Four Wake teens face murder charge

A body was found in the southwest part of the county

Four teenagers were charged with murder Wednesday afternoon after authorities discovered a body in a mobile home in the rural New Hill community of southwestern Wake County.

Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Wednesday that investigators aren't ready to confirm the identity of the body. They are waiting for the medical examiner's report to determine whether the victim may be Matthew Josiah Silliman, 18, who has been missing from his home in Apex since Nov. 26, said Phyllis Stephens, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

Apex police spokeswoman Capt. Ann Stephens said Wednesday that Silliman's disappearance was still listed as an active missing person case by Apex authorities. But Harrison did confirm that a tip from Apex authorities led deputies to the pale yellow, three-bedroom doublewide at 4221 Olive Branch Lane.

Investigators could not tell the cause of death, he said. Still, investigators found evidence inside the mobile home Monday indicating a homicide took place, Stephens said.

The four teens who have been charged with the killing in the case are: Drew Logan Shaw, 16, of 107 Woolard Way, Apex; Ryan Patrick Hare, 18, of 100 Walnut Hill Court, Apex; Allegra Rose Dahlquist, 17, of 601 Walcott Way, Cary; and Aadil Shahid Khan, 17, of 901 Bristol Blue St., Apex.

Harrison and Stephens declined to discuss a possible motive or what led to the arrests.

Silliman knew the teens who have been charged. All four are listed as his friends on his page on Facebook, a Web site for social networking.

Silliman, described by his Scoutmaster on Wednesday as an energetic and "outdoorsy" Eagle Scout, had been scheduled to speak at a Boy Scout award ceremony Saturday, three days after he went missing.

Bart Vashaw is Scoutmaster of Troop 244, sponsored by Peace Presbyterian Church in Apex, where Silliman is a member. Vashaw said he had noticed a change in the teen during recent months. Silliman, who normally wore his hair in a short, conservative style, had dyed his hair blond and begun fashioning it in a "spiky, mohawky thing," Vashaw said. Silliman also had begun dressing in dark, Goth-style clothes.

Allegra Dahlquist lived briefly at the mobile home where the body was found, said Dickie Miller, who lives next door. Miller said his mother sold the mobile home to Dahlquist's family about three years ago, but the family lived there only about three months, he said. The family was using the mobile home for storage.

"They kind of left all their stuff there boxed up," Miller said.

Miller, 50, lives with his wife about 75 yards from the Dahlquists' home. He remembered seeing a light on inside of the home about 9 p.m. one night last week. He stopped short of calling Allegra Dahlquist's mother in Cary.

"I wanted to mind my own business," he said.

In March, Apex police entered the home of Ryan Patrick Hare, another of those charged, and seized ammunition and what they described as an "AK-47-style" firearm. Police said they had conducted the search because they received a report that Hare had threatened to blow up a school bus.

Hare was charged with possession of paintball guns on school property, but no charges were filed in connection with the alleged threat.

Shaw and Hare attend Panther Creek High School in Cary, and Dahlquist and Khan are students at Apex High School, according to their Facebook entries.

The four were being held Wednesday without bond in the Wake County jail.