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CHARLOTTE, NC — New developments are coming to the surface in the murder of an elderly woman in East Charlotte.
Crime tape was still hanging on a fence Tuesday outside the family home where police say William Henry Yongue killed Imogene Yongue, his mother.
“We don’t know what to think. We really don’t,” said Lolane Yongue.
She’s is grasping for answers: why would her cousin kill her aunt? She says he’s an attorney and his mother was a retired English professor.
“We’re hurt,” said Lolane. “I feel sorry for him as well.”
Police won’t release a motive for the murder… and won’t say how Imogene died.
Officers first came to her home on Vernedale Rd. Monday evening for a welfare check. Investigators won’t say who called to request that service.
Inside, they say they found the 88-year-old dead.
“You’re hoping for the best, that the outcome was not what it ended up being,” said Lolane. After questioning Imogene’s only son, police arrested him.
Tom Osiecki was next door.
“It was a complete shock,” said Osiecki. “I assumed it was old age that she had passed.”
WCCB Charlotte called the son’s law office in Virginia. The call went to his personal line’s voice mail.
Family says Imogene taught at Johnson C. Smith University.
She was part of Duke University’s documentary about segregation in North Carolina.
“It makes us very proud,” said Lolane. “She was fun and loving and very welcoming.”
Now, the Yongue family grieves together two days before Christmas.
“It’s just hard to be joyous at this point,” said Lolane.
William Yongue is still in jail with no bond.
