Fayetteville detective mourned

Flags at Fayetteville’s City Hall and police and fire stations have been lowered to half-staff in honor of police detective Joanna Macpherson, who died of ovarian cancer on April 15.

Fayetteville City Manager Ray Gibson said Macpherson was held “in the highest regard by her fellow officers and her other City of Fayetteville colleagues.” A native of Great Britain, Macpherson joined the Fayetteville force in August 2008 and became a crime scene investigator.

Capt. Mike Whitlow praised Macpherson’s work ethic, even during her long illness, and said she “refused to give in or give up.”