Name Disappearance Zebb Weight 165 lb (75 kg) | Height 5'9"-5'10" | |
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Born May 12, 1981 ( 1981-05-12 ) Residence Asheville, North Carolina Similar Disappearance of Asha Degree, Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Disappearance of Natalee Holloway | ||
THE BIZARRE DISAPPEARANCE OF ZEBB QUINN
Zebb Wayne Quinn (May 12, 1981 – disappeared January 2, 2000) is an American man who went missing in Asheville, North Carolina. Quinn was 18 years old and working at a Walmart in Asheville when he disappeared after finishing his shift in the electronics department. His car was discovered several days later in a restaurant parking lot in Asheville under unusual circumstances: its headlights had been left on, a live puppy had been left inside, and a drawing of a pair of lips and an exclamation mark had been scrawled in pink lipstick on the back window.
Contents
- THE BIZARRE DISAPPEARANCE OF ZEBB QUINN
- Zebb Quinn Disappearance
- Disappearance
- Investigation
- Developments since 2015
- Indictment
- Media coverage
- References
Seventeen years later, on July 10, 2017, Robert Jason Owens was indicted on charges of murdering Zebb Quinn. Owens was a coworker at Walmart and the last known person to have seen Quinn alive.
Zebb Quinn Disappearance
Disappearance
Quinn ended his shift at Walmart, where he worked in the electronics department, around 9pm on Sunday January 2, 2000. At the time, Quinn had also been enrolled in a ROTC program. He had plans with a man named Robert Jason Owens who he worked with at Walmart on Hendersonville Road. In addition to being coworkers, they also played pool together occasionally. Quinn had interest in buying a new car; Owens told Quinn that he knew of one for sale in Leicester. He met Owens in the Walmart parking lot before driving separately to look at the vehicle. The two men were seen on surveillance footage at a gas station down the road at approximately 9:15pm, purchasing sodas at a convenience store.
According to Owens, after leaving the gas station, Quinn flashed his headlights, signaling for him to pull over. Quinn told him that he had received a page and needed to return the call. After returning from a pay phone, Owens described him as "frantic". Quinn told him that he needed to cancel their plans to look at the vehicle, and eventually sped off, rear ending Owen's truck. Hours later, Owens was treated at the hospital for fractured ribs and a head injury that he said he sustained in a second car accident that evening. No accident report was filed with police.
Quinn's mother Denise Vlahakis filed a missing person's report the next afternoon.
Two days after Quinn was last seen, a man purporting to be Zebb Quinn placed a phone call to the Walmart where Quinn was employed. The man told the coworker that he wouldn't be coming to work because of illness, but the co-worker became suspicious upon noticing that his voice sounded unfamiliar, and wasn't Quinn's. The phone call was traced back to a Volvo plant where Owens worked. Owens admitted making the phone call, claiming that he was doing his friend a favor after Quinn phoned and asked him to call in sick for him. Owens has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Zebb Quinn.
Investigation
During the investigation, police interviewed a woman named Misty Taylor, whom Quinn was interested in romantically. Quinn had developed a relationship with her in the weeks preceding his disappearance and had told his friends and family that Taylor's boyfriend, Wesley Smith, was abusive and had threatened Quinn after he discovered Taylor and Quinn had been speaking. Taylor and Smith deny any involvement in the disappearance. No link between Robert Owens and Misty Taylor or Wesley Smith has been established.
A review of the phone records in the case indicates that the page Quinn received that evening was dialed from the home of his paternal aunt, a woman named Ina Ustich. 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 her boyfriend, Wesley, 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 items were moved around.
On January 6, 2000 a co-worker of Quinn's mother, Denise Vlahakis, and former classmate of Quinn's, called Vlahakis while she was working her shift as a nurse at the hospital to report that she had seen Quinn's Mazda Protegé in the parking lot of Little Pigs Barbecue on McDowell Street, adjacent to the hospital. Police examined the car, which had been left in the parking lot 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 Labrador mix puppy was found inside. A hotel key card was discovered in the vehicle, but investigators were unable to trace the key. Also found in the car 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 worked nearby, with the hope that she would find it. The puppy ended up being adopted by one of the investigators.
Several days after Quinn's car was discovered, a couple called local police to report that they had seen the car driving in downtown Asheville, and assisted police in producing a composite image of the person driving the car. Police would later note the sketch strikingly resembled that of Misty Taylor.
"We all feel very certain that he was killed that night," Quinn's mother Denise Vlahakis commented, noting that he had no extra clothes, money, or contact lens solution with him when he disappeared.
Developments since 2015
On March 17, 2015, 15 years after Quinn's disappearance, Owens was arrested in an unrelated incident for the disappearance and murder of Food Network Star television contestant Cristie Schoen, her husband J.T. Codd, and their unborn child.
In June 2015, detectives investigating Quinn's disappearance announced they had unearthed "fabric, leather materials, and unknown hard fragments" under a layer of concrete on Owens' property. The search warrant was initially obtained March 31, 2015. According to the warrant, in addition to the fabric, leather, and hard fragments, investigators found an unknown white powder substance, as well as pieces of metal and concrete after digging up the concreted fish pond area. On another part of the property, authorities found "numerous plastic bags containing possibly pulverized lime or powdered mortar mix." Authorities did not comment on whether the fragments found were human bones or if they believe they discovered Quinn's remains, citing an ongoing investigation.
Owens later admitted killing Schoen, Codd, and their unborn child in March 2015. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of dismembering human remains. In a plea deal his attorneys reached with Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams, Owens was sentenced on April 27, 2017 to spend a minimum of 59.5 years to a maximum of 74.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
Indictment
On July 10, 2017, a Buncombe County grand jury returned an indictment charging Robert Owens with first-degree murder for the death of Zebb Quinn. According to the Asheville Police Department, "this indictment is the result of years of investigative work and persistence by detectives of the Asheville Police Department, as well as ongoing partnerships with members of the Quinn family and the Buncombe County District Attorney's Office."
Media coverage
The case received increased visibility in 2012 when the show Disappeared covered the case.