WINDSOR – A Bertie County grand jury has returned four true bills of indictment against Roy Rascoe.

Rascoe, who was arrested in August, was indicted Monday on three counts of first degree murder and one count of arson in the 1972 deaths of his wife and her two children.

The Bertie County Sheriff’s Office, the Windsor Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked together to investigate Rascoe following new evidence coming to light in the case earlier this year.

The investigation led to the 68-year-old Rascoe being charged with murdering his late wife, Annie Elizabeth Rascoe, who was 23, and her two children, Rita Renee (13 months) and Tony Ray (3). The three died in November 1972 at which time their home in Indian Woods was destroyed by fire.

Rascoe was scheduled to appear later this week at a probable cause hearing in Bertie County District Court. The bills of indictment, however, mean that the hearing is no longer required.

Bertie County Sheriff Greg Atkins said his department is now preparing for the trail, the date of which has not been set.