Three moms were found dead in ‘tight-knit’ NC town. Mystery lingers 6 years later
Three mothers were found dead in a “tight-knit” North Carolina town — and mystery still lingers six years later, officials said.
“It’s so heartbreaking to know that these women were basically disposed of and discarded,” the FBI said in a video shared with McClatchy News on April 19. “We will not allow whoever is responsible to get away with that. Obviously, someone placed these women the way they were found. It must be weighing on them.”
The case dates to April 18, 2017, when Christina “Kristin” Bennett, 32, was found dead inside a Lumberton home.
The same day, the city’s police department discovered the body of Rhonda Jones in a trash can. Jones, a 36-year-old member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, was found naked and partly covered in trash, The News & Observer reported.
Then, less than two months later, another body was recovered outside an empty home on June 3, 2017. The woman was identified as 28-year-old Megan Oxendine, who also was Lumbee, according to the N&O.
Megan Oxendine’s mother, Shelia, told WPDE she thought her daughter might have been killed because she knew details about the other women’s deaths. Those deaths and other disappearances in the area have sparked fears of a serial killer, though officials have said they haven’t figured out how Bennett, Jones and Oxendine died.
All three of the women were moms and had ties to the Lumberton area, described as a “tight-knit” community roughly 95 miles south of Raleigh. Their bodies were found within four blocks of each other, the FBI said.
Now, six years later, officials say an investigation is ongoing.
“We know their families are frustrated and people are confused that we don’t know exactly how they died,” the FBI said in its video. “Their bodies were too badly decomposed to determine the cause of death.”
Search for clues continues
Officials are still seeking clues in the ongoing mystery. Despite the passage of time, the case hasn’t gone cold, Michael McNeill, chief of the Lumberton Police Department, said this month in a statement to WPDE.
“While an autopsy can provide leads or evidence in a death investigation, an undetermined cause of death doesn’t mean we won’t find out what happened to these women,” the FBI said. “We continue to follow a number of investigative leads, but we also need help from the community.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 800-225-5324, police at 910-671-3845 or visit tips.fbi.gov. The FBI said it’s “offering a reward of up to $40,000 for information leading to the discovery and apprehension of those responsible for the deaths of these women.”
The Lumberton Police Department didn’t immediately share additional information with McClatchy News on April 19.
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