Letter to Governor Bev Perdue

Governor Bev PerdueOffice of the Governor20301 Mail Service CenterRaleigh, NC 27699-0301Phone: (919)733-4240Fax: (919)733-2120
17 February 2010

Dear Governor Perdue,

I am writing on behalf of Edgar Allen Owen’s family. Edgar is my brother. He was found dead in a small stream below his house in Transylvania County just above Rosman off highway 64 on 23 November 2009.

Edgar’s niece, Annette Hudson, called my brother Harold Owen and informed him that she saw Edgar’s truck pulled off the main road, Woodruff Road, leading to Edgar’s house.

Harold and my brother Gerald went to see if Edgar was O.K. Gerald looked around the truck and discovered Edgar’s body below the truck in a small stream (Frozen Creek). Edgar’s hands and arms were stretched out in front of him and his pants pockets were turned inside out and were down around his ankles. Harold called 911 and members of the Rosman Rescue Squad and the Transylvania Sheriff’s office responded.

The Sheriff’s office finally received word from the Medical Examiner, Dr. Charles Lefler, that he felt it was not necessary for him to visit the scene and that he was authorizing law enforcement to remove the body from the scene and transport it to Transylvania Regional Hospital in Brevard for examination.

After consulting with law enforcement, both Dr. Lefler and the Sheriff’s Office declared that Edgar’s death was a result of “accidental drowning” due to his body being found in the shallow creek. According to law enforcement, they saw no apparent signs of foul play and alcohol; they felt was a contributing factor. Dr. Lefler proceeded to draw blood from Edgar’s carotid artery for a toxicology report and sent the blood sample to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner at Chapel Hill. However, instead of ordering a full toxicology screen, as is the norm, Dr. Lefler only ordered a blood alcohol test. Dr. Lefler did not order an autopsy to determine the cause of death or notify the DA, Jeff Hunt.

When law enforcement removed Edgar’s body from the small shallow creek, they informed my brother Gerald that Edgar’s wallet was missing and that they had found Edgar’s keys stuffed in his shirt pocket. They also told Gerald that there were no apparent injuries to Edgar’s body other than a briar scratch.

Law enforcement did not question family members about Edgar’s pattern behavior. They did not question neighbors or initial reporters. They told the Transylvania Times that the initial 911 call they received was that there had been a vehicle wreck with a related fatality. There was no wreck. To date they have failed to make a copy of the 911 call or a transcript available to family members despite repeated requests.



Repeated attempts by family members to get information from the ME, Dr. Lefler
about why no autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death and an explanation of how he concluded “accidental drowning” as the cause of death without running any medical tests went unanswered. Visits to Dr. Lefler’s office to see him resulted in family members being turned away by his staff. My sister’s Vonda and Jeannette went to the office and offered to pay for an appointment with Dr. Lefler just to be able to get some information regarding what was done to cause a determination of “accidental drowning” and were refused a paid appointment. I drafted a request for copies of Dr. Lefler’s examination notes, etc. under the North Carolina Pubic Information Law and Dr. Lefler refused to provide any information or even respond. I drafted a complaint to the North Carolina Medical Board about his actions and lack of actions and am awaiting a copy of his response to them.

Subsequent communications with Dr. John Butts, OCME resulted in Dr. Butts agreeing to perform an autopsy at State expense. I have requested that Dr. Butts authorize the exhumation costs be paid by the State and I am awaiting his reply.

The family is appalled at the way Edgar’s death was handled both by the Sheriff’s Office and the Medical Examiner. We have posted a $2500 reward for information leading to the conviction of person or person(s) responsible for Edgar’s death.

The family has contacted the District Attorney and requested that due to the local Sheriff’s office investigation only being a visit to the scene and nothing more, that he request a trained investigator from the State Bureau of Investigation. We have provided the DA copies of forensic research showing that Edgar’s arm position was consistent with him being dead prior to entering the water and inconsistent with a drowning death. Instead of communicating with Edgar’s family members and looking into our concerns he has adopted a negative attitude and refers to our requests for a professional investigation as threats to him. We have threatened no one. We only want justice for Edgar and the more time goes by, the colder the trail becomes. The DA’s perception of threats was our clearly stated intentions of going over his head if he refused to authorize an investigation into Edgar’s suspicious death.

Our request to you is the same we made to the District Attorney. Please appoint an SBI investigator to conduct a professional and thorough investigation of Edgar’s death. We are confident that a complete investigation will result in an arrest and conviction.

The facts that were ignored by the Sheriff’s Office and the Medical Examiner are:

1. Edgar was settled in for the night on 22 November 2009. My sister, Thelma visited him around 7:30 p.m. and took him a supper consisting of beef stew which he ate. He had no reason to leave his residence.
2. When Edgar’s body was found the next morning in the small shallow stream below his house with his arms stretched out in front of him, pockets turned inside out, wallet missing, stress marks around his wrists as if he were bound with something and his keys stuffed in his shirt pocket, injuries on his forearms, knees, and head, his pants down around his ankles, law enforcement saw no signs of foul play. Nor did they look for any signs of foul play. Edgar was not dressed for the cold November night. He had pants, t-shirt and an unbuttoned shirt. No coat or boots. According to the funeral home he wore loafers. The funeral home discarded his shoes and clothing without consulting the family.
3. When Edgar left his house he always took his wallet with his driver’s license. He dressed for the weather and would have been wearing warm socks, boots, a buttoned flannel shirt and a coat. He would not have gone out in the cold November night dressed as he was found. He, like the majority of men, kept his keys in his right pants pocket. The sheriff’s representative found his keys stuffed in his shirt pocket.

4. The Sheriff’s theory of the death is since Edgar was found in water, he drowned. Since alcohol was a factor, it was accidental. The ME, Dr. Lefler accepted this theory as the cause of death without running any medical tests to determine the cause of death. Edgar’s death was quickly disposed of without an investigation. Responder’s could have taken the time to look at Edgar’s eyes which would have shown that he died on land and was placed in the water if a line showed across the pupils of the eyes. An autopsy by the medical examiner is normal in an unexplained death. The sheriff’s office guess was enough for Dr. Lefler to determine the death as “accidental drowning”.

5. Repeated attempts to get information such as the 911 transcript(s) from the Sheriff’s office resulted only in promises to provide them or a copy of the 911 call(s). Nothing has been provided to date. Many, many requests for information to the ME have gone unanswered. Repeated requests to the District Attorney, Jeff Hunt to request an SBI investigator have been futile. He will not even answer whether he will or won’t request an SBI investigator. We have asked repeatedly for just a yes or no from him. His only response to our insistence is to term our concerns as threats to him because we told him we were prepared to go as far as necessary to find out what happened to Edgar.

6. My brother Gerald, who found Edgar’s body, has pictures which show head injuries which went unnoticed and undocumented by the Sheriff’s representative and the so called “examination” of Edgar’s body by the ME. Gerald contacted the Sheriff’s investigator, Bill Craig and told him he had the pictures. Craig indicated that he was very interested in seeing the pictures and he would get back with Gerald. He never did. However, when he was asked about the pictures by the head detective, Brian Kriegsman, he denied ever hearing about the pictures. To date, law enforcement has shown no interest in viewing the pictures despite the head detective and the DA being made aware of them. It seems as if the instant declaration of “accidental drowning” is going to stand despite facts pointing away from their conclusion.
7. The conflicting stories told by the initial reporter(s) the erroneous information on 911 call(s), Edgar’s arm position when found, his pockets turned inside out, his wallet missing, his pants down around his ankles, his lack of warm clothing, the unexplained reason for him being out on the cold November night raises some important questions, none of which were investigated either by law enforcement or the Medical Examiner.

8. The Sheriff’s office version of Edgar’s Death published in the Transylvania Times was as follows:

The Transylvania County Sheriff ’s Office investigated the scene and determined it appeared as if Owen’s truck became stuck alongside the creek. In the attempt to dislodge the vehicle, he allegedly fell in and drowned.

When a vehicle is stuck and someone wants to dislodge the vehicle it takes two people to do so.
One person would drive the vehicle and the other would push from the front or rear. If there was someone helping Edgar to dislodge his vehicle, what has the Sheriff’s office done to find this person and question him/her about Edgar’s death? (nothing). Now, if they intend anyone to believe that Edgar would try to push a vehicle without help, that is unworthy of belief. Also, it is a physical impossibility to fall from the truck position into the creek. This assertion by the Sheriff’s office depicts the effort and thought that they put into the so called investigation they conducted. They reached a conclusion that since he was found in the water he drowned and since alcohol was a factor they determined it was an accident. The family believes the following “red flags” should be investigated.


A shallow water drowning is rare especially in cold fall and winter months.

· The stretched out arm position of the body is not normal for drowning victims.
· Edgar’s pockets turned inside out with his wallet missing.
· Head and body injuries not given proper weight.
· Edgar’s keys found in a shirt pocket instead of his pant’s pocket.
· On the scene tests such as the “eye test” to determine death prior to submersion not conducted.
· No conclusive medical tests conducted or disclosed to back up a drowning diagnosis.
· Family members and neighbors not questioned for patterns/evidence
· Photographs showing head injuries reported to law enforcement who showed initial interest but so far has not examined the photographs.
· No questioning of known unsavory characters who hung out around Edgar trying to get part of his monthly social security check.
· Edgar’s clothing and shoes discarded.
· Edgar grew up and lived 67 years alongside the shallow creek he supposedly drowned in.
· No investigation conducted to determine why Edgar was even in the area where his body was found.

A more likely theory which fits the facts better would be:

Edgar was settled in for the night having ate and having no reason to leave his home.
Something caused him to go outside, not dressed for the cold night. A person or persons overpowered him, possibly due to an argument or an attempt to take money from him. His death was a result of injuries, suffocation, or some other reason, whether intentional or unintentional. Many deadbeats hung around Edgar’s house because he received a monthly Social Security check and he was a generous person often giving someone ten or twenty dollars to go to the store and buy him cigarettes or beer. He was an easy mark. After the perpetrators realized Edgar was dead on the ground they fled the scene only to return later in the night to make sure they had not left evidence. Upon their return, they moved Edgar’s body to the creek to stage a drowning. By this time Edgar’s body would be in full rigor mortis and his arms locked in position out in front of him. They then positioned Edgar’s truck alongside the creek to stage the scene as if Edgar’s truck was stuck and he somehow ended up in the small creek and drowned. As an afterthought, they realized Edgar would have his keys on him if he left his house. They hastily stuffed Edgar’s keys in his shirt pocket instead of his pants pocket.

This clumsily staged scene was accepted by the Sheriff’s office despite the red flags and sold to the Medical Examiner without benefit of even a cursory investigation.

However, we don’t know exactly what happened to Edgar or what the cause of death was but justice demands a professional investigation and we plead with you to use the authority of your office to make every attempt to obtain that justice. We have communicated with SBI Special Agent Toby Hayes and he informed us that the SBI could get involved with a request from the District Attorney, Jeff Hunt. We have exhausted attempts to get the DA, Jeff Hunt to get the SBI involved. We know you have the authority to dispatch an SBI agent to perform an investigation to attempt to find out what happened to our brother. He died on 23 November and we have been making requests almost non-stop for justice and assistance. We have collected quite a few no’s and numerous non-responses to our pleas. We remain hopeful and determined.

I am enclosing a recap of our efforts to obtain an investigation. The full texts are available to you if you need them. A petition of citizens within the county who are very interested in obtaining an investigation for Edgar will be sent separate cover.


Sincerely, Signature

Carl E. Owen Brother to Edgar _____________________________________________
Gerald D. Owen Brother to Edgar_____________________________________________
Vonda Harding Sister to Edgar ______________________________________________
Thelma Cantrell Sister to Edgar ______________________________________________
Charles Owen Brother to Edgar_____________________________________________
Howard Owen Brother to Edgar_____________________________________________
Harold Owen Brother to Edgar_____________________________________________
Jeannette Owen Sister to Edgar_______________________________________________
Michael D. Owen Brother to Edgar______________________________________________
Brian K. Owen Brother to Edgar______________________________________________
Vonda Crabtree Niece to Edgar_______________________________________________








Encl: Recap of Events since Edgar’s Death