Woman vanished from NC assisted living in July. Her skeleton was just found, cops say
The skeletal remains of a woman who was last seen walking away from a North Carolina assisted living facility in July have been found, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday, WNCN reported.
Although a Silver Alert was issued for Susan McGirt on July 4, 2018, there was no trace of the missing 55-year-old Lumberton woman, according to WPDE.
On Feb. 27, skeletal remains were found near railroad tracks in Lumberton, and they have been identified as the missing woman, per the Fayetteville Observer.
The N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office has not determined McGirt’s cause of death, WPDE reported.
Mary Wesson said her mother “suffered from mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia,” according to WNCN.
After she walked away from the mental health facility, her husband, Robert McGirt, said “it seems like she just disappeared from the face of the Earth,” per WBTW.
For weeks after her disappearance, sheriff’s deputies searched for Susan McGirt — on foot and in a helicopter — and her family offered a reward for information leading to her return, WPDE reported.
The identification of McGirt’s remains could provide closure to her family.
“I would rather be planning a funeral than to have to go to bed at night not knowing where she’s at,” Wesson said in July, according to WBTW. “We have no idea where our mother is, and a family just ain’t a family without a mother.”
