Pet Duck Leads Police To Body Of Grandmother Missing For More Than Two Years

A pet duck showed North Carolina police the way to a missing grandmother’s body and helped investigators crack the two-year-old case. The victim's granddaughter and grandson-in-law are now charged with the woman’s murder, officials said.

Nellie Sullivan disappeared some time in 2020, according to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.

On April 21 this year, Sullivan’s 46-year-old granddaughter, Angela Wamsley, and grandson-in-law, 50-year-old Mark Barnes were formally charged with the elderly woman’s first-degree murder.

Barnes and Wamsley, a married couple, were taken into custody on Dec. 17, 2020, when the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation into Sullivan's disappearance.

"It became pretty apparent almost immediately that Miss Sullivan had disappeared under what can be said suspicious circumstances," Sgt. Mark Walker, with the Major Case Unit told WLOS News 13.

Initially, they were arrested on a variety of charges, including, misdemeanor animal cruelty, unlawfully reconnecting a utility, animal abandonment and synthetic cannabinoid possession.

Barnes was additionally charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

"Detectives executed multiple search warrants and seized documents relevant to the case at the onset of the investigation," the sheriff’s office said.

Further investigation revealed that the couple allegedly continued to collect Sullivan's benefits checks and also allegedly continued to fill her prescriptions.

"On December 20, 2021, Mr. Barnes was charged with concealing a death and Ms. Wamsley received the same charge on January 7, 2021," the statement from sheriff's office's read. "Wamsley was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a Detention Officer at the Buncombe County Detention Facility in January of 2021."

The investigation took a turn on April 14, when a pet duck escaped its owners and scurried under a trailer in Candler, N.C.

The owners’ efforts to reclaim the duck led them to discover a container in which Sullivan's body was being hidden, according to reports.

"Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office attended the autopsy of the body found last week in Candler. It was determined that the body was that of Ms. Sullivan and that probable cause existed to charge Barnes and Wamsley, who are husband and wife," the statement from the sheriff's office read.

Investigators are working to determine how long ago Sullivan was killed. Officials say she would be 93 today if she was still alive.

"Her remains have been sent to an anthropologist for further examination just so we can try to nail down exactly how long she’s been deceased," Walker added. "We do know it was multiple years."

"If I could give that duck a medal, I would," Walker said.

"Instead of receiving the care she needed from those that are supposed to love her the most, she received the exact opposite in the worst possible way," Walker added.