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Officers of Dare County Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation traveled to Salem County, New Jersey Friday to bring Clifton Eugene Spencer, who was indicted last month for the murder of Manteo waitress Stacey Stanton, back to Dare County to begin the pretrial process.

Spencer waived extradition at a hearing in New Jersey Friday morning, and the officers were waiting for him, according to Dare Sheriff Bert Austin. Lt. Col. Jasper Williams of the sheriff’s office was one of the officers who went to bring him back.

“We’re expecting him in here around 6:30 p.m. or later,” Sheriff Austin said Friday. Spencer will first be taken before a magistrate to be formally charged and have a bond set, then he will have to get an attorney, probably a court appointed lawyer. Then the trial can be calendared.

Sheriff Austin said he expects Spencer to remain in Dare County unless some need arises to send him to the department of corrections for safekeeping.

Spencer was jailed in Tyrrell County on drug charges from New Jersey shortly after the bloody Feb. 3 slaying. He was questioned there by officers from Dare County and the S.B.I. before he was sent to New Jersey. Those charges were disposed of several weeks ago, and he has been jailed there since then, pending extradition proceedings.

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

READ MORE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE STANTON CASE HERE.