Searching for answers
Family has body exhumed hoping to learn if death involved foul play
MICHAEL JUSTUS/TIMES-NEWS
A crew with Wilbert Burial Vaults exhume the body of Edgar Owen Wednesday at Whitmire Cemetery near Rosman. The body will be sent to the medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill to see if foul play was involved in Owen's death.
By John Harbin Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 4:30 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 11:58 p.m.
( page of 2 )
QUEBEC -- Edgar Owen's family stood quietly Wednesday morning as bulldozers pulled away the dirt that covered his grave at Whitmire Cemetery.
"It's not good at all," his brother, Gerald, said. "It wouldn't have to be done if they (Transylvania County Sheriff's Office investigators) had done their job."
Edgar Owen's body was found in a shallow creek near his home on Nov. 23, 2009. The local medical examiner ruled his death an accidental drowning, but the family believes Owen was killed.
Gerald Owen and other members of his family say they have urged officials for almost five months to investigate the cause of death for their loved one.
"All we wanted was an investigation, and they ended the investigation right after they found him," Gerald Owen said.
Sheriff David Mahoney said Wednesday evening that authorities have been in contact with the Owen family, were working with them and the case has never been closed.
"We've not uncovered anything at all to indicate foul play was involved," Mahoney said. "The right thing to do is to keep the case open until we get a medical examiner's report."
Owen's family is paying approximately $1,400 to have Edgar Owen's body exhumed and taken to the N.C. Office of the Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, where an autopsy will be performed.
There has been no timeline established on how long it will take to get the results back from the medical examiner, according to the family.
"We feel like we will get the answers we have been wanting," Gerald Owen said.
"The sheriff's previous published quotes of their theory stated that Edgar fell into the creek and drowned while trying to dislodge his stuck vehicle," Owen's brother, Carl, said in a letter to the Times-News. "If you visit the scene and see where the truck was parked, you will see that is a physical impossibility to fall from the truck to the creek and end up dead face down in a small, shallow stream.
"Also, anyone in the county who has ever had a vehicle stuck knows that you have to have at least two or more people involved if you try to dislodge a stuck vehicle. One behind the wheel and one or more pushing the vehicle."
On Feb. 19, Owen's family mailed a registered letter to Gov. Beverly Perdue asking her to intervene and assign an investigator from the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate Owen's death. Along with the letter to the governor, the family included a petition with 152 signatures from concerned citizens supporting the family's request. The family is continuing to collect signatures and will mail additional petitions on a continuing basis.
Family has body exhumed hoping to learn if death involved foul play
MICHAEL JUSTUS/TIMES-NEWS
A crew with Wilbert Burial Vaults exhume the body of Edgar Owen Wednesday at Whitmire Cemetery near Rosman. The body will be sent to the medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill to see if foul play was involved in Owen's death.
By John Harbin Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 4:30 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 11:58 p.m.
( page of 2 )
QUEBEC -- Edgar Owen's family stood quietly Wednesday morning as bulldozers pulled away the dirt that covered his grave at Whitmire Cemetery.
"It's not good at all," his brother, Gerald, said. "It wouldn't have to be done if they (Transylvania County Sheriff's Office investigators) had done their job."
Edgar Owen's body was found in a shallow creek near his home on Nov. 23, 2009. The local medical examiner ruled his death an accidental drowning, but the family believes Owen was killed.
Gerald Owen and other members of his family say they have urged officials for almost five months to investigate the cause of death for their loved one.
"All we wanted was an investigation, and they ended the investigation right after they found him," Gerald Owen said.
Sheriff David Mahoney said Wednesday evening that authorities have been in contact with the Owen family, were working with them and the case has never been closed.
"We've not uncovered anything at all to indicate foul play was involved," Mahoney said. "The right thing to do is to keep the case open until we get a medical examiner's report."
Owen's family is paying approximately $1,400 to have Edgar Owen's body exhumed and taken to the N.C. Office of the Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, where an autopsy will be performed.
There has been no timeline established on how long it will take to get the results back from the medical examiner, according to the family.
"We feel like we will get the answers we have been wanting," Gerald Owen said.
"The sheriff's previous published quotes of their theory stated that Edgar fell into the creek and drowned while trying to dislodge his stuck vehicle," Owen's brother, Carl, said in a letter to the Times-News. "If you visit the scene and see where the truck was parked, you will see that is a physical impossibility to fall from the truck to the creek and end up dead face down in a small, shallow stream.
"Also, anyone in the county who has ever had a vehicle stuck knows that you have to have at least two or more people involved if you try to dislodge a stuck vehicle. One behind the wheel and one or more pushing the vehicle."
On Feb. 19, Owen's family mailed a registered letter to Gov. Beverly Perdue asking her to intervene and assign an investigator from the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate Owen's death. Along with the letter to the governor, the family included a petition with 152 signatures from concerned citizens supporting the family's request. The family is continuing to collect signatures and will mail additional petitions on a continuing basis.
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