Two charred bodies found inside a burned vehicle in Greene County

Two charred bodies were found inside a burned-out vehicle in rural Greene County during Thursday afternoon.

Investigators said they believed it could be related to a missing persons case launched last week after Antwan and James Cox — 26- and 24-year-old brothers from the Lindell Community, north of Snow Hill — were reported missing by their mother.

The bodies were sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Greenville. Greene County Sheriff Lemmie Smith said he’s asked for DNA tests to be expedited in order to determine whether the remains are those of the Cox brothers.

“The car was completely charred,” Smith, who came across the vehicle himself behind an abandoned hog farm off Knox School Road in Walstonburg, said. “Nothing but the frame was left.

“The tires were burned off the rims.”

On July 23, the men’s mother, Earline Artis, told the sheriff’s office her sons left at about 1 p.m. the day before to pick up some tires in Falkland. They were driving a Dodge Durango with chrome-rimmed wheels.

Smith said the vehicle found Thursday matched that description, spurring the sheriff’s office and the State Bureau of Investigation to launch a homicide case.

“That’s what we’re taking it as,” he said. “We feel like there’s some foul play involved.”

Smith said there were multiple persons of interest.

“We’re running down any lead we get, trying to determine what happened,” he said.

Some residents of the quiet farming community between Walstonburg and Farmville, where the bodies were found, believed the bodies were those of the brothers and speculated they were involved in criminal activity, which led to their deaths. Both brothers have drug convictions according to the N.C. Department of Corrections.

Several residents who lived on Knox School Road feared for their own safety.

But, the shared sentiment regarding the incident was shock.

“This is a quiet place,” Skip Harris, a lifelong Greene County resident, said. “Nothing like this happens out here.”

Reginald Speight, who lives near where the vehicle was found, agreed.

“It’s messed up,” he said. “I feel sorry for the family.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the world to have this happen out here.”

Willie Farmer, who lives across the street from the Cox brothers’ home – 10 miles from the vehicle site – said the men came from a good family. He said Artis called him the day after the men were supposed to be home, but had not returned.

“They seemed all right to me,” he said. “I didn’t see them that much.

“It’s bad when this happens — it doesn’t matter who it is.”

Smith said he did not know when he’d have DNA results confirming the identity of the bodies.

Justin Schoenberger can be reached at (252) 559-1075 or jschoenberger@freedomenc.com.