Nona Stamey Cobb was 29 when she was murdered on July 7, 1992. Her body was found on the northbound side of Interstate 77 in Surry County, North Carolina; an autopsy determined she had been strangled. She had last been seen the night before at the Welcome Center on Interstate 85 in Cleveland County, where she got into a truck driven by an unidentified man.

Early in the investigation deputies questioned Asheboro trucker Sean Patrick Goble about three years after the killing. DNA from semen on Cobb’s body later excluded Goble. In April 2021 investigators re-examined the evidence and, with assistance from Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and forensic genealogy work, identified Warren Luther Alexander as a possible suspect. Alexander was arrested in Diamondhead, Mississippi, on March 15, 2022, and charged with Cobb’s murder; he was held in Hancock County Jail awaiting extradition to North Carolina.

Cobb was a widow and mother; her sister Vickie S. Gregory said Cobb had struggled with drugs, had lost custody of her then-3-year-old son about seven months before her death, and called often to ask about him. Investigators are examining whether other victims may be connected to Alexander.

If anyone knew Nona, saw her the night of July 6, 1992, or has information about the truck or driver she entered, please share what is known.