North Carolina
North Carolina groundskeeper mows around dead body after mistaking it for prop, police and family say
A North Carolina family is demanding answers after their loved one’s body was found facedown on the lawn of an empty home where a groundskeeper saw it, mistook it for a prop dummy, and mowed the grass around him.
The body of Robert Paul Owens, 34, was found on Oct. 10 at an abandoned log cabin used by several law enforcement agencies for trainings on Shue Road in the small town of China Grove, about 35 miles northeast of Charlotte, the China Grove Police Department said.
One day prior, on Oct. 9, a groundskeeper saw the body as he was mowing the property, but believed the body was “a fake dummy used for training” and as a result didn’t report it, police said.
A construction worker on the property reported the body to police the following day.
Haley Shue, Owens sister, told NBC News her family is heartbroken that her brother’s body wasn’t reported sooner. The body was exposed for so long they won’t be able to have an open casket memorial for him, she said.
She remembered her brother as a kind person who adored his nieces and nephews.
The family suspects foul play in his death, she said.
Shue said her family last saw Owens on Sunday Oct. 8. That day he spent time with a friend, went to a gas station and got a ride from a friend back to his grandmother’s house where he lived. Later, he was picked up by someone to visit another friend, but didn’t return home.
The abandoned home where he was found on the lawn is near his grandmother’s home, but it is a property he had never been to before, his sister said. She described the property as off the main road, down a long driveway with woods on either side, and not visible to neighbors.
On Tuesday Oct. 10, Shue got a call from her mother saying no one had heard from her brother in two days. Later that same day, the family was notified by police that Owens’ body was found, identified by his tattoos.
But, Shue said, police refused to tell the family where he was found, the state he was in or how he may have died, simply saying he did not have a gunshot wound.
“As of right now no family member has laid eyes on him since this occurred,” Shue said.
She and her family took it upon themselves to find the house where his body was found, where they found a construction worker who reported Owens’ body to police.
He said he found Owens “face down in his underwear and socks with one arm under him, one arm out” with “marks on his arms that he took as what looked to be defensive marks,” Shue said.
“You can only think what’s running through our mind. He doesn’t have any of his clothes, where’s his clothes? Where’s his belongings? Where’s his wallet, his cellphone, shoes and all that?” she said.
That construction worker told Shue and her family that the groundskeeper saw Owens’ body the day before.
“His words were that [the groundskeeper] assumed that [my brother] was Halloween decor or a mannequin and I guess he took it upon himself to assume that and not verify and mowed the entire property,” Shue said.
“It just blows our mind how someone can not stop and verify, this is a strange Halloween decoration, or a strange mannequin or dummy, why would officers leave this behind?” she added.
The family was further frustrated to find that there was no crime scene tape or signs of preserving the scene.
“We just feel they should have protected the scene for a little while,” Shue said.
Preliminary findings from an autopsy conducted Friday ruled out any signs of assault or trauma to the body, police said, noting that a toxicology report is pending to determine cause of death.
“There’s definitely some sort of foul play. We have been briefly told [by police] about some glass around his body. We don’t know if that glass is from a car or something else,” Shue said. “There’s no broken glass on the house.”
Now the family is asking for the public to call in with tips if they saw or heard of anything suspicious in China Grove on Oct. 8 that can help solve what happened to Owens.
“Someone is involved in this and someone knows of this property and knows that the house is there to have brought him there,” Shue said.
The family has created an online fundraiser to cover Owens’ funeral costs.
“That’s something we have to live with, knowing no family ever identified him. No family got to say any final goodbyes to him. We just want to bring awareness to it,” Shue said. “We miss him dearly.”
ASHEBORO, N.C. (WTVD) — The North Carolina Zoo is celebrating 50 years.
Located in Asheboro, the zoo houses about 1,700 animals and over 250 species primarily from Africa and North America.
On social media, NC Zoo wrote Friday:
“Throughout our history, we’ve been home to a diverse array of remarkable animals, dedicated keepers, and passionate employees who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Join us in honoring this milestone by visiting the Zoo in 2024!”
The Zoo also mentioned the Zoo’s first animals, which were two Galapagos tortoises named Tort and Retort.
The post said in part: “These two tortoises symbolize the early days of the North Carolina Zoo and are cherished deeply in our hearts.”
The North Carolina Zoo is one of two state-supported zoos in the country. The other is the Minnesota Zoo.
Copyright © 2024 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
North Carolina
NC has some of the most dangerous roads in the US: See how Wilmington-area counties rank
With a recent study revealing North Carolina as one of the states with the riskiest roads to travel, some may wonder how safe the roads are here in the Cape Fear region.
MarketWatch Guides, a site that provides “reviews of consumer products and services to help readers make educated purchasing decisions,” focuses in part on car insurance comparisons, vehicle safety and more.
A recent study by the site analyzed factors including annual miles driven per 100,000 system miles, percentage of rough roads and fatal injuries per 100,000 licensed drivers. States were given a rating out of 10 points, with 10 being the most dangerous.
More: Distracted driving in Wilmington: How big of a problem is it?
North Carolina’s ranking among the most dangerous
According to the study, the states with the most dangerous drivers based on the factors studied are:
- Louisiana – 7.55/10
- California – 7.21/10
- New Mexico – 6.74/10
- Hawaii – 6.73/10
- Delaware – 6.67/10
- New Jersey – 6.53/10
- Mississippi – 6.47/10
- North Carolina – 6.39/10
- Massachusetts – 6.33/10
- Maryland and Texas – 6.26/10
According to the study, North Carolina had 32.5 fatal injuries per 100,000 licensed drivers, but only 2.1% of rough roads, which was the lowest percentage out of the other ranked states.
For a more localized perspective, the North Carolina Department of Transportation releases annual traffic crash facts data. The most recent 2022 report includes a ranking of counties based on several factors, including reported crashes, crash severity, crash rates based on population, registered vehicles and estimated vehicle miles traveled.
The most dangerous county for drivers, ranked at No. 1 for the past five years, was Robeson County. The county had 60 fatal crashes in 2022 with 1,136 non-fatal injury crashes. The rest of the total 4,056 crashes were property-damage-only. The county with the best ranking was Hyde County, coming in at No. 100. The county had one fatal crash in 2022 and 10 non-fatal injury crashes. The county had a total of 45 crashes, the rest of which were property damage only.
More: MyReporter: Which intersections see the most red-light camera violations in Wilmington?
Here’s where the Cape Fear region counties ranked.
Brunswick County
Ranked No. 76 in 2022, Brunswick County had 25 fatal crashes and 715 non-fatal injury crashes. The total crashes for that year were 3,146. The remainder of the crashes were property damage only.
New Hanover County
Ranked No. 58, New Hanover had 19 fatal crashes and 1,313 non-fatal injury crashes, both of which went down from 2021. The total crashes in New Hanover were 5,617. The remainder of the crashes were property damage only.
Pender County
Ranked No. 47, Pender County had the worst ranking despite having the lowest number of crashes. The county had 12 fatal crashes and 374 non-fatal injury crashes, and a total of 1,156 crashes. The rest of the crashes were property damage only.
Iris Seaton, USA Today Network, contributed to this report.
Tropical Storm Debby already has parts of Florida under tropical storm warnings. The Florida Big Bend is currently under a Hurricane Warning. Debby is forecast to briefly strengthen into a category 1 hurricane as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico where water temperatures are near 90 degrees.
As it continues its path over land it is expected to dial back to tropical storm strength as it reaches the Carolinas mid to late next week. Moderate rainfall is possible for northeast North Carolina and southern Virginia by the end of the week.
Higher amounts of rain are possible for southernmost portions of the Outer Banks but generally models show 2-4 inches for northeast North Carolina and 1-2 inches for southern Virginia through Thursday.
Stay with News 3’s First Warning Weather Team for the latest updates as the storm develops.
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