Robbinsville – An unusual chain of events over the weekend led to officers linking together a burning car and a deceased resident, at two different locations.
Late Saturday night, a call was received that a car was burning on Tatham Gap Road.
Responders and Graham County Sheriff’s Office deputies secured the scene and awaited the opportunity to investigate the seemingly-random blaze at daybreak.
But the case escalated quickly around 9 a.m. Sunday, when officers were dispatched to the River Breeze Trailer Park off Five Points Road. The deceased body of 27-year-old Robbinsville resident Carly Walls was discovered once deputies arrived.
Graham County Sheriff Brad Hoxit called for assistance from District Attorney Ashley Welch’s office – as well as the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Forest Service – as the burning vehicle on Tatham Gap Road the night before was found to be registered to Walls.
Deputies later searched both locations and seized an unknown amount of items to help with the investigation.
An autopsy was scheduled to take place Wednesday at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, according to a Monday afternoon discussion Hoxit had with The Graham Star.
As of Wednesday’s press deadline, no further details have been released.