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By LANCE MARTIN

rrspin.com

GASTON – A man who in April had a murder charge dismissed was found deceased near here Wednesday morning following the report of a vehicle crash off Interstate 95.

First Sergeant Levern Bynum of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said the man was identified as Ronnie Washington, 42, of Weldon.

The crash scene was discovered around 11:30 a.m. by two men working on a billboard just north of the 180 mile marker in the Gaston area.

From a preliminary investigation, Bynum said the vehicle Washington was driving went off the road to the right, struck a sign pole and continued in the woodline before colliding with a tree.

There had been no prior notification of a crash before the men working on the billboard called authorities. The vehicle was so deep in the woodline it could not be observed from the roadway, Bynum said.

The first sergeant said a thorough investigation is being conducted to determine several unknown factors that include the actual date and time of the crash.

In 2018 Washington had been charged with murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old Andrew Bell in the area of West Tenth and Franklin streets in Roanoke Rapids.

eCourts records show that on April 2 the charge was dismissed due to the special condition of insufficient evidence.

Anyone with information about the wreck is encouraged to the Highway Patrol at 252-200-3490, Halifax County Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444, Crimestoppers Pays, or Northampton County Crimestoppers at 252-645-9026.

(Lance Martin is the Editor and Publisher of www.rrspin.com. Permission was received to publish this story.)