After Man's Wife Is Found Dead, Investigators Say They Will Take 2nd Look at Previous Wife's Death

Rexford Keel's first wife died after a fall at their home, authorities said.
Investigators have named Rexford Keel as a person of interest in his wife's death.Facebook

After a North Carolina man's missing wife was found dead by the side of a road, authorities now say they are taking another look at the death of his first wife.

After a North Carolina man's missing wife was found dead by the side of a road, authorities now say they are taking another look at the death of his first wife.

Diana Alejandra Keel, 38, was reported missing March 9 by her 18-year-old daughter, who told Nash County sheriff's deputies she hadn't been able to reach her mother for days. Keel's body was discovered Tuesday by state Department of Transportation workers about 30 miles from her home.

Following an autopsy, her death was ruled a homicide and her husband, Rexford Lynn Keel, has been named a person of interest, the sheriff's office said in a statement. He was questioned and released Tuesday, and is cooperating with investigators, deputies said. He has not been charged in his wife's death.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said investigators will now revisit the 2006 death of Elizabeth Keel, Rexford's first wife. At the time, the medical examiner's office ruled she died in an accidental fall after hitting her head on the concrete steps fronting the couple's home. It is the same house where Rexford lived with Diana.

Elizabeth's family has questioned autopsy results that said her death was an accident.

The sheriff's office will work with the FBI and other agencies in investigating both deaths, according to CNN.

"Definitely there's a killer on the loose and we're doing everything we can," Stone said at a Wednesday press conference. 

A message left with the sheriff's office by InsideEdition.com was not immediately returned.

Rexford said he last saw his wife on March 8, when she left to run some errands, Stone said. He said his wife often stayed away for days at a time, the sheriff said. 

Her car remained at the house, investigators said.

She was an emergency room nurse and her co-workers said she hadn't shown up for work for a few days, which was not like her, investigators said. 

She was a devoted mother to her college student daughter and 10-year-old son, and wouldn't have voluntarily left her boy alone, her family said.

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