The town where women keep vanishing
Multiple women have died or gone missing in the past six months in one rural North Carolina town in the US.
The bodies of Christina Bennett, 32, and mother-of-five Rhonda Jones, 36, were both found on April 18.
Ms Bennett’s decomposed remains were found in an abandoned house and Ms Jones’ body was discovered in a nearby rubbish container.
A day later, Ms Jones’s friend Megan Oxendine was interviewed about her friend’s death by CBS North Carolina but in a shocking twist Ms Oxendine was found dead three weeks later – less than 200m from where the other two women were found.
Disturbingly, at least two other women from town – Abby Patterson, 20, and Cynthia Jacobs, 41 – have disappeared from town. They have been missing for at least a month with nobody aware of their whereabouts.
Police have not released details on how each of the women died and have stopped short of linking the multiple deaths and disappearances, despite evidence all five were known to share a common trait – drug addiction.
The reluctance to connect the cases in an official statement by investigators has drawn the ire of residents, who have set up Facebook groups and blogs to conduct their own amateur sleuthing. Many believe there’s a serial killer preying on vulnerable women in the small community of 21,000 people.
The latest disappearance of 20-year-old Abby Patterson has created waves in the small community as police refuse to link it to the other cases.
Young and attractive, Ms Patterson had been recently discharged from a drug rehabilitation and came to town to visit her mother but soon vanished.
Captain Terry Parker of the Lumberton Police told CBS News' Crimesider that investigators do not think that Ms Patterson's disappearance is related the deaths of the three other women in town.
He called the case an "active missing person" investigation and said they have "no information, not even a rumour" that Patterson is deceased.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation into the women's deaths.