Oakboro boy’s body found

BY BRAD A. HODGES
SALISBURY POST

Twelve-year-old Billy Huddleston’s body was found at the edge of a cornfield Friday night less than five miles from the small town where he lived.

Medical examiners in Chapel Hill confirmed Saturday that the decomposing body was that of Billy. The news has traumatized Oakboro, a community of 650 people in southern Stanly County that turned the town upside down looking for Billy since he disappeared Tuesday afternoon.

“We have no suspects, no leads,” Union County Sheriff Frank McGuirt said. “In fact, we’re begging for help.”

Billy’s body was found just inside Union County about 50 feet from the side of Love Mill Road. The rising sixth-grader at Oakboro Elementary School appeared to have died two to three days before he was found, McGuirt said, though complete autopsy results may take eight weeks.

“Pathologists on television can predict down to 15 minutes how long someone has been dead, but that’s not the way it works in real life,” he said. “He did appear to have been in the elements for two to three days.”

Billy’s body showed no signs of struggle, sexual molestation or even injury, McGuirt said. The cause of death is unknown. Identification belonging to Billy was found on the body, Stanly County Sheriff Tony Frick said. But positive identification came from a thumb print during an autopsy.

“I don’t have to deal with this kind of crime every day, thank God,” Frick said. He added that investigators have conducted about 200 interviews since the boy’s disappearance.