Inset left: Tara Jackson (Catawba County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Cecil Ray Traylor Jr. (Catawba County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The home in Caldwell County, North Carolina, where law enforcement was searching for clues on David Mize’s disappearance (WBTV/YouTube).
In a shocking case out of North Carolina, a man and woman are facing accusations of murdering a Vietnam War veteran, concealing his remains, and subsequently burglarizing his residence.
Tara Jackson and Cecil Ray Traylor Jr., both aged 35, have been charged with the murder of 75-year-old David Mize. The news was made public by the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office earlier this week.
Authorities were alerted to conduct a welfare check at Mize’s Swinging Bridge Road residence on Tuesday. Although they found no one present, deputies noticed “evidence of foul play” upon their arrival.
Subsequent investigations took the detectives to another site within Catawba County, specifically Valley Hills Mall. According to officials, the pair allegedly murdered Mize at his home, placed his body in his car’s trunk, and abandoned the vehicle at the mall, as reported by Charlotte’s ABC affiliate, WSOC.
The vehicle was later discovered at a towing facility in Caldwell County, located to the northwest of Catawba County.
Investigators say the pair went back to Mize’s home after the murder in order to steal from him. They were ultimately arrested, with WSOC capturing the moment Jackson was put in handcuffs.
“Did you know David Mize?” a reporter asks her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responds.
The reporter then asks, “Were you involved in the murder?”
“No,” Jackson snaps, later adding, “I have a 7-week-old baby I’m trying to get back home to.”
Though Jackson and Traylor have been charged, the investigation was still ongoing as of Wednesday, authorities stressed. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office are helping the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office determine exactly what took place.
Mize’s friend, Sherrill Baxter, said his death “was a big loss for all of us, for anyone who really knew who he was. … Because people who actually knew him, he was a solid individual. He really was.”
Baxter remembered him as a decorated Vietnam War veteran and said that “everything he did was somewhat militarily involved,” per local CBS affiliate WBTV. “There’s times he had to come get me if I broke down or something. I’d call him up and he’d be right there.”
Catawba County is located about an hour north of Charlotte, North Carolina.
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