Name released of woman found dead in home
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 7, 2018 5:20 PM
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office has released the identity of the woman found dead in her home Thursday at 987 McArthur Pond Road in Mount Olive.
A cause of death has not yet been reported by the medical examiner.
Joyce Eileen Law, 72, was found dead in her mobile home when deputies went to there to conduct a welfare check at the request of family members of the owner.
A man, still yet to be identified publicly by law enforcement, was home at the time and told the deputies there was a deceased person inside.
Maj. Richard Lewis said the man is being treated as a person of interest at this time, but he is not presently in custody.
"He is released and with a family member," Lewis said.
The man is believed to be out of state at the moment, but being that he is not yet considered a suspect and has not been charged with a crime, he is not in violation of anything by being out of state, Lewis said.
On Tuesday, Lewis said that it was his understanding Law's body had been found in a bed in the home and that she had been dead for "a period of time."
Word has still not yet come from the medical examiner as to how long Law has been deceased or how long she was in the home.
The home is no longer being secured by law enforcement and has been turned over to the family that owns it, Lewis said.
Lewis also said Tuesday that the man living in the home had suffered some kind of medical emergency while being questioned by deputies. He said he did not have more information on what the emergency was, but that the man had been released from the hospital.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
---- Staff writer Steve Herring contributed to this report.