The day before a murderous rampage at Carthage nursing home, Grant Robinson says he went fishing and saw the alleged assailant.

His favorite spots in Carthage are the two ponds just below Pinelake Health and Rehabilit-ation Center. That is where Robert Stewart is alleged to have killed seven elderly patients and a nurse on Sunday, March 29.

Robinson had been fishing at a smaller pond across from Lake Luke Marion, then moved up to the larger body of water to cast his line from the bank nearest the nursing home

"That's the old pond over here," he said Sunday, revisiting the scene to point out where he'd been. "That's where I started."

After Robinson moved across the road, it began to rain and he turned to leave. That's when he said he noticed a tall, bearded man carrying a heavy box leaving the parking lot by Pinelake.

"That's where I was when I saw him," Robinson said, pointing. "See that little bridge? That's where I was, right by the bridge."

A small bridge just below Pinelake leads to a path around the lake.

Robinson pointed to a police car.

"I saw that man come from that way and go all the way around to the back side of the building," he said.

Cpl. Justin Garner's patrol car sits where he left it the day he responded to a 911 call about "shots fired at building" and went in to confront Stewart in a hallway gun battle that left both wounded.

Robinson says he later recognized Stewart from his photo in the newspaper.

"When I saw him, he was walking," Robinson said. "He was carrying a small box."

He said the box looked to be heavy.

"He went back in there," he said. "When I saw him again, he was coming back this way. It was raining when I saw him. I know he had a hairy face, a big beard. About my size, might have been a bit bigger. He was walking slow, toting a box. It looked to me like it was heavy, the way he was holding it. I don't know whether it was or not. He didn't have the box when he came back from around the building."

This was about 1 p.m. Saturday, March 28, he said.

"I had been fishing around two hours, got here about 11," he said. "It was raining pretty hard when I left. I didn't think anything about that. That's about it."

He didn't know the man he'd seen.

"I'd never seen that man in my life," he said. "But when I saw the picture in the paper, I said, 'That's the same guy right there I saw walking around the rest home toting a box one day.' That Saturday. Then I heard this happened that Sunday. When I first heard about it (the murders) I thought it was in Pinehurst. When I heard 'Carthage,' I said I was right there at that rest home on Saturday, fishing."

Detectives from the Moore County Sheriff's Office are continuing their investigation of the case.

Contact John Chappell at 783-5841 or by e-mail at jchappell@thepilot.com.