Car found in culvert had body in it, NC cops say. It was man reported as missing

A car found stuck in a rural culvert had a body in it, and closer inspection revealed it was a man reported as being missing, according to investigators in eastern North Carolina.

The driver has been identified as 51-year-old Joseph W. Worthington III, of Ayden, the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office said in a Feb. 10 news release.

The discovery was made around noon on Monday, Feb. 9, in the unincorporated Stokestown community, about a 100-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.

“Deputies located a wrecked vehicle with a deceased occupant on family land, off Stokestown-St. John Road near Hanrahan Road,” the sheriff’s office said. “The vehicle was stuck in a culvert and was not visible from the roadway.”

The body was turned over to a medical examiner to determine a cause of death, officials said.

Worthington was last seen in the Stokestown area on Saturday, Feb. 7, and his family filed a missing person’s report on Sunday evening, officials said.

Investigators did not release details of how deputies located the wrecked vehicle.