On August 2, 2023, at about 9:25 a.m., deputies from the Wake County Sheriff’s Office found 49-year-old Robert William Robbie Barton in the 8200 block of Fieldcrest Lane in Fuquay-Varina with multiple gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say an altercation that morning involved Barton and his landlord, 63-year-old Jeffrey Hoffman, and that Hoffman allegedly shot Barton. Hoffman exited the residence unarmed when deputies arrived and was taken into custody; he was later charged with murder and booked into the Wake County Detention Center.

Robbie Barton was born March 6, 1974, in Greensboro. At the time of his death he was studying construction management at Wake Technical Community College, active in his church, a Marine Corps veteran, and enjoyed fishing and Duke sports. The case has drawn attention to the tenant-landlord dispute between Barton and Hoffman, including a lawsuit Hoffman filed in early June 2023 for $500 in unpaid rent that was dismissed on June 26, 2023. Does anyone with knowledge of Barton, the property on Fieldcrest Lane, or the relationship between the two men have information to share?