Irene Bryant Murdered, John Bryant Missing

Held off on this one, as I wasn’t sure where it was headed. But since this is now a homicide investigation, I figured we should get this posted.

HORSE SHOE — Bob Bryant alerted authorities that his parents Irene, 84, and John, 79, had not come back from a hiking trip in the Pisgah National Forest. Crews worked for three days before finding the body of Irene Bryant, 84, partially covered by leaves about 25 yards from their vehicle. A medical examiner later found Bryant had been killed from blunt force trauma to the head. The couple’s bank card had been used to withdraw $300 from an ATM in Ducktown, Tenn and photos taken from bank surveillance cameras show a person wearing a yellow rain jacket withdrawing money at 7:35 p.m. The hood of the rain jacket obscures the person’s identity. Initially thought to be a missing hikers case, the search efforts first used dogs that are not trained to search for dead bodies. Because of the three-week lag to the massive search area and the two-state crime scene authorties haven’t had any luck in the case.

Here is the timeline of events so far: [Read more...]