Update: The Ashe County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a suspect into the death of 29-year-old Miranda Wiles that occurred along N.C. 88 in Laurel Springs at about 1 a.m. Friday morning.
Sheriff James Williams said that a domestic dispute began at an apartment near Jerry’s Midway Market that is located along the highway. He said shortly there after Wiles was either near or on the road when Jacob Edwin Johnson, the boyfriend of Wiles, struck Wiles with Wiles’ vehicle.
Williams said he didn’t know how fast Johnson was driving.
“It was fast enough to kill her,” Williams said, adding that Johnson then fled the scene.
Johnson, 30, was taken into custody two miles from the scene around 11 a.m.
N.C. 88 in between Sheets Bridge on N.C. 16 and Peak Creek Road is currently closed as the investigation continues. Williams said that a helicopter is flying over the scene taking aerial photographs as of 11:30 a.m.
“It shouldn’t be too long before the road is open,” Williams said.
Ashe Sheriff’s Office, Highway Patrol, SBI Investigate Suspected Homicide on N.C. 88 in Laurel Springs
By Jesse Wood
Aug. 9, 2013. The Ashe County Sheriff’s Office, N.C. Highway Patrol and the SBI are investigating a suspected homicide that occurred in the middle of the night in Laurel Springs.
At about 1 a.m. Friday, officers responded to the scene, which is located near Jerry’s Midway Market along N.C. 88, and initially thought it was a traffic accident leading to the death of a pedestrian, but after analyzing scene, investigators determined that the area was a crime scene as a woman was allegedly ran down. The investigation and manhunt for the driver is ongoing.
Ashe County Sheriff James Williams didn’t immediately return phone calls on Friday morning.
WSOC-TV reported, “Investigators said the woman was struck along the roadway a short distance from where she lived with family members in an apartment above a convenience store in the Laurel Springs area.”
Williams told The Jefferson Post that the woman was 29 years old but would not release the name of the Laurel Springs resident. He also added that this appears to have been a domestic dispute.
As of this morning, N.C. 88 in between Sheets Bridge on N.C. 16 and Peak Creek Road is currently closed as the investigation continues.
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