T. J. ROYAL
Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said the human remains found on Seven Bridges Road near Rocky Mount on June 29 have been identified.
Knight said the remains are those of Jarniece Latonya "Sunshine" Hargrove, 31, of Anchor Court in Rocky Mount. Hargrove, a black woman, had been reported missing since May 3.
Knight said previously that his office received a call about the remains around 4:33 p.m. on June 29. They were found "just inside the wooded area" on Seven Bridges Road, near the Battleboro Leggett Road intersection, by a person working in a field near there, Knight said.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has joined the investigation into the deaths of Hargrove and four other black women, whose remains have been found near Rocky Mount since May 2005.
Four of the remains have been found near Seven Bridges Road, while the first set of remains was found off of Old Farm Road just outside of Rocky Mount.
Knight would not comment Tuesday about whether the five cases are related.
The other remains have been identified as:
• Melody Wiggins, 29, of Rocky Mount, whose remains were found May 29, 2005 off of Old Farm Road, south of U.S. 64.
• Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, whose remains were found Aug. 17, 2007, in a wooded area in the 6700 Block of Seven Bridges Road near Whitakers.
• Ernestine Battle, 50, of 619 Branch St. in Rocky Mount, whose remains were found in a clearing near Seven Bridges and Wells roads on March 13, 2008.
• Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, of 218 N. Raleigh St. in Rocky Mount, whose remains were found March 7, 2009, in the woods off Marriott Road by people riding on all-terrain vehicles, Knight previously said. Marriott Road connects Seven Bridges Road to Pearsall and Marriott streets.
The state Chief Medical Examiner's toxicology reports for Battle, Thorpe and Wiggins did not detect any opiates, or drugs like cocaine, within their systems at the time of their deaths.
The Chief Medical Examiner's autopsy report on Wiggins said that she likely died as a result of blunt force trauma injuries to the right side of her head. She also had "cutting injuries to the chest, arms, hands, back and buttocks," the report stated.
