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Clifton Eugene Spencer of Columbia will face an extradition hearing in Salem County, N.J. Thursday, but an assistant prosecutor there said he doesn’t anticipate a long delay in bringing him back here to face trial for the February murder of Manteo waitress Stacey Stanton.

After being picked up in Columbia on drug charges from New Jersey shortly after the murder was discovered Feb. 3, Spencer was transported to New Jersey to face the cocaine charges. Once these charges were disposed of, he was held there on the governor’s warrant from this state.

A Dare County grand jury indicted Spencer on the murder charge on April 2.

Duane Bell, the assistant prosecutor in charge of Spencer’s case in New Jersey, said he doubted North Carolina would have any trouble getting Spencer returned to this state, considering the interest the State Bureau of Investigation has expressed in the case, but he is not sure how Spencer intends to proceed after speaking with his attorney.

“I don’t anticipate that it’s going to be a big problem,” Bell said.

To see the scans of the archived newspaper page where this article appeared, click here.

READ MORE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE STANTON CASE HERE.