Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
February is sweeps month, so you can expect WLOSers to be jumping all over any and all breaking news.
Here’s what they had on Monday:
Body found: Live team coverage
WLOSers Heather Graf and Sheraldo brought us the story they’d been hinting at over the weekend – the skeleton found Saturday in Nantahala National Forest was that of John Bryant. He and his wife went missing last October down in Transylvania County. His wife was found beaten to death in Pisgah National Forest there, but John Bryant had been missing until a hunter found the remains in Macon County, about two hours away.
Heather said the hunter found a skull and spine. An autopsy confirmed the identity. There was a brief interview with the hunter, Mark Waldroop, with a promise of more at 11. Heather said Macon County residents were shocked, and she quoted one person as saying the news “makes you feel creepy.” There were prayers for closure for the Bryant family, Heather said.
In Translyvania County, Sheraldo talked to a neighbor of the Bryants who said it’s good to have a body so family can straighten out affairs, but there will never be closure. The Tranyslvania County sheriff says the investigation into all this is not closed. The sheriff believes Gary Hilton is the prime suspect in the case, but he hasn’t been charged. Hilton pleaded guilty last week to killing a woman and leaving her body in a north Gerogia forest.
In other news…
Diva Darcel stressed that another body found in Macon County is not connected to the Bryant case. Somebody found the body of a woman at the entrance to Whiteside Mountain Trail. Police think she may have gotten locked out of her car and died of exposure… A Candler man broke into a Black Mountain home last month, but this was still news on Monday for some reason.
In other news of the weird…
Somebody broke into Advantage Auto Parts in Canton and stole 40 to 50 used car batteries that were going to be recycled. It happened late Friday or early Saturday… The woman who died in a Waynesville car wash a couple of months ago was crushed to death. The 64-year-old dropped some change, leaned out of her SUV to get it, then was crushed when the car moved forward and she was pinned… A fire under the Russ Avenue bridge in Waynesville created a lot of smoke… There’s lots of vacant commercial space in south Buncombe County… Buncombe County Commissioner David Gantt says he’ll run for board chairman against Chairman Nathan Ramsey.
In weather news..
It rained Monday. It was warm and is supposed to get up to 70 degrees on Tuesday (crazy!), then it will rain some more and probably get colder.
Some traffic news…
Three months ago, the town of Hendersonville got rid of all its stoplights and went to four-way stops at all of its intersections. Kassandra Pride said somebody did a study that showed pedestrians don’t trust drivers to pay attention or something. She talked to some old people – slow walkers – who said they need to go back to the stoplights…. And the city of Asheville is creating a bike plan and wants your thoughts about it. WLOSers didn’t explain how a resident could participate in the planning. But I’ll help you:
Go here to read about the plan and see the link to the draft plan. You can send an email from that page as well. For more information, call Barb Mee at 232-4540.
