Murder of Zebb Quinn

At around 9:00 p.m., on Sunday, January 2, 2000, Zebb Quinn ended his shift at the electronics department of a Walmart in Asheville, North Carolina. At the time, Quinn had been enrolled in an ROTC program.[7] He had plans to travel after work to Leicester with Robert Jason Owens, one of his co-workers, to buy a new car.[8] Quinn met Owens in the Walmart parking lot before they drove separately to look at the vehicle. The two men were seen on surveillance footage at a nearby gas station at approximately 9:15 pm, purchasing sodas at a convenience store.[7][9]

According to Owens, after leaving the gas station, Quinn signaled for him to pull over by flashing his headlights. Quinn told him that he had received a page and needed to return the call. After he returned from using a payphone, Owens described Quinn as "frantic". Quinn told him that he needed to cancel their plans and eventually sped off, rear-ending Owens's truck. Hours later, Owens was treated at a hospital for fractured ribs and a head injury that he said he had sustained in a second car accident that evening. No accident report was filed with police.[7][1][10]

The following afternoon, Quinn's mother Denise Vlahakis filed a missing persons report.[7] Two days after he was last seen, a man purporting to be Quinn placed a phone call to the Walmart where he was employed. The man told Quinn's co-worker that he would not be coming to work because of illness, but the co-worker thought that the voice sounded unfamiliar and that it was not Quinn. The phone call was traced back to a Volvo plant where Owens worked. When questioned, Owens admitted making the phone call, claiming that he was doing his friend a favor after Quinn phoned and asked Owens to call in sick for him.[7]

During the investigation, police interviewed a woman named Misty Taylor, in whom Quinn was romantically interested. Quinn had developed a relationship with her in the weeks preceding his disappearance and had told friends and family that he had been threatened by her abusive boyfriend, Wesley Smith, after he discovered the two had been speaking. Taylor and Smith have denied any involvement in Quinn's disappearance.[7][11] No ties between Owens, Taylor or Smith have been established.[7][12]

A review of the phone records in the case indicates that the page Quinn received on the evening of January 2 was dialed from the home of his paternal aunt, a woman named Ina Ustich.[11] Quinn had very little contact with Ustich prior to his disappearance, and she denied making the call. Ustich told police she was having dinner at the home of her friend Tamra Taylor, Misty's mother; Misty and Smith were also present. Ustich later filed a police report stating that her house was broken into that evening. Although nothing was stolen, she reported that a few picture frames and other items were moved around.[7][11]

On January 6, 2000,[9] Vlahakis received a phone call from a former classmate of Quinn's, who happened to be a co-worker at the Asheville hospital where both were nurses, who told her that she had seen his Mazda Protegé in the parking lot of a barbecue restaurant adjacent to the hospital.[7] Police examined the car, which had been left with its headlights on; a pair of lips and an exclamation mark were drawn on the car's back windshield in lipstick, and a live black Labrador-mix puppy was found inside.[7] A plastic hotel key card was also discovered in the vehicle, but investigators were unable to trace the hotel. Also found were several drink bottles and a jacket that did not belong to Quinn. Police collected forensic evidence from the car but uncovered no new leads.

Quinn's mother believes the car was placed there by someone who had knowledge that she, Quinn's grandmother, and Quinn's sister worked nearby, intending that one of them would find it.[13] The puppy was later adopted by one of the investigators.[12] A couple later called local police to report that they had seen Quinn's car being driven in downtown Asheville, and assisted police in producing a composite image of the person driving the car. Police would later note that the sketch bore a striking resemblance to Misty Taylor.[7]

The case received increased visibility in 2012 when the show Disappeared covered the case.[22]

• List of solved missing person cases
• List of kidnappings