This was what was left of Mary Kay Byers’ home in the Ledford area of Saline County on the morning of February 9 after an alleged arson. Suspected in
the setting of the blaze is local gangsta-wannabe, Austin Carter, inset, who is being charged with very serious crimes across Saline and Johnson counties following an alleged carjacking and high-speed chase that ended in a line of trees off Interstate 24 near Vienna later that day.
SALINE CO.—A young Saline County man is in lockup after some disturbing events that occurred in early February which endangered a number of people, including members of his own family.
Austin Carter, 21, of Harrisburg, a known violent felon who became an adult offender in 2011 after reportedly being a troubled teen offender, stands charged in Saline County with numerous counts including Arson, this after an incident of craziness that kicked off on February 9 in Saline County and ultimately ended in neighboring Johnson County to the south after he crashed his sister’s car there following a high-speed chase.
Just prior to all this going down, Carter became the subject of an Order of Protection with his flame du jour, Mary K. Byers, 37, who had reportedly been begging authorities to do something with Carter’s out-of-control behavior before someone was hurt, and saw no other recourse but to petition for protection in the civil venue.
However, it was Byers’ house in the Ledford area of Saline County that’s now a charred ruin…and, authorities say, Carter is the one who is responsible for it.
Carter the gangsta
Carter, who considers himself some sort of white gangsta-wannabe, was the subject of a report by his sister, Destiny Carter, 20, also of Harrisburg.
Shortly after 3 p.m. on the afternoon of February 9, Destiny Carter, 20, called Harrisburg dispatch to report her car, a blue 2000 Dodge Intrepid, stolen from her residence on South Granger Street.
When authorities responded, they learned that just prior to the report, Destiny was wanting her brother, Austin Cater, to leave her residence; he became upset at her and struck her several times in the right side of her head, resulting in a reddened right ear but nothing more remarkable than that.
The sister sought to phone for help from a neighbor but the neighbor wasn’t home. So as Destiny Carter was walking back to her house (with her two-year-old with her), her brother came out the front door of her house with the keys to her car.
Destiny Carter got into her car and locked the doors; since there was a problem with the door locks, she told authorities she believed this would keep him from taking her car.
However, as she was sitting in the passenger side front seat still holding her son, Austin Carter took a brick and threw it at the passenger side front window.
He threw it again, and this time, the window broke out.
With the broken glass and brick hitting both Destiny Carter and her small son, she became scared and got out of the car. At that point, Austin Carter got in and drove southbound down Granger, resulting in Destiny Carter phoning the police department.
Epic chase and epic charges
The car was broadcast as stolen.
Within ten minutes (at about 3:30 p.m.), Carrier Mills police chief Chuck Rubright observed the vehicle southbound on Route 45 from Carrier Mills, and attempted to make a traffic stop on the car.
However, Carter fled from Rubright at speeds exceeding 110 mph, prompting Rubright to lose sight of the car on 45 near New Burnside.
Within another 15 minutes, Harrisburg police had been notified that Carter was in custody in Johnson County: After driving so dangerously that he endangered nearly every pursuing officer in the vicinity of Interstate 24 and Highway 45, Carter had crashed his sister’s car into a copse of trees off the highway near Interstate 24/mile marker 16 after he failed to negotiate the curve successfully near Vienna.
Sources say that once pursuing officers were able to get to Carter, he fought with them and generally resisted arrest…likely because he knew what he had done, in that ensuing 30 or so minutes, was epic when it came to arresting charges.
And in Johnson County, Carter’s tickets and charges were indeed epic.
Aside from the felony counts of Aggravated Assault with a Motor Vehicle on a Peace Officer, Aggravated Fleeing Police 21 miles per hour or more over the speed limit, and Possession of a Stolen Vehicle in Johnson County, he was issued the following traffic citations:
Reckless Driving
Exceeding the Speed Limit in a School Zone
Headlight, Tail light or Side light out
Driving on a Suspended License
Improper Passing in a No Passing Zone
Improper Passing of an Emergency Vehicle
Improper Traffic Lane Usage
No Driving on the Right Side/Driving on Left Side
Failure to Obey a Police Officer
Speeding 35+ mph over the speed limit
Improper Passing on Shoulder
Failure to Stop at Intersection
Improper Turn Signal
Improper Passing of an Emergency Vehicle and
Driving on Left Side of Road when Prohibited
Carter was jailed in Johnson County while he waited for Saline to sort out what they were going to do with him.
Saline had a bundle waiting, too
In Saline, quite a bit was waiting for him.
Harrisburg had filed, in response to Destiny Carter’s complaint, arresting charges of Possession of a Converted Vehicle, Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, Domestic Battery, Reckless Conduct, Criminal Damage to Property and Driving While License Suspended.
When those shook out to formal charges, he was facing misdemeanor Criminal Trespass to a Vehicle, Resisting a Peace Officer (Rubright in Carrier Mills), Driving on a Suspended License and Domestic Battery; Class X felony Attempted Vehicle Hijacking with a Passenger under the age of 16 (Destiny Carter’s son), Class 2 felony Possession of a Stolen Vehicle and Aggravated Fleeing Police 21 mph over the speed limit, a Class 4 felony.
However, that wasn’t the end of Carter’s troubles.
What happened before
At about 2 a.m. on the morning of the same day Carter was alleged to have absconded with his sister’s car (Feb. 9), the home that his much-older girlfriend Byers lived in with her three young children in the Ledford area began burning.
Reports indicate that no one was home at the time of the blaze, but that Byers actually arrived at the residence to find the house burning.
Independent sources advised Disclosure that Byers and her sister, Rachel Griggs, who was reportedly with her at the time, observed Carter fleeing from the burning structure.
On file in Saline County was a charge of Arson to add to his ever-growing felonious criminal history.
However, that file was not available when Disclosure went to view it at the courthouse, and apparently, as of press time, a warrant had not been served on him while he was in custody in Johnson County.
The rub here is that at the beginning of January, as well as a second time toward the end of the month, Byers had petitioned the court for an Order of Protection against Carter, who she was growing more fearful over as his behavior began to become more erratic and caused her great concern.
Byers petitioned for the first OP and had it entered on Jan. 8, only to have it dismissed when it came to a plenary hearing on the 29th.
In the days before the fire/domestic battery/carjacking episode, however, after having tires slashed and enduring alleged threats against her, Byers tried again…and on Feb. 5, obtained another OP against her youthful boyfriend.
That apparently wasn’t enough to keep him away from her home, which is now destroyed.
A plenary order was issued on Feb. 23 when Carter failed to show in Saline County court, being incarcerated in Johnson County. But by that time it was too late.
…and he was still on parole
Whether anything meaningful will be done with Carter this go-round remains to be seen.
Carter is the punk who at age 18 in late 2011, was alleged to have stolen prescription medications from a Harrisburg veteran, Roger Stuby, on West Sloan Street.
Stuby had complained to Harrisburg police that prescription meds he received through the VA and in the mail were missing, and that his neighbors had observed kids, one of them fitting the description of Carter, removing packages from his mailbox and actually tearing one open, removing the pill bottle, and throwing the packaging to the ground.
Carter graduated to a conviction in a Class 3 felony Aggravated Battery that occurred in August of 2011, as well as a Class 4 felony Knowingly Damaging Property greater than $300 in mid-2012.
He was sentenced to DOC on both and happens to still be on probation for the 2012 conviction.
And as if all that weren’t bad enough…Carter hasn’t bothered to pay his fines and fees in his Saline County convictions, which all amount to a whopping $5,114 that he’s stiffing the taxpayers every month he doesn’t bother to make a payment, this dating back to 2011.
Carter was set for March 5 appearances on his multiple 2015 Saline charges and had been in court for a preliminary hearing on the Johnson County charges March 2, delivery date for this issue.
