ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Western North Carolina is best known for its scenic beauty, quiet mountain towns and winding forest trails. But beneath the surface lies a darker legacy.
Over the decades, the region has drawn the attention of some of the nation’s most notorious serial killers, from drifters preying on hikers in Pisgah National Forest to cold-blooded murderers whose trails of violence passed through Asheville, Hendersonville and beyond.
While some cases remain unsolved, others ended in high-profile convictions — leaving behind a chilling timeline of brutality in the Blue Ridge.
A deadly timeline
1966: Hendersonville triple murders
Crimes: On July 22, 1966, the remains of Vernon Shipman, 43, and Charles Glass, 36, both of Hendersonville, along with Louise Davis Shumate, 62, of Asheville, were found lying in knee-high grass between a brush and garbage dump and a nearby gully in a clearing near the Green River dam at Lake Summit.
The bodies were arranged in a crude semi-circle, with various objects placed on or near them. Investigators said all three victims suffered massive head trauma, likely inflicted with a part of an automobile bumper jack. Puncture wounds were also found on Shumate and Glass. Despite extensive investigations by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, Hendersonville Police Department, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, no arrests were ever made. Several individuals were named as suspects over the years, but all have since died. The triple homicide remains one of the region’s most disturbing cold cases.
Regional tie: Near Lake Summit, Henderson County
Status: Unsolved
1979-87: Terry Alvin Hyatt
Crimes: Killed at least three women in North Carolina from 1979 to 1987.
- Harriet Simmons (1979-1980), a 40-year-old mother of seven, left Raleigh on April 15, 1979, heading to Nashville, Tennessee, but never arrived. Her car was found abandoned at an I-40 rest stop near Statesville. On March 23, 1980, her skeletal remains were found in Pisgah National Forest near Candler. She had been stabbed four times in the chest. Her identity was confirmed by jewelry and car keys.
- Betty McConnell, a 21-year-old mother of one, disappeared on Aug. 25, 1979, while heading to meet a friend an Asheville bowling alley. She was found three hours later by the French Broad River near Alexander, having been stabbed multiple times in the chest. She died en route to the hospital. Her car was found five miles away.
- Carolyn Brigman, 40, was abducted at knifepoint on Oct. 19, 1979, while walking home from work in Asheville. She was abducted, robbed at knife-point and threatened with death. But her abductor released her after she convinced him she wouldn’t report him. Brigman immediately reported the attack. Hyatt was arrested.
- Jerri Jones, a 19-year-old grocery store cashier, was reported missing on July 9, 1987, from a Harris Teeter in Derita. Her naked body was found in a wooded area the next day. Her throat had been slit. In 2005, Hyatt’s DNA matched samples found on Jones’ body, linking him definitively to the murder.
Regional tie: Born in Asheville; known crimes spanned multiple North Carolina counties
Status: Incarcerated
1983-96: William Darrell “Crazy Bill” Lindsey
Crimes: Killed 8 women, including one in Asheville
Lindsey was arrested on Dec. 29, 1996, in Asheville on suspicion of murder. He was eventually connected to at least eight killings, though some place that tally closer to 20. A native of St. Augustine, it is unknown how he came to be in Asheville.
- Lisa Foley, 24, was strangled to death on Oct. 9, 1983, in St. Augustine Beach, Florida.
- Anita McQuaig Stevens, 27, was bludgeoned to death with a wood plank on Nov. 29, 1988, in St. Augustine, Florida.
- Constance Marie “Connie” Terrell, 26, was shot in the head on June 10, 1989, in St. Augustine, Florida.
- Lashawna Streeter, 27, was beaten to death on March 1, 1992, in St. Augustine, Florida.
- Donetha Snead-Haile, 32, was killed in April 1993 in St. Augustine, Florida. Her cause of death was listed as unknown. But Lindsey admitted he beat her and threw her body into a creek.
- Cheryl Denise “Niecey” Lucas, 32, was killed in mid-June 1995 in St. Augustine, Florida. She was bludgeoned with a metal nail bar.
- Diana Richardson, 48, was beaten to death on Oct. 12, 1995, in St. Augustine, Florida.
- His final victim, 32-year-old Lucy Arnett Raymer, was killed with blows to the head on Dec. 25, 1996, on Chunns Cove Road in Asheville.
Regional tie: One victim in Asheville
Status: Sentenced to 30 years; died in prison in 2001
1984: Samuel Little
Crime: Described as America’s most prolific serial killer
Little confessed to 93 murders, and FBI crime analysts believed his confessions were credible. Law enforcement has been able to verify 50 confessions, with many more pending final confirmation. Little said he strangled his 93 victims between 1970 and 2005. Many of his victims’ deaths, however, were originally ruled overdoses or attributed to accidental or undetermined causes. Some bodies were never found.
Regional tie: Confessed to killing someone in Asheville, though no specific crime has been linked to him
Status: Deceased (2020)
1987-90: Lesley Eugene Warren, “The Babyface Killer”
Crimes: Killed multiple victims across N.C. and South Carolina and claimed murders in Asheville. Warren has four confirmed victims:
- Patsy Vineyard, 20, was killed May 15, 1987, near Sackets Harbor, New York. She was strangled and sexually assaulted and her body dumped in the Black River.
- Velma Faye Gray, 42, was killed Aug. 26, 1989, in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. She was beaten and strangled and her body dumped in Lake Bowen.
- Jayme Denise Hurley, 39, was killed May 24, 1990, in Swannanoa. Hurley was Warren’s counselor during his time at Juvenile Education Center in Swannanoa. Her body was found in a shallow grave in Pisgah National Forest near Asheville.
- Katherine Noel Johnson, 21, was raped and strangled at an abandoned soccer field in High Point on July 16, 1990.
- Warren claimed to have killed four other people:
- Mary, a Mexican immigrant, in Campobello, South Carolina, in August 1988
- Ronnie, a hitchhiker in Tennessee in the summer of 1989
- Two unnamed men in Asheville in 1989, but those have not been confirmed
Regional tie: Was born in Candler and confessed to at least one murder and two drug-related killings in Asheville
Status: Incarcerated
1996-98: Eric Rudolph
Crimes: Between 1996 and 1998, Eric Robert Rudolph carried out four bombings targeting Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympics, two abortion clinics in Georgia and Alabama, and a lesbian bar in Atlanta. A skilled outdoorsman, Rudolph evaded law enforcement for years while hiding in the Western North Carolina mountains, until his capture in Murphy in 2003. He pleaded guilty to the bombings and is serving multiple life sentences without parole.
Regional tie: After his father died in 1981, he moved with his mother and siblings to Nantahala in Macon County. He was captured in Murphy.
Status: Incarcerated
2000-15: Robert Jason Owens
Crimes: Connected to four killings in the Asheville area
- Owens pleaded guilty to killing Cristie Schoen Codd, her husband Joseph “JT” Codd, and their unborn child in 2015. The Leicester couple was reported missing on March 14 of that year. Owens admitted to killing the Codds but said he accidentally ran over them when his truck got stuck in the mud near their house. He said he panicked and dismembered and burned their remains in a wood stove.
- Owens pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of dismembering remains. The plea took the death penalty off the table, but he was sentenced to between 59 and 74 years in prison. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction lists his projected release date as Dec. 10, 2083.
- Owens was also long suspected in the 2000 disappearance of 18-year-old Zebb Quinn, who was last seen with him. In 2017, he was indicted for Quinn’s murder.
- In 2022, Owens pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, claiming his uncle was the killer and he had helped cover it up.
Regional tie: From the Leicester community
Status: Incarcerated
2007: Gary Michael Hilton, “The National Forest Serial Killer”
Crimes: Murdered John and Irene Bryant in Pisgah National Forest and linked to multiple murders across the Southeast. His crimes spanned multiple states, targeting hikers in remote forest areas.
- John Davis “Jack” Bryant, 80, and his wife, Irene Woods Bryant, 84, left their home in Horse Shoe on Oct. 21, 2007, for a day hike in Pisgah National Forest. Their maroon Ford Escape was found parked near Yellow Gap Road off U.S. Route 276, but the couple never returned. A woman’s body was found covered in leaves along the Barnett Branch trail on Nov. 10, 2007. The remains were sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Chapel Hill and identified three days later as Irene Bryant. An autopsy determined she had been bludgeoned to death with a blunt object. Nearly three months later, on Feb. 3, 2008, a hunter discovered a skull in Nantahala National Forest off a remote forest service road known as “The Switchbacks.” A local deputy joined the search, and additional remains, including a pelvis and spine, were found about 20 yards from the skull. No clothing or identification was recovered at the scene, but the remains were later confirmed to be those of John Bryant. Hilton pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping, robbery and the murders of the Bryants, receiving four consecutive life sentences without parole.
- These were to be served in addition to a Florida death sentence for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap and a Georgia life sentence for killing Meredith Emerson.
Regional tie: Victims killed in Western North Carolina, particularly Henderson and Transylvania counties
Status: Incarcerated
2014-16: Daniel Printz
Crimes: Printz, of Bostic, confessed to killing four women in WNC:
- Printz pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in the death of 81-year-old Edna Suttles, of Travelers Rest, who went missing Aug. 27, 2021.
- Printz has also been linked to the deaths of Nancy Rego, her mother Delores Sellers and Leigh Goodman.
- Printz also reportedly confessed to killing four other people.
Regional tie: Crimes occurred in rural areas of WNC and Upstate South Carolina
Status: Incarcerated
2007-10: William Dathan Holbert
Crimes: Murdered several people in Panama:
- Holbert confessed to killing five American expatriates in Panama. Prosecutors said he befriended his victims, shot them in the head and buried their bodies.
- Authorities also said Holbert may have admitted to killing a sixth person, American attorney Jeffery A. Kline.
Regional tie: Born in Hendersonville
Status: Incarcerated
Unconfirmed serial murder cases
WNC is no stranger to mystery, and many unsolved murders and disappearances in the region have raised suspicions of possible serial killers. The following cases span decades and counties, with some tied to larger multistate investigations.
1978-1992: Redhead murders
The Redhead Murders refers to a series of unsolved killings of red-haired women across the U.S. between 1978 and 1992, believed to be the work of an unidentified serial killer.
The series of killings targeting red-haired women along highways in Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and as far east as North Carolina remains unsolved. One victim, known only as “Betsy,” was found off Interstate 40 near Waynesville in 1985. Authorities, including the FBI, believe the killings may be connected.
Another possible victim, Patricia Blevins of Charlotte, N.C., disappeared in 1975. Her skeletal remains were discovered a decade later off I-40 near Waynesville and stored unidentified at the state medical examiner’s office in Chapel Hill for more than 20 years. She was finally identified in 2012 through DNA and dental records. No cause or manner of death has been determined, and no suspects have been named.
1997: What happened to Judy Smith?
In April 1997, 50-year-old Massachusetts nurse Judy Smith disappeared while sightseeing in Philadelphia during a trip with her husband. Despite an extensive search, she wasn’t found until nearly five months later, when her stabbed and decomposed remains were discovered more than 600 miles away in Pisgah National Forest. Her body was dressed in hiking clothes, different from what she wore in Philadelphia, and some belongings — like her wedding ring and cash — were untouched, while others, including her red backpack, were missing. Investigators were puzzled by how and why she ended up in North Carolina, a place she had no known plans to visit. Though her husband was initially considered a suspect, he was later ruled out, and her murder remains unsolved.
It has been theorized that Smith left voluntarily and ran into foul play at some point during her trip.
Authorities briefly looked into the possibility of Smith having been one of Gary Michael Hilton’s victims but could find no link. The serial killer had been active in the Asheville area a decade after Smith was found, and one of his victims had been found tied to a tree near where Smith’s remains were found.
How to help
Anyone with information regarding these or similar cases is urged to contact local police departments, sheriff’s offices, the North Carolina SBI Cold Case Unit or Crime Stoppers.