Sallie Rohrbach, 44, Charlotte NC missing since 5/15/08(BODY FOUND)

[klaasend]

Police Launch Search for Missing North Carolina Woman
Sunday , May 18, 2008


 CHARLOTTE, North Carolina —

Police launched an all-out search for a missing North Carolina woman Sunday after her vehicle was found abandoned in a restaurant parking lot about seven blocks away from where she was last seen, it is reported.

According to WRAL.com Sallie Rohrbach, 44, a longtime employee with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, was reportedly last seen at a strip mall in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday.

Authorities located her state-owned 2007 Chevrolet Malibu Sunday morning in the parking lot of a Bojangles restaurant, shortly before 8 a.m, WRAL reported. There was no sign of Rohrbach.

Authorities could not confirm whether foul play had anything to do with her disappearance, according to WRAL.

Law enforcement and fire crews began searching a four- to six-block area around the Bojangles Sunday morning. A police helicopter was being used to assist with the search.

"Our fervent hope is that Sallie is found safe and sound," North Carolina Department of Insurance spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson wrote in a statement obtained by WRAL. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356546,00.html

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Sallie Rohrbach, 44, Missing in Charlotte, NC Since May 15, 2008

http://missingexploited.com/2008/05/18/sallie-rohrbach-44-missing-in-charlotte-nc-since-may-15-2008/

44 year old Sallie Rohrbach, an employee with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, has been missing since May 16, 2008. She was last seen at a strip mall in Charlotte, NC this past Thursday.

Description:

Rohrbach is approximately 5’2”
blond hair
brown eyes
She was last seen on May 14 at the Dilworth Agency at 1427 South Boulevard in Charlotte.

[bleachedblack]

Charlotte man arrested for murder

 05/19/2008 09:09 AM
CHARLOTTE -- Police arrested a Charlotte man in connection with the death of a Harnett County woman. The missing insurance accountant was last seen in the Queen City on Wednesday where she was visiting on business.

Michael Arthur Howell, 40, of Indian Trail, is in jail and charged with the murder of Dilworth Insurance agent Sallie Rohrbach. She disappeared after leaving her company’s agency on South Street in Charlotte.

On Sunday, Charlotte police and firefighters searched around the West Boulevard Bojangles where the 44-year-old woman's car was found. They knocked on doors and showed her picture to neighbors to find out if anyone had seen anything.

Rohrbach worked in the Triangle but made frequent trips to Charlotte on business. She lived in the town of Angier with her husband.

Crime Scene Investigators were gathered evidence late Sunday night at the agency in Charlotte. There is no word yet if police have actually located Rohrbach’s body.

http://news14.com/content/headlines/595861/charlotte-man-arrested-for-murder/Default.aspx

[klaasend]

Charlotte man arrested for murder

 05/19/2008 09:09 AM
CHARLOTTE -- Police arrested a Charlotte man in connection with the death of a Harnett County woman. The missing insurance accountant was last seen in the Queen City on Wednesday where she was visiting on business.

Michael Arthur Howell, 40, of Indian Trail, is in jail and charged with the murder of Dilworth Insurance agent Sallie Rohrbach. She disappeared after leaving her company’s agency on South Street in Charlotte.

On Sunday, Charlotte police and firefighters searched around the West Boulevard Bojangles where the 44-year-old woman's car was found. They knocked on doors and showed her picture to neighbors to find out if anyone had seen anything.

Rohrbach worked in the Triangle but made frequent trips to Charlotte on business. She lived in the town of Angier with her husband.

Crime Scene Investigators were gathered evidence late Sunday night at the agency in Charlotte. There is no word yet if police have actually located Rohrbach’s body.

http://news14.com/content/headlines/595861/charlotte-man-arrested-for-murder/Default.aspx

Wonder if blood was found in her car, enough to determine she is no longer alive?

[bleachedblack]

hmmm nothing seems to mention blood in the car, but they are being pretty quiet about the case, as should be. This article seems to detail better how they determined pretty clearly that Michael Arthur Howell was the last person Sallie Rohrbach was to have met with while carrying out her job as an iinsurance investigator.

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Man charged in missing woman case
Charge is first-degree murder; car was discovered at Bojangles

 May. 19, 2008
A Union County man was arrested overnight and charged with killing a missing state insurance investigator, whose body has not yet been found.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say Michael Arthur Howell, 44, of Indian Trail was charged with first-degree murder and is being held in the Mecklenburg County jail.

He was taken into custody, detectives say, in connection with the disappearance of Sallie Rohrbach, 44. Howell owned and operated Dilworth Insurance Agency, the South Boulevard firm where Rohrbach was investigating a complaint.

Details of the complaint, which would normally be public, are not being released because of the police investigation, Chrissy Pearson, a Department of Insurance spokesman said this morning.

Rohrbach, who disappeared in Charlotte last Wednesday, was assigned to look through files, review Howell's books and interview him, Pearson said.

"We had absolutely no indication this would be anything but routine," Pearson said.

Rohrbach, who lived in Angier, a Harnett County town southeast of Raleigh, was a field examiner. She was typically dispatched to various areas of the state to investigate complaints ranging from an agency not handling books properly or failing to meet requirements to maintain a business.

Often her cases are handed off to criminal investigators. On this case, Rohrbach, who was covering for a colleague, came to Charlotte last Monday. She'd been staying at a hotel in the University City area and was scheduled to return to Raleigh on Friday, Pearson said. She was last seen at the Dilworth Insurance Agency on Wednesday afternoon, Pearson said.

The Dilworth agency was formed in 1985. It was dissolved in 1995, but reinstated in 1997 at which time it was renamed the Boulevard Insurance Agency, according to public documents.

The revenue department suspended Boulevard Insurance in 2004, citing its failure to file income tax paperwork, documents show.

A department spokesman this morning could not immediately provide information about the case.

James Buchanan, another man listed on public documents related to the company, could not be reached Sunday night or this morning.

Howell's dealings with the revenue department are unrelated to his license with the insurance department, which is a separate operation, Pearson said. The insurance department didn't have any complaints or any actions pending against him until recently, she said.

The insurance department this morning called in a minister to help with grieving employees.

"One of the prevailing sentiments here today is of course you look back and wonder what you could have done differently," Pearson said.

Investigators are trained to call in when or if they feel threatened or unsafe while in the field, Pearson said. In fact, Rohrbach had done so in the past.

"If only she'd called in for back up (this time)," she said.

On Sunday, police officers searched for Rohrbach in the South End business district after employees discovered her car that morning at a Bojangles restaurant at West Boulevard and South Tryon Street -- less than a half-mile from Howell's insurance agency.

They set up a command center in the parking lot of Price's Chicken Coop, a takeout restaurant near the Bojangles'. Officers spent the day canvassing the area with help from Charlotte firefighters, tracking dogs and a police helicopter.

Investigators late Sunday night collected evidence from the insurance agency, which they still have cordoned off this morning.

The circumstances surrounding Rohrbach's death are unknown. Police detectives have told reporters her body has not yet been found. Insurance department officials also are unsure of a motive.

Rohrbach's husband, Tim, told The Raleigh News & ******* that he last heard from his wife in an e-mail Tuesday. She had plans with friends in Charlotte on Wednesday night and never showed up, he said.

She also missed an appointment with a field supervisor in Charlotte on Thursday morning. Then she didn't connect as planned with friends on Thursday night, Pearson said.

Insurance department staff reported her missing Friday evening to Charlotte police after being unable to find anyone who'd seen her, Pearson said.

Rohrbach, who worked for the Insurance Department for eight years and had a reputation for being a thorough and conscientious employee.

"Right now we are in a grieving period,{quot} Pearson said. "It's going to take us some time to get over the shock of it, and we have a lot of work ahead of us."

http://www.charlotte.com/217/story/630455.html

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Here is the pic of  guy arrested.

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Michael Arthur Howell

[Nut44x4]

BODY FOUND

FORT MILL, S.C. -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg investigators confirm they have found the body of murdered insurance investigator Sallie Rohrbach.
York County Sheriff's Office investigators found her body in a heavily wooded area off Vista Road near Pleasant Road in Fort Mill.

"It was a short distance off the roadway," said Lt. Jerry Hoffman of the York County Sheriff's Office. "There's not an obvious manner of death. Persons who are working with the body cannot, at this point, determine how she died."

Rohrbach's body was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

Hoffman said that York investigators had been searching the area when the body was found.

"We were searching this area for some information that CMPD had come across," Hoffman said.

Hoffman said it appeared the body had been in the area for a few days.

Rohrbach was last seen alive on Wednesday. Michael Arthur Howell is charged with first-degree murder in her death.

Rohrbach, a Department of Insurance investigator, traveled to Charlotte early last week to audit Howell's Dilworth Insurance Agency.

She was supposed to meet with a supervisor from the agency on Thursday and when she didn’t check in, red flags went up, prompting them to check in with her husband and then police.

A search Sunday turned up Rohrbach’s car at a Bojangles parking lot about a mile from the insurance agency, but WCNC spoke with a worker there who says she remembers seeing the car in the parking lot as early as Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities say Rohrbach's slaying was connected to her duties as an auditor, and that evidence was found in both her car and Howell's vehicle.

Howell, 40, made an initial court appearance Tuesday. Public defender Susan Weigand appeared with Howell and argued he cannot afford to pay for two attorneys, so he would be entitled as a defendant in a capital murder case.

The request was denied. District Court Judge Bill Constangy -- citing Howell's $6,000 monthly income and liability insurance -- ruled he has enough income to pay for his own defense.

The N.C. Department of Insurance, where Rohrbach had been employed, issued this statement on Tuesday:

"The news this evening that Sallie's body was found brings conflicting emotions to those of us at the Department of Insurance. We are devastated that all hope is lost, but we also find a sense of closure in knowing that we can lay to rest our dear friend and colleague with the dignity and respect she deserves. Not knowing where to find her was torturous, so at least in that regard there is some relief.

"We pray for peace for Sallie's family and want them to know that we grieve with them.

"Finally, we send our sincere thanks to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. Their response to this case was, in our minds, exceptional, and we commend them for their professionalism. Thank you, CMPD, for bringing closure to those who knew and loved Sallie."
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stori....112510ae.html

[Red]

Another sad but not surprising outcome.

Wonder whether the suspect gave up the location to save himslef fron the death penalty. Not sure if NC has one.

They certainly found this guy really fast and located her body quickly.

Wonder if he tried to use her credit cards or something.

[bleachedblack]

 Sad news........ They did find her quickly.....

[Bearlyhere]

He must have panicked and killed her.  He left too much evidence around to have truly thought anything out.  They say there was a lot of blood.

AT least there is closure for her family and friends but that is not much in the way of consolation, this was so unexpected for them, so sad.