FBI offering hefty reward for information on 3 women found dead within 4-block radius

The FBI on Wednesday announced a $30,000 reward for anyone with information that helps investigators determine what happened to three women found dead in the same area of Lumberton since last spring.

The body of Christina Bennett, 32, was found inside a house on Peachtree Street, and that of Rhonda Jones, 36, was found outside a house on nearby East 5th Street. Bennett and Jones were discovered April 18, 2017.

Police found the body of Megan Oxendine, 28, outside a house on East 8th Street on June 3.

The three bodies were found within a four-block radius.

Lumberton Police Chief Michael McNeill previously said it is unclear whether there is a connection between the deaths. The department asked the FBI to join in the death investigations in June.

“Investigators are asking anyone who came into contact with the women to come forward in order to assist us in creating a timeline of when and where they were last seen alive,” an FBI spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, investigators continue searching for another woman who went missing in the same area a few months later.

Abby Patterson, 20, was last seen getting in a brown Buick outside her family’s Lumberton home on Sept. 5.

Patterson was in town from Florida visiting her mother for a couple of days when she disappeared, according to a Fox News report. She reportedly told her mother she’d be back in an hour when she climbed into the car on East Ninth Street and never returned.

Lumberton police Capt. Terry Parker in October told WNCN “we are 99 percent sure the case is not related to the females this spring and early summer.”

Anyone with information on any of the three deaths or Patterson’s disappearance is asked to call the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office at 704-672-6100.

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 10:49 AM with the headline "FBI offering hefty reward for information on 3 women found dead within 4-block radius."