Man found on dead end road near popular NC lake was dumped there, sheriff says
Less than two weeks after finding on the side of a road a Salisbury man dead from mysterious causes, deputies have charged two people with dumping his body — and accuse them of doing so after he overdosed on drugs.
The body of 56-year-old Rodney Craig Edwards was found April 2 along File Road in eastern Rowan County, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release Wednesday. That’s near the Cane Creek section of High Rock Lake, and the dead end road where he was found leads to the popular lake.
Investigators said they arrested 39-year-old Jonathan Paul Holshouser and 40-year-old Bobbi Jo Rowland on Tuesday, each on a charge of felony concealment of death.
Investigators believe Edwards overdosed in his home on Hartley Road “in the company of Holshouser and Rowland days before his body was found,” according to the news release. WBTV previously reported turkey hunters in the area stumbled upon Edwards’ body and called police.
File Road is a dead end that leads down to the lake and only has one home, sheriff’s Major John Sifford told The Charlotte Observer. Edwards was found in a grassy field area beside the road, the major said.
High Rock Lake is the second-largest lake in the state behind Lake Norman, according to Visit NC. The reservoir on the Yadkin River is popular with boaters and fishermen.
Holshouser and Rowland remained in the Rowan County Detention Center Wednesday morning, according to Sifford. Holshouser was jailed on $100,000 bail and Rowland on $30,000 bail pending their first court appearance jail records show.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 10:18 AM.