Body in burned building IDd, car sought
By DEUCE NIVEN
FRIDAY UPDATE
One of two women missing from Wilmington has been positively identified as one of the two bodies found burned in a building in northern Columbus County Monday night, a Columbus County Sheriff’s Office news release said Friday.
Tiffany Cartwright, 35, was identified during an autopsy conducted at the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Wilmington. The identity of the second body has not been confirmed, and Eva Jo Jones, Cartwright’s mother, remains missing.
Family members reporting the women missing on Monday said neither had been heard from since midday on Friday, March 31, and they had not appeared as expected at church and work.
Wilmington Police detectives have been unable to locate Jones’ 2002 silver Saturn SL1, with the North Carolina tag YZA5017, and they are asking the public’s assistance in locating the car.
A joint investigation is being conducted between the Wilmington Police Department, Columbus County Sheriff’s Office, Horry County Police Department and N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.
Horry County Police detectives are investigating the apparent suicide Monday of Jeffery Harmon, 42, at his home in Surfside Beach. Harmon is the estranged husband of Sara Harmon, daughter of Jones and sister to Cartwright, The Star News in Wilmington reported.
No additional information will be released at this time, Columbus County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Michelle Tatum said.
Detectives are asking anyone with information on the case, or the car, to call the Wilmington Police Department at 343-3609 or Text-A-Tip by texting “CRIMES” and starting the text with “Tip708.” All texts to Text-A-Tip are anonymous.
WEDNESDAY
Two bodies discovered in a burned building in northern Columbus County Monday night have not been identified, and a investigation into who they were and how they died is underway.
Firefighters dispatched to a brush fire discovered the structure fire, and contacted the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies discovered the bodies inside the burned building, sheriff’s spokeswoman Michelle Tatum said.
Sheriff’s detectives are working with the State Bureau of Investigation “and in collaboration with the District Attorney’s Office,” Tatum said.
An autopsy was conducted Wednesday at the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Raleigh. Additional details, including the location of the fire, will not be released now, Tatum said, to protect the investigation.
Additional details will be posted as they become available, and reported in the next Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.
