www.wcnc.com/news/local/Report--209921551.htmlWILKES COUNTY, N. C. -- The Ashe County Sheriff's Office has confirmed they discovered a body near the crash scene of where a Charlotte woman's vehicle was found.
The vehicle driven by a Holly Fischer who has been missing for a week was found overnight in a mountain area near the Wilkes-Ashe county line, a source at the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office said Monday morning.
Authorities found a body near the scene a few moments after discovering the vehicle, according to the Ashe County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities have not officially confirmed it's the body of Fischer.
The 2004 Infiniti SUV driven by Fischer was discovered down a steep ravine off N.C. 16, a short distance southeast of the county line in Wilkes County.
Fischer was last seen a week ago on Monday when she left her parents’ home in Knoxville, Tenn. Fischer told her parents she was returning to Charlotte, but family members said she might have changed her mind and headed for a family-owned condominium in eastern Ashe County.
A news conference held Monday morning at Piney Ridge Baptist Church on N.C. 16 North is not far from the Ashe County line, and is near where a motorcyclist spotted car tracks off the road late Sunday night.
Authorities say a motorcyclist, who was a family friend an involved in the search for Fischer, traveling along N.C. 16, in Wilkes County, about 1 1/2 miles southeast of the Blue Ridge Parkway, found tracks off the road. Searchers followed the tracks and discovered a vehicle.
Authorities have not made it clear whether the body was found in or near Fischer's car.
Crews had searched for two days across the rugged mountainous terrain of Ashe and Wilkes counties late last week, trying to find a trace of Fischer. Ashe County Detective Phil Howell said crews searched on foot, by vehicle, and with helicopters, but they found no trace of the missing woman.
The search had focused on that area because authorities determined her cell phone was last used near North Wilkesboro.
“All areas have been thoroughly searched where we think she might be,” Howell said Friday.
Fischer’s father told authorities in Knox County, Tenn., that his daughter was distraught about an imminent divorce.
A friend of Fischer’s, Liz Stafford, said Sunday that authorities were able to use signals from the woman’s cell phone to trace her route last Monday. They determined she had gotten onto Interstate 40, but when she reached I-77 in Statesville, she turned north instead of south toward Charlotte. After turning north, she got off I-77 and U.S. 421 and headed for the mountains.
The last signal received was in North Wilkesboro, about 5 p.m. on Monday.
A number of Fischer’s friends from the Charlotte area gathered Sunday in Wilkes County and launched a search of their own. They had planned to return today for another search along N.C. 16.
Perfect senario, vehicle crash. This is what I thought had happed to the student from Pennsylvania, however he apparently decided at the last minute to go missing on his own. I'm so sorry for the friends and family of Holly. RIP
