North Carolina Human Remains Identified as Man Who Went Missing Over 10 Years Ago

Human remains found in woods in North Carolina have been identified as a 34-year-old man who vanished in 2011, officials said Tuesday.

Michael Dwayne Wilkerson went missing in September 2011 in the Asheboro area, according to the News & Observer. The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office said that the same day Wilkerson disappeared, a totaled pickup truck was discovered with no one inside.

Officials did not say if the pickup truck belonged to the deceased but they did say that a cellphone belonging to him was inside and was last used around 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2011, the last day his family saw him, the News & Observer reported.

“The last call made on Michael’s phone had been made about 2:30 a.m.,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “A highway patrol trooper arrived on the scene at approximately 5:15 a.m. in response to a passerby’s report of the wreck.”

On March 6, 2022, officials said they received a tip that human remains were found in Randolph County near New Hope Church Road, Fox 3 reported.

Now, after weeks of DNA testing, police were able to identify the remains as Wilkerson and made the news public this week, News 2 reported.

Cops say they still do not know what caused Wilkerson’s death, and that the investigation is still ongoing and considered a cold case.

Related Stories