Sheriff says man may have been taken after wife killed

By: Associated Press | SCNow
Published: November 14, 2007

» Comments | Post a Comment

BREVARD, N.C. (AP) - Investigators say the person who killed an elderly woman on a North Carolina hiking trail could have kidnapped her husband to access the couple's bank account.



Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney says it's possible 79-year-old John Bryant was taken to provide the account's identification number.



A bank surveillance photo shows a person using the Bryants' banking card to withdraw $300 from a bank in Ducktown, Tennessee, on October 22. The hood of the jacket obscures the person's face.



The state medical examiner says Bryant's wife, 84-year-old Irene Bryant, died from a blow to the head. Her body was found last Friday, but her husband hasn't been located.



The Henderson County couple had been missing for three weeks before the search was called off.