Missing: Abby Patterson, 20, has not been seen for a month
A fourth woman has vanished in the small North Carolina town where three others have been found dead in mysterious circumstances this year.
Abby Patterson, 20, has not been seen for a month. She vanished from her family’s home in Lumberton on September 5.
She told her mother she was going out to run errands and would be back in an hour but never returned.
She was last seen getting into an acquaintance’s car and was never seen again.
Police have interviewed that acquaintance several times but no charges have been brought.
Her disappearance follows the grisly deaths of three other women whose remains were found within a three-block radius.
Christina Bennett, 32, and Rhonda Jones, 36, were both found dead on April 18. Bennett’s remains were found inside an abandoned home and Jones’s body was found in a nearby trash can.
Jones’s friend Megan Oxedine was interviewed about her death at the time. Three weeks later, her naked body was found dumped in wooded area nearby.
Police in Lumberton have not yet been able to determine how each of the women were killed and have not even gone as far to say that they were murdered.
The woman’s family are frantically appearing for information on her whereabouts online
They have advised that they do not believe Aby’s disappearance to be connected to the other three women’s deaths but say they are not ruling out any line of investigation.
The woman’s desperate family are frantically appealing for her to come home.
They have offered a $5,000 reward for anyone who has information of her whereabouts.
The FBI is helping Lumberton Police Department with investigations.
On April 18, the bodies of Bennett and Jones were found inside a house which had been empty for months.
Killed: On April 18, the bodies of Rhonda Jones, a mother-of-five (above left and right), and Christina Bennett (not pictured) were found
Police found their bodies inside this abandoned home and in a trash bin that was outside
Megan Oxedine gave an interview about the first two deaths. Three weeks later, her remains were found in a wooded area by the side of the road
They were discovered when a person who was due to move in arrived and noticed a foul smell.
Police found Bennett’s body first inside. They have not revealed exactly where but detectives were seen ripping floor boards up on the ground floor.
Police say they do not know if Abby Patterson is in immediate danger
They then discovered Jones’s body in a trash can outside.
Megan Oxendine then gave an interview with a local news station to speak about their murders.
‘I don’t comprehend stuff like this. I don’t understand how somebody could do somebody’s child, mother, niece, like that,’ she told CBS.
Speaking of Jones, a mother-of-five who she knew, she said: ‘I ain’t never seen her act out or nothing, she’s just quiet, she didn’t really mess with too many people.’
On June 3, Oxendine’s body was found beside some trees at the side of a road nearby.
Lumberton Police Captain Terry Parker told DailyMail.com that the department was working with ‘limited information’ and had not been able to find a link between the three deaths earlier this year.
He said he had no reason to believe that Patterson was in immediate danger but urged the public to be cautious.