09/15/09 — Sex assault in cemetery investigated

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Sex assault in cemetery investigated

By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on September 15, 2009 1:46 PM

MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive police have a suspect but no charges have been filed in an alleged sexual assault Friday at a local cemetery, where two bodies were found just days later in what authorities are saying is an unrelated incident.

An 18-year-old Dudley girl was at a friend's house in Dudley on Friday, and called a Mount Olive man she knew for a ride home, Sgt. C.J. Weaver said.

The man drove her instead to Carver Cemetery, where a sexual assault allegedly occurred inside the man's vehicle late Friday, Weaver said.

Police first received the report at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, not long after the alleged sexual assault took place.

The cemetery was where the bodies of a 16-year-old girl and her 29-year-old boyfriend were discovered on Sunday afternoon, in an apparently unrelated incident.

"It's a pretty big coincidence," Police Chief Ralph Schroeder said.

Police said that investigation was continuing, and they had not yet officially charged anyone in the case.

Weaver and Police Chief Ralph Schroeder said that physical evidence had been collected at a nearby medical facility shortly after the report of the assault.

"The investigation is still open, because I want to speak with the suspect," Weaver said Monday night.