ELLERBE – Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office beleive a would-be thief died several weeks ago trying to steal a catalytic converter.
Deputies found the body of an unidentified male Tuesday morning off of Sandhill Game Management Road, according to Maj. Jay Childers.
He said it appears the male was trying to remove the catalytic converter from underneath a car when the jack collapsed and pinned him underneath.
Judging by the condidition of the body, Childers said it looks like the body had been there for several weeks.
Childers said the body would be sent to the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office in Raleigh for positive identification.
Richmond County deputies are also working with the Moore County Sheriff’s Office on the case, Childers added, as someone matching that description was last seen June 15 and reported missing the following day.
The Rockingham Police Department is also investigating several recent catalytic converter thefts.
One was reported taken off of a 2010 Ford F-250 at Champion Ford on July 17; another was removed from a 1990 Ford F-150 in the parking lot of Derby’s Tailory (a box of ratchet straps was also reported stolen) on July 18; and one was reportedly cut off of a Toyota Tundra in the parking lot of Perdue Farms, causing an estimated $500 in damage to the vehicle’s exhaust system on July 19.
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