COLERAIN – Kendall Floyd Riddick, 26, has been charged in the murder of a 19-year-old Bertie County woman.

Riddick was arrested at approximately 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday by officers from the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and the State Bureau of Investigation.

He was taken into custody at 515 Sand Hill Road near Colerain without incident and charged with first degree murder in the stabbing death of Jessica Riddick. He has been placed in the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail under no bond and made his first court appearance Wednesday.

Tuesday afternoon, BCSO deputies found what they believe to be the murder weapon near the scene of the crime.

“A kitchen knife was found a good ways away from the body, under the water in a ditch,” Bertie County Sheriff Greg Atkins stated.

If the knife is indeed the murder weapon, law enforcement officials believe it must have been thrown in the ditch after the victim was stabbed.

Atkins reported his officers were summoned to Black Rock Road on Thursday at approximately 6 p.m. after they were notified a vehicle was located in a wooded area.

When officers arrived, they found Riddick’s lifeless body near a vehicle.

“The apparent cause of death is a stab wound,” Atkins said.

The sheriff said the vehicle apparently passed through a mobile home park before winding up in the woods.

“Based on the (tire) tracks, the vehicle went through the trailer park area at a high rate of speed, passed through a soybean field and then 35 yards into a wooded area,” Atkins said.