A 32-year-old man is charged with murder after authorities say he confessed to killing a woman during a fight and then burning her remains in rural Catawba County.
Jermaine Wilkes also is charged with burning personal property and destroying remains to conceal an unintended death, said Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid.
Wilkes was arrested Thursday after firefighters found a woman’s body earlier that day in a burned car in woods off Hopewell Church Road in southeastern Catawba.
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The victim was identified as 22-year-old Brianne Mary Ginty, who authorities said lived about six miles away from where her body was found.
Authorities say Ginty was killed at her home, although they have not yet said how she died. Wilkes told detectives that he drove her car to the wooded area to try to hide the body, and set it on fire.
The landowner was alerted to smoke on his property, and called firefighters, who found the body. The Sheriff’s Office also responded.
Reid said officials used the license plate on the vehicle to identify the victim. He said Wilkes was named a possible suspect after investigators learned he was the last person to be seen with Ginty.
Wilkes was taken into custody after he was seen walking in Iredell County. Reid said Wilkes confessed to the crime during an interview.
The sheriff said Wilkes told detectives he and Ginty got into an argument that escalated and he killed her.
Authorities found a butcher knife and an open window during a search of Ginty’s home, but Reid said neither were related to the killing. Evidence from a possible bloody print was taken to a lab for testing.
During a court appearance Friday, Wilkes was appointed an interim public defender, according to WCNC-TV, the Observer’s news partner.
He is being held without bond, and is due in court again on June 29.
