Deputies Arrest Two In Death of Lincolnton Man

LINCOLNTON, N.C. — Two people are behind bars in connection to the 2021 murder of a Lincolnton man.

On July 13, 2021, Lincoln County Sheriff deputies were called to Smith Farm Road in reference to a suspicious vehicle. The vehicle was off the roadway in a secluded wooded area. Deputies say, when they noticed the vehicle was unoccupied they attempted to search the area. A K-9 was brought in to help with the search and alerted officials to the body of an unidentified male.

The body was sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem where the man was identified as 37-year-old William Buster McCarter.

On February 9, 2023, detectives arrested and charged 31-year-old Madison Lail and 38 year-old Thomas Mathis with first-degree murder.

Mathis was taken into custody in Lancaster, South Carolina. Officials say he will be extradited to Lincoln County. Lail is currently being held in the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center without bond.