Missing North Carolina Couple: Two Bodies Found In Vehicle Potentially Connected To Case

Police in Wilmington, North Carolina, discovered two dead bodies in a vehicle found hidden in the woods on Monday, per a report from WECT News. According to Interim Police Chief Donny Williams, a grey 2013 Dodge Dart matched the one driven by Stephanie Mayorga and Paige Escalera, a lesbian couple that went missing on April 15.

The has been no official confirmation if the bodies are actually Mayorga and Escalera, but it has been confirmed that the vehicle is registered to Escalera. Police have closed off the area while an investigation is conducted.

“Due to the effects of decomposition, police cannot positively identify the two bodies at this time,” the department said in a Facebook statement.

Mayorga, 27, and Escalera, 25, were reported missing by their roommate after leaving under suspicious circumstances. Mayorga’s phone has been turned off since she went missing and Escalera’s was left at home and later turned over to police as evidence.

According to family members, Escalera had been blocking friends on Facebook, which many said was extremely unlike her to do. Investigators found no evidence of foul play in the couples’ apartment but conceded that their disappearance was “suspicious.”

“It is not unusual for persons of this age group to be spontaneous,” Wilmington Police Chief Thomas Tilmon said at a press conference shortly after the couple was reported missing. “It was unusual that the roommates did not come back home and that they had left their property.”