Body found in Edgecombe County, NC is fifth in four years

[Betty Dalton Brown]

Body found in Edgecombe County is fifth in four years
Posted: Jun. 30 3:49 p.m.
Updated: Jun. 30 6:03 p.m.


Battleboro, N.C. — Authorities in Edgecombe County are trying to connect the dots after the discovery Monday of skeletal remains in a wooded area off Seven Bridges Road. The remains found Monday represent the fifth body found in the area since 2005.

District Attorney Robert A. Evans was slated to meet Tuesday with members of the Rocky Mount Police Department to discuss the investigation. The State Bureau of Investigation is also looking into the situation.

Sheriff James Knight said his office is looking through case files over the last five to six years to see if there are any similarities. None of the deaths have been solved.


The four victims who have been identified are all African-American women who were from Rocky Mounty, Knight said. The fifth, found Monday, had not been identified, but authorities said they think it is also a black woman.

Each one was murdered, Knight said. The specific causes of death have not been released.

On May 30, 2005, the body of Melody Wiggins, 29, was found near Nobles Mill Pond Road, an area south of U.S. Highway 64.

On Aug. 17, 2007, a man told Edgecombe deputies he found a body behind a house on Seven Bridges Road, between Battleboro and Whitakers. Pathologists at Pitt Memorial Hospital identified the victim as Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35. Thorpe was reported missing from Rocky Mount on May 8, 2007, police said.

On March 14, 2008, the body of 50-year-old Ernestine Battle, of 619 Branch St. in Rocky Mount, was found in the same area, along Seven Bridges Road, between Battleboro and Whitakers. A local farmer said he was taking down an electric fence when he noticed the body approximately 40 feet inside the wood line.

On March 7, 2009, people riding all-terrain vehicles on Marriott Road found a body that was later identified as Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, of 218 N. Raleigh St. in Rocky Mount.

Nicolson's mother said Tuesday that investigators have been helpful in her case. But she is frustrated to know the case remains unsolved.

“I'll just be glad when they find out who did these killings. It’s some connections some where,” she speculated. “Why is it so hard to find this person?”

Residents in the area wonder about the connection as well. “It do make you concerned about the women who are getting killed around here,” Janice Gary said.

“The first few bodies they found down there should have put out a warning signal for that area,” Renata Arrington said. “I guess it hasn't because they're still finding bodies down there.”


http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/story/5473525/

[Betty Dalton Brown]

Tarboro, N.C. — Winston Kemp is playing a waiting game. His stepdaughter, Joyce Renee Durham, has been missing for almost two years.

“I'm hoping she will show up,” Kemp said Thursday.

The woman, who goes by Renee, would turn 48 on Sunday. She is one of seven open cases of missing African-American women from the Rocky Mount area.
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Those cases may become part of a state investigation. The State Bureau of Investigation, Rocky Mount Police and Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office formed a task force after the skeletal remains of a woman were found Monday night in a wooded area off Seven Bridges Road. That discovery was the fifth body of an African-American woman found in the county in four years.

Durham fits the profile, but her stepfather is not worried.

“I think maybe she got into bad drugs, that her mind is shot. Maybe she don't where she is or where she's at,” Kemp said.

He said he believes Durham is alive. “She always managed to take care of herself.”

Since her disappearance in August of 2007, Kemp has cared for Durham’s 17-year-old daughter. She is the reason Kemp believes Durham will reappear.

“My faith tells me that one day she will come back,” he said.

Authorities have found six bodies in Edgecombe County since 2005. Of those, two, including the woman found Monday night, remain unidentified. The second set of unidentified skeletal remains was found were found by a Rocky Mount clean-up crew in February along Melton Drive.
Four bodies have been identified:
Melody Wiggins, 29, was found near Nobles Mill Pond Road, May 30, 2005.
Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, was found Aug. 17, 2007.
Ernestine Battle, 50, of 619 Branch St. in Rocky Mount, was found May 14, 2008.
Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, of 218 N. Raleigh St. in Rocky Mount, was found March 7, 2009.
Three of the women were found in the woods in the ares of Seven Bridges Road, between Battleboro and Whitakers. Sheriff James Knight said his deputies will step up patrols in that area.
After the task force met Thursday, Knights had no additional information share. He said, “At this time, as far as the task force is concerned, I cannot talk with you or give you information on it at this time.”


http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5493498/

[Betty Dalton Brown]

Records show seven open cases of African-American women reported missing from Rocky Mount since 2005.
Shamika Terrele Simmons, 18, was reported missing Tuesday.
Wiesha Nicole Parker, 18, was reported missing Oct. 11, 2005.
Christine Boone, 45, was reported missing on Jan. 16, 2007.
Jessica Simone Williams, 19, was reported missing June 17, 2007.
Joyce Renee Durham, 48, was reported missing Aug. 9, 2007.
Ashleigh Carol Morgan, 18, was reported missing on May 4, 2008.
Yolanda Renee Lancaster, 36, was reported missing on March 30.
A Tarboro newspaper reported on another missing woman May 29. Jarniece Lotonya Hargrove, sometimes known as "Sunshine," 31, was last seen May 2 in the northern part of Rocky Mount, walking on U.S. Highway 301, Sheriff Knight told the Daily Southerner.
Sheriff Knight said his deputies are close to an identification for the most recent victim.
He said Wednesday that area residents should take common-sense precautions. " In certain areas that we have been having disappearances ... I would say you need to be cautious. You need to be aware of your surroundings and you need to know who is in your community."


http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5484173/