A relatively quiet North Carolina community in Yadkin County is shocked by mysterious death and residents are searching for answers. Three bodies were discovered and a fourth person is fighting for their life in the hospital after being discovered separately.
Death related to domestic violence
The pastor of North Oak Ridge Baptist Church near Boonville was horrified at the scene he encountered “a few hours after delivering a sermon during an outside worship service in the church parking lot” on Sunday afternoon. There was a lot of crime tape. Death had paid them a visit.
“Our community is just grieving and just has a lot of questions about what’s going on,” Phillip Link relates. Sheriff’s deputies discovered two victims in a home then two more. “Miles down the road in a car at a church parking lot,” the local Fox affiliate reports.
“It was like something in a bad movie,” Link told the press. “Something you couldn’t imagine happening in this place, especially at a church.”
Investigators of the incident, which resulted in the death of three people, “are trying to piece together a timeline of events using the church surveillance video.” None of the victims names have been released.
William Oliver, the Sheriff for Yadkin County explained that “all four people are related.” That’s why they believe it was “domestic violence.” They first became involved when “someone called 911 and hung up the phone around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.”
Quick thinking law enforcement traced the call back “to a house on North Oak Ridge Church Road.” They recorded the first death when they arrived, and assisted another person “with life-threatening injuries.” That individual was rushed to the local hospital in critical condition.
A car of interest
As soon as the first scene was secure, Deputies issued an alert for a “car of interest.” It was soon spotted at the North Oak Ridge Baptist Church parking lot.
Law enforcement added two more to the death count when they discovered what was inside. Right about then, Pastor Link “was one of the first people to arrive after sheriff’s deputies taped off the scene.”
“It’s just hard to imagine,” Link declared. “They had a sheet over top of the windshield and to think about right here a place of church where you think about life and to know that two people lost their lives.” Death rode in on his Apocalyptic horse that day.
It’s not the kind of thing you see every day in the “boonies.” Boonville residents are “trying to process” the events. “It’s devastating,” Annette Cothren shares. She’s manager at the Boonville Restaurant. “It’s very shocking, surprising that something like that happened right here in this little town.”
It was the most tragic death the town can remember, According to Dorothy Baity, owner of the Boonville Antique Mall, and somewhat of a local fixture in the town, having been born and raised in the area. She’s “never heard of anything like this happening” in Boonville.
“It’s just tragic,” she said. “I just hope nothing ever happens like this again.” Pastor Link agrees. “I know that God will somehow bring our community and our church and this area through this. Hopefully we’ll be better people on the other side.”