from North Carolina’s Moore County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Dusch had left their state while under investigation for child exploitation, stealing the RV as he fled.
The case is notable for the extensive interagency cooperation among law enforcement in Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina. Logan County Sheriff Jason Massey credited the teamwork of all involved agencies and specifically praised the Denton Police Department for initiating the traffic stop that unraveled the complex investigation.
