MORGANTON, NC — An elderly man murdered in Burke County, then buried in a shallow grave outside his own house. Investigators are trying to figure out who killed him and why.
Family members found blood inside the 74-year-old’s home on Rose Carswell Road at Jenkins Road in Morganton and called police. The Burke County Sheriff’s Office are not releasing a possible motive or who killed 74-year-old John Clarke.
Clarke’s family, who live a few hundred feet from his house on Rose Carswell Road went over to check on him Thursday when they noticed there were no lights on. We’re told they found blood trails in the kitchen and on the back porch. That led them to the back yard, where they found a mound of dirt and a hole in the ground, with Clarke’s body buried inside.
The State Bureau of Investigation and Burke County Sheriff’s Office spent the day going door-to-door interviewing neighbors to find out if anyone saw someone digging in the backyard.
Family members say they last saw Clarke alive on Wednesday around 6pm. They tell WCCB he was a sweet man who never bothered anyone, and they don’t know why someone would do this.
