LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – Lumberton Police located a female body behind a vacant residence on 8th Street Saturday morning, and the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office has now identified the body.
On Wednesday, Captain Terry Parker with the Lumberton Police Department confirmed that the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office in Raleigh identified the woman as 28-year-old Megan Ann Oxendine. Oxendine’s last known address was on Dwight Road in Lumberton, approximately nine miles away from where her body was discovered.
The body was found to be “very badly decomposed” but a cause of death has not been determined, nor has a time of death, according to Captain Parker.
Oxendine is the third woman found dead in a three-block area of Lumberton.
Two badly decomposed bodies were found across the street from each other on April 18. One was found inside a home and the other was found in a trash can. One body, identified as Christina Bennett, 32, was found at 505 Peachtree St. The other woman, identified as Rhonda Jones, 36, was found in a trash can at 702 East Fifth St., police said.
Investigators have not released how any of the women died, nor have they named any suspects in the deaths. Police have said that all three deaths are being considered suspicious and they’re unsure if the deaths are connected.
“We aren’t sure if they are related, but we are considering it,” Captain Parker said.
According to News13 sister station, WNCN, Oxendine was at least alive in mid-April when she spoke with WNCN about the death of her friend, Rhonda Jones.
“I mean, I don’t comprehend with stuff like this too good,” said Megan Oxendine, a friend of Rhonda Jones. “I don’t understand how somebody could do somebody’s child, mother, niece, like that.”
Oxendine said Jones, a mother of five, was a sweet and a good person
“I never see her act out or nothing,” she said. “She was just quiet she didn’t really mess with too many people.”
The Lumberton Police Department, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office Investigator all worked the crime scene. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Jennifer White or Detective David Williford at the Lumberton police Department, at (910) 671-3845.