The body of a man reported missing last year has been found and positively identified. 30-year-old Philip Donald Carter of Connelly Springs was reported missing on June 22, 2022. According to a news release issued today (January 27), the Burke County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the NC State Bureau of Investigations, conducted another search in a remote wooded area near Kayla’s Ridge Road in Connelly Springs.

Investigators discovered a body and they believed it was Philip Donald Carter. Utilizing dental records, the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Winston Salem positively identified the remains as Mr. Carter. Since June 2022, multiple searches have been conducted in the area of Kayla’s Ridge Road where Carter went missing. The searches were conducted by the Burke County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and the Burke County Emergency Management Office.