Daniel Case, 47, of Hendersonville, North Carolina, was reported missing in September 2022 after he failed to show for work at the Meritor plant in Fletcher and could not be reached by his employer or emergency contacts. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office determined foul play was involved. In October 2022 deputies found a vehicle registered to Case being driven by Cecelia Ann Goodman; she said she had last seen Case with Shane Archie Waters on Pinnacle Mountain Road and described an argument between the two men that ended after she heard what she believed were three gunshots from the woods.

When deputies located Waters, he admitted to shooting Case three times in the neck and chest. On December 1, 2022, Waters led investigators to a remote mountainous area where detectives recovered a human skull and scattered bones, a shirt with defects consistent with bullet holes, and evidence of extensive animal scavenging. DNA confirmed the remains were Daniel Case and an autopsy ruled the death a homicide.

Anyone with information about Case, his last movements, or activity on Pinnacle Mountain Road in October 2022 is asked to come forward.