Police in North Carolina have announced that the body of a Black inmate who escaped prison has been found in a wooded area in Berite County, North Carolina. The inmate identified as Kevin Singleton, 26, escaped from the Chowan County Detention Center on March 29, 2016. Singleton used a homemade shank fashioned from a toothbrush to force a guard to open locked doors.
Singleton had been in jail since January on charges of armed robbery and second-degree kidnapping after he robbed a store clerk and tried to kidnap the clerk before he stole his car and was captured by police. He was also awaiting extradition to Charlotte on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
An extensive search of nearby woods and abandoned houses turned up no trace of the escaped inmate. Initially, police suspected that Singleton’s grandmother and sister might have aided in his escape but later dismissed them as possible suspects because their vehicles were still present during the search. It was determined that he did not have any assistance from the outside when he escaped through a delivery area at the jail. The initial search for Singleton was hampered by rain and the police dogs lost the scent of the escaped prisoner.
According to police, a hunter discovered Singleton’s naked and decapitated body in an open field last week at least 15 miles away from the Chowan County Detention Center. The body was severely decomposed and police have not located his missing head. Law enforcement identified his body on Tuesday and Chowan County Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin stated, “We have interviewed a ton of people. We don’t have a motive or anything at this point — no suspect, no motive.”
Police are perplexed by both the close proximity of Singleton’s body to the prison and why he was naked and headless.
