A married couple in North Carolina was killed in their home on Monday night. Police believe their teenage foster son was responsible. Just hours after finding the bodies, officers located the teenager in another county. He then killed himself before they could arrest him.
According to The Hill, deputies from Hoke County went to a house on Cope Road near Red Springs around 6 p.m. on Monday. Someone had called about a possible cardiac arrest. When officers got there, they found Ted Chavis, 52, and his wife Joann Chavis, 48, already dead inside their house. Police have not said how the couple died.
Later that night, police tracked down their foster son about 50 miles away in Lake Waccamaw, which is in Columbus County. Officers found his car parked near the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina, but he was not inside. What happened next was a tragedy on top of tragedy. Police searched the area with help from a fire department drone team. When they finally found the teenager, he took his own life. Paramedics rushed him to a hospital, but he died from his injuries.
What We Know About The Family
People who knew the Chavis family said they were regular churchgoers at Praise and Worship Ministries in Red Springs. Riley Carter, who lives nearby and goes to the same church, said that the foster son had been coming to his Sunday school class for almost two years. “They was good people,” Carter said. “He was in my Sunday school class. He was real quiet, which I won’t say weird, but he didn’t talk a lot.”
Even though the teenager was quiet, Carter said he was very knowledgeable about the Bible. “He was quiet, real quiet. But he knew, like you would think you would do that because he knew everything about the Bible,” Carter told reporters. “Like anything they asked him about the Bible, you know.”
Ted and Joann Chavis were known around their small town for taking in young people who needed help. Now their community is trying to make sense of what happened. In another recent case that shocked a community, a mother and daughter were accused of planning a murder together at a campground.
Hoke County Sheriff Roderick Virgil spoke to the public about the deaths. “It is with great sadness that I address our community following the tragic loss of lives on last night in the southern part of the county,” Virgil said. “Words cannot fully express the sorrow we all feel during this difficult time.”
Sheriff Bill Rogers from Columbus County also made a statement. “Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this tragic situation,” he said. He also mentioned that “this incident serves as a reminder of the importance of communication and support during difficult times.”
Several law enforcement agencies are still looking into what happened, including the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Police have not revealed why the killings might have happened or if the foster son had any ties to the Boys and Girls Homes where officers found him. During murder investigations, police often find troubling clues about what suspects were thinking, as prosecutors showed in a case involving Google searches made before a killing.
Published: Oct 29, 2025 04:15 pm