Overview
- Authorities say Dominic Liam Connelly remains at large after a deputy was attacked with a knife inside a Bojangles bathroom in Vanceboro on Oct. 29.
- Investigators began the case Oct. 25 after 72-year-old Patricia Lopedote was found dead in a Havelock home that was on fire.
- Lopedote’s vehicle, missing from the residence, was recovered unoccupied Oct. 28 in a New Bern parking lot on Pine Tree Drive.
- The search includes a Blue Alert with multi-agency manpower, SBI support, helicopters, planes, drones and K-9 teams concentrated around Vanceboro.
- Residents are urged not to approach Connelly, to call 911 with sightings, and to submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers via p3tips.com/986, with a reward offered; schools and local events were closed as a precaution.