In a tiny American town, women are going missing and often turning up dead but police refuse to connect their deaths despite sharing a common trait.
Lumberton, North Carolina only has a population of 21,500, but at least five women have vanished over the last six months.
The bodies of Christina Bennett, 32, and mother-of-five Rhonda Jones, 36, were both found on the same day in April this year. Ms Jones was found in a rubbish bin while Ms Bennett’s badly decomposed body was found in a house about 150 metres away.
A day later, CBS interviewed Ms Jones’ friend Megan Oxendine who said she didn’t understand “how someone can do somebody’s child, mother, niece”.
Just three weeks later, Ms Oxendine’s body was found in the same neighbourhood as the other two bodies, with close friends telling ABC11 that the 28-year-old was naked bound and covered in blood, but police did not publicly confirm those details.
WATCH: Creepily prophetic interview here.
Another two women have since gone missing – Abby Patterson, 20, and Cynthia Jacobs, 41 – but police are reluctant to link their disappearances despite each of the women suffering drug addiction.
Ms Jacobs’ sister-in-law claims to be the last person to see Megan Oxendine; offering her a room less than two months before she went missing and was eventually found dead.
Unlike the other women, Ms Patterson actually lived in Florida and had been visiting her mother in Lumberton after recently being released from rehab.
The 20-year-old vanished less than a kilometre from where the other three women were found dead.
Her mother took to Facebook with a heartbreaking appeal for her missing daughter.
“It’s not getting any easier and tears still fall every day,” she wrote. “My promise to you is I will never stop until we find you (pinky promise).”
The reward for information that will lead to Ms Patterson has been doubled to $10,000 after a donation from a local chicken shop.
