Authorities scour remote area near Black Mountain for human remains
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BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WLOS) — A Candler man has been charged with concealing a death, and authorities spent Thursday searching for human remains.
Mark Alan Barnes, 49, and Angela Wamsley, 45, were taken into custody Wednesday night on open warrants.
Buncombe County Sheriff’s investigators spent Thursday on Shumont Road in a rural part of Black Mountain searching for a body after interviewing the couple. Investigators have not said who is missing.
“We’ve identified there’s a potential death involved in this,” said Capt. John Ledford, head of the sheriff’s office’s criminal investigations unit. “We’re attempting to see if we can locate that body.”
Ledford said federal investigators informed his office there was a non-violent crime allegedly involving Barnes, which led to the start of an investigation into a missing person.
“It’s highly unlikely this death occurred recently, but rather from several years past,” Ledford said.
“This is just a remote section of Buncombe County,” said Mitch Freeman, who lives near Shumont Road. “You’re almost in Rutherford County.”
Freeman knew Barnes’ father and said the father had begun building a home that was never finished.
“It’s now dilapidated, and you can see it on the property up the road beyond the trees,” Freeman said.
The Buncombe County coroner, who arrived on scene about 11 a.m. Thursday said there was nothing to report yet.
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