Man and woman accused of leaving body in car on rural dirt road, NC sheriff says

A 36-year-old man found dead in a parked car was left there by a couple intent on concealing his death, according to investigators in eastern North Carolina.

The body was discovered March 13 on Dogwood Trails Road west of Parkton, and investigators are still trying to determine a cause of death, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Parkton is about an 80-mile drive southwest from downtown Raleigh.

“The individual was identified as Zachary David Johnson, 36, of Fayetteville (formerly of Vancouver, WA),” the sheriff’s office said. “The preliminary findings from the Medical Examiner’s Office indicate that Johnson’s death does not appear to be the result of a homicide and toxicology results remain pending at this time.”

An investigation has linked the body to Scott Vaughan, 45, of Raeford, and Robin C. Smith, 40, of Fayetteville, officials said.

Vaughan has been arrested and charged with concealment/failure to report death and is being held in jail on unrelated offenses, the sheriff’s office said. Court records report he lives about 9 miles from where the body was discovered.

Smith remains at large and investigators are seeking tips on her whereabouts. She, too, faces a charge of concealment/failure to report death, officials said.