Man, teen found dead in Mount Olive cemetery
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on September 14, 2009 1:49 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A 16-year-old girl was found dead in Carver Cemetery on Sunday afternoon, shortly before the body of a man in his 20s was also found in the graveyard, authorities said.
Maj. Brian Rhodes of the Mount Olive Police Department said police are not ready to release the name of the female victim.
They are working on the official identification of the man, Rhodes said.
Both bodies have been sent to the Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill for autopsy, the major said.
Mount Olive police said they were not ready to say exactly what they believe happened as they conducted more interviews.
The mother of the man was out of the state when police found the bodies, Rhodes said, and police are waiting for her return.
"Like I say, we're right in the process of trying to officially identify the male victim, and once we get that done, and talk to some people, we should be able to release some more information," Rhodes said this morning.
Police Chief Ralph Schroeder said he did not want to call the deaths a case of murder-suicide at this point in the investigation.
"We don't want to label it that yet," Schroeder said. "We've got a lot of stuff that we're trying to get confirmed first."
However, police said they were fairly certain that some type of foul play was involved in the deaths.
"It's just a sad situation," Rhodes said. "Not only due to the fact that we've got two deceased persons, but just the sheer location (where) it happened."
Carver Cemetery is adjacent to the old Carver School, where Southern Academy once operated.
Schroeder and Rhodes said that more information about the incident would probably be available by late today or tomorrow.