Who Is The Lumberton Serial Killer? Kristin Bennett, Rhonda Jones, Megan Oxendine and Cynthia Jacobs Maybe Are Just A Few Of His Victims.

Kristin "Christina" Noel Bennett

Making other people happy made her happy. She was a good person.

She was born on August 15th, 1984 in Oneonta, New York. She moved to Maxton, N.C., to live with her new boyfriend in 2009. Christina signed over parental rights of her three children to her friend, Falicia Locklear, while working to overcome addiction and leave that troubled relationship. Kristin then went to Lumberton. She always found a way to reach her children, who affectionately knew her as "Mama Christina." And never failed to call them on their birthdays'. Sadly, the calls stopped coming in the fall of 2014.

Fast forward to the spring of 2017. The previous fall, Hurricane Mathew ravaged Lumberton and made the violent city even worse. Government data showed that the residents of this small-knit community of 22,000 have a one in 55 chance of being raped, assaulted or killed.There is over 60 gangs in the county that Lumberton resides in.  Some of the police you have to watch out for also. 22 deputies have been charged with kidnapping, money laundering and/ or distribution of cocaine. The former sheriff even was imprisoned. 

On Peachtree Street, a blue home stood vacant and boarded up, as its owner put his plans to renovate on hold. The house had became a hotbed for crime in a neighborhood where drugs and prostitution are prevalent.

On April 18, 2017, Kristin's nude body was found inside the blue house.  She was covered by a blanket, inside a television cabinet. It took days to positively identify her body due to how badly decomposed it was. No external or internal injuries were identified on her body. Cocaine was found in her system. The cause of her death was undetermined.

Bystanders smelled a foul odor coming from a trash bin by the blue house. That is when Rhonda Jones' nude body was discovered upside down inside the trash bin. Her body was so badly decomposed that it took her days to be positively identified as well.

Rhonda Lynn Jones

She was kind natured with a sweet soul and a big personality. She  was smart and always had a smile on her face. Nothing gave Rhonda more joy then spending time with her 5 children.

She was born on September 15th, 1980 to Sheila Price and James Ray Hammonds. Rhonda’s father was in and out of her life, and growing up, she and her siblings clung to each other and their mother. 

Rhonda battled drug addiction and tried several times to overcome her problems. When she was just 16, she enrolled in classes at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and went on to work at American Indian Mothers, Inc., a non-profit that serves the needs of American Indians and minorities living in North Carolina. She was always trying to take herself to a better place, but the world always reached back up and dragged her down. 

Her four youngest children were in their father’s custody, but Rhonda had an upcoming court date to discuss visitation rights. While spending several days at a rehab facility in late March 2017, the thought of seeing her children pushed Rhonda to be better.

The last time her mom saw her alive, Rhonda was happy and excited about getting to see her babies. She hugged and kissed her mom and told her she loved her.

Rhonda had failed to make it home for Easter on April 16th. She also never made the court date. It was April 18th and it  had been 15 days since Sheila saw her daughter when she received the call that Rhonda's body had been found. 

A neighbor noticed a leg sticking out from under the lid. Her body had decomposed and was partially covered in trash. Rhonda's glasses were missing. She had small cuts and wounds to the mid-line forehead, right lateral nose and left para-midline upper nose. A nasal bone fracture was present with a small amount of red-purple hemorrhage in the surrounding soft tissues. The upper attachment of the right ear revealed a superficial tear without underlying hemorrhage, and a couple of abrasions were found on her back. This suggested that she may have been suffocated to death. However, just like Kristin's manner of death, Rhonda's was ruled as undetermined.

Toxicological analysis revealed Rhonda had cocaine in her system.

The local news crew was at the scene interviewing residents about the two woman's deaths. Megan Oxendine walked up to the camera man. She was shaking as she told him how sad she was and she couldn't believe what had happened. 

Megan had her hair pulled back and was wearing a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt. She had a black backpack strapped to her back. She crossed her arms and looked off in the distance as gave a small interview about knowing Rhonda from the neighborhood.

“I ain’t never seen her act out or nothing. She’s just quiet. She didn’t really mess with too many people... I don’t understand how somebody could do somebody’s child, mother, niece, like that.”

Six weeks later, Megan's backpack was found in a trash can. Several blocks away, behind the same abandoned blue home where Kristin's and Rhonda's body had been found, Megan's nude body was discovered partially obscured beneath tree branches and roof shingles. She was bloodied and gagged.

Megan Ann Oxendine

"May God, our refuge and our strength help you through your sorrow and in His mercy grant you peace to lighten each tomorrow."

-Sheriff Kenneth Sealey

She was brave and she'd give you the shirt off her back. She’d run outside barefooted. She was a real country girl who loved fishing. Megan always had a love for all animals, especially horses. She would pick up stray dogs. Megan dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. She was her sisters' protector as well as the prankster of the family. She sometimes would throw her green snake on family members. Megan loved her baby girl.

Megan was raised in a good, nice family. Her battle with heroine deepened significantly in the year before her death. She moved with her boyfriend to Lumberton, where it was hard for her to fight her addiction.

Megan had been inside that blue house when the body of Christina Bennett was discovered. She and a man were doing drugs inside the home when they came across the body. She was shaken by the discovery of the bodies as she spoke on the news.

Two weeks after the bodies of Christina and Rhonda were found, Megan was hit from behind and assaulted by at least five unknown people. She was beaten up and bleeding. Someone had cut pieces of her hair off.

“She said they tried to kill her, and I kept asking her [who], but she said she had no idea who they were,” Megan's sister, Taylor Oxendine said. “All I could do was keep asking, and she was crying, and just said ‘I don’t know, Taylor! I don’t know!’”

Megan refused to get medical treatment, but her mother, Shelia Oxendine, called the police. This upset Megan and she left her mother's home. Police found Megan walking down the road and brought her back to her mother’s home.

On June 3, 2017, Megan's body was found. Her shirt had been underneath her. She had a wound on the back of her head and appeared to have something stuffed in her mouth. Megan was found in a fetal position, as if she was trying to hide or defend herself.

Her family first learned of her death through Facebook. Sheila then called police to try to find out what was going on, but they couldn't clear anything up at that time. It wasn't until three days later that the body was confirmed to be Megan's. 

Toxicologic findings indicate the use of illicit drugs at some point. And as the same in Kristin's and Rhonda's death, Megan's cause could not be determined.

After Megan's body was discovered, Lumberton police requested help from the FBI.

In July 2017, Cynthia Jacobs, who was the last person to see Megan alive and well, disappeared.

Cynthia "Twister" Jacobs

She was independent and like to live on her own.

At the time of her disappearance, she was 5-feet-6-inches tall, 110 pounds in weight, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has the tattoo of  the word "Kris" on her chest. She had a known history of prostitution. She was well-known, and so were the people who pimped her out for years. Cynthia's sister-in-law believes that she knew something about the death of Megan, Kristin and Rhonda.

Kristin's, Rhonda's and Megan's rape kits sat on the shelf, untested, for more than a year.

Alarmed that they may have a serial killer on their hands, local law enforcement contacted the Charlotte division on the FBI and asked for assistance. The FBI canvased the neighbored and knocked on over 800 doors. Authorities have stated they have received tips throughout this process but nothing that would lead to an arrest. The FBI is offering a $30,000.00 reward for information to help them determine how Bennett, Jones and Oxendine died. The families of the victims have publicly complained stating they are not getting the help they desire from law enforcement. Authorities however may be holding some information close in order to find the person responsible and eventually prosecute them for their crimes.

The murders of Kristin, Rhonda and Megan as well as Cynthia's disappearance, aren't the only ones that happened around the same time frame or location. They are just the ones most likely linked together.

"You're broken down and tired

Of living life on a merry go round

And you can't find the fighter

But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out

And move mountains

We gonna walk it out

And move mountains

And I'll rise up

I'll rise like the day

I'll rise up

I'll rise unafraid

I'll rise up

And I'll do it a thousand times again

And I'll rise up

High like the waves

I'll rise up

In spite of the ache

I'll rise up

And I'll do it a thousands times again

For you

When the silence isn't quiet

And it feels like it's getting hard to breathe

And I know you feel like dying

But I promise we'll take the world to its feet

And move mountains

We'll take it to its feet

And move mountains

And I'll rise up

I'll rise like the day

I'll rise up

I'll rise unafraid

I'll rise up

And I'll do it a thousand times again

For you

All we need, all we need is hope

And for that we have each other

And for that we have each other

We will rise

We will rise

We'll rise, oh oh

We'll rise

I'll rise up

Rise like the day

I'll rise up

In spite of the ache

I will rise a thousands times again

And we'll rise up

Rise like the waves

We'll rise up

In spite of the ache

We'll rise up

And we'll do it a thousands times again

For you"

Andra Day - Rise Up