Authorities are continuing to seek a suspect wanted in connection to a missing person case in Burke County. The individual being sought by the Burke County Sheriff’s Office is 24-year-old Mark Anthony Ortiz of Hickory.

On July 12, 2022, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office regarding a missing person case. Catawba County authorities said the missing person, Anthony John Jaworsky, of Catawba County, was last seen by his family in the Conover area on July 13, 2021. Jaworsky’s vehicle had been found along Interstate 40 in Iredell County by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol shortly after Jaworsky was reported missing.

Burke and Catawba County Investigators along with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation served a search warrant at an address on Curley’s Fish Camp Road in Hildebran. During the search, evidence was found leading to an arrest warrant being issued for Mark Anthony Ortiz for felonious disposal of a body and felonious obstruction of justice.

As of earlier today (January 30), Ortiz had not been arrested. The investigation is continuing and additional information will be released as it becomes available. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Ortiz is asked to contact the Burke County Sheriff’s Office at 828-438-5500 or Morganton/Burke County Crime Stoppers at 828-437-3333.