RALEIGH, N.C. — A teenager found slain with her mother and two siblings Thursday had been headed to school with a friend when she decided to go back after her friend mentioned seeing a suspicious man outside the home, authorities said.
The man attacked the teen on the porch as her friend watched. He pulled the girl inside the home near Conover, 40 miles northwest of Charlotte, a sheriff’s deputy said.
The friend called authorities about 7 a.m. Police answering the 911 call said they found the 17-year-old girl, her mother, a 20-year-old sister and a 3-year-old brother slain inside the home, adding that they had been either shot or stabbed to death.
Chief Deputy Coy Reid of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office said authorities were still searching Thursday night for a suspect in his late 30s or 40s. A gun had been found in bushes near the home, Reid said.
The two teens were preparing to head to a local high school when the friend told the girl that she had seen a man lurking near some bushes outside the home, Reid said. The girl asked her friend to drive back to the house so she could investigate.
According to Reid, the teen driver told authorities that her friend got out of the car and was unexpectedly met at the front door by the unidentified man, who attacked her and pulled her inside.
The other teen who remained in the car was unhurt, Reid said.
He added that the woman’s husband was at work at the time.
Authorities declined to release the names of the dead.
