Still Missing NC - Zebb Quinn, 18, Asheville, 2 Jan 2000 *Arrest in 2017*

[Stunned]

Did Owens explain the puppy and lipstick in his confession? I could only stand to read so much horse excrement.

IMO the girlfriend maybe could.

 

[ekardh]

It seems the mystery of the pager that Zebb received that night hasn't been accounted for? It couldn't have been Owens who sent it because he was driving with Zebb at the time. It came from Zebb's auntie's house. And she just happened to be having dinner with Misty's mother? Misty and Wesley both knew the aunt wasn't home, so I believe one or both of them went there to page Zebb. This news snippet also states that a phonecall to Zebb's aunt was made from Zebb's father's house three minutes before the pager was sent to Zebb:

https://imgur.com/a/5G7QuUw

While I don't doubt Owens was behind the murder, and his dead uncle was a convenient scapegoat, I think he was trying to incriminate Wesley Smith indirectly. Like I said previously in this thread, I'm surprised no legal charges have been brought against him seeing as Owens has now implicated him in Zebb's murder. I'm guessing they don't want to commit anymore investigative work to this case and hope the family can take closure from Owens' confession.

 

[dreamboatannie]

Good evening! I just found this case and have been reading about it a lot today. With that being said, I’ve also been googling everything, Is Misty’s ex boyfriend on death row? There is someone with the same name, similar crime, same age range. I haven’t been through all of the posts yet, but I was wondering if this was him. Obviously Owens is involved, from his guilty plea, but he is saying his uncle did it for the boyfriend at the time. I suppose if it is him on death row, nothing more could be gained from getting that conviction, but from a family stance, I would want to know. <modsnip>

I’m local to the case. Graduated with Zebb. From what I recall Misty and her boyfriend got married and have kids together. I don’t think he is on death row.

 

[tarnishedhalo]

I’m local to the case. Graduated with Zebb. From what I recall Misty and her boyfriend got married and have kids together. I don’t think he is on death row.

To my mind the lips drawn on the car is something a female is more likely to do, and the puppy, (so glad she got a good home with one of the detectives on the case) to me it seems like Misty may have played Zeb for whatever reason, poor guy was crazy over her, and the boyfriend didn't like his presence.

 

[ekardh]

I certainly don't consider this mystery solved. Owens was guilty, of course, but there's more to the story that hasn't been uncovered.

 

[spartanx]

intelligent young boy but bad friendships led him to the worst in his life...
wherever you are rest in peace

 

[ex-stat]

I actually wonder if the the page was to try to warn him.

A lure would not necessarily have been needed I don't think as he was on the way to view a car with Owens. Although I guess it could have been used to get him to a more remote location . I just don't know.

I wonder if M found out that evening what was going on and tried to warn him, did not want to use her own phone so used the Aunt's to send the page. Zebb tries to get away from Owens which results in a collision somewhere. I don't believe anything that Owens says so I don't even believe it was on that road. Maybe Zebb was trying to get away from him at the remote location. Owens sadly murders Zebb which was pre-planned. The injuries were inconsistent with a car collision so it seems like that is evidence of something additional going on with him, which I think is what the trial said.

The question for me is whether M's bf is involved or not at all.

- Zebb was scared of him
- Shortly before this happened he forgot to do *67 and revealed his number and said he was in big trouble.
- Were Owens and M's bf in it together?
- Did Owens set up the car thing as a lure and also to ensure that Zebb had money on him? Or was it something to do with M's bf initiating it?
- I do not believe this was an accident then covered up.
- Other people seem to have evidence that Owens writes his explanation points like that, although I think there were multiple people involved in the cover-up.
- Obviously the bf was irate but that does not make him a murderer. But, given the page, to me it indicates there was at least knowledge of what was going to happen as it is so out of the ordinary.

I am so sorry, RIP Zebb. What a kind, caring, and nice person it sounds like he was.

 

[ekardh]

I still want to know how Owens' murder plea can be accepted without arresting Wesley for conspiracy to commit murder?

 

[formerjerseygirl]

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[megs1477]

 

[Springrain]

Bump

 

[mlhenn]

Zebb Wayne Quinn – The Charley Project

Last updated October 28, 2024; two pictures added, details of disappearance updated.

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Quinn, circa 2000; Robert Jason Owens in 2015

Details of Disappearance​

Quinn was employed at the Wal-Mart store on Hendersonville Road in Asheville, North Carolina in 2000. He departed from work at 9:00 p.m. on January 2 of that year and met his friend, Robert Jason Owens (who is addressed by his middle name), in the store's parking lot. Quinn planned to look at a Mitsubishi Eclipse he was considering purchasing in the near future.

Jason said he was accompanying Quinn and they drove separate cars to the location. A security camera videotape at the Eblen Citgo gas station on Hendersonville Road showed Quinn and Jason entering the store to purchase sodas at approximately 9:15 p.m. Jason's Ford pickup truck and Quinn's light blue Mazda Protege are seen pulling away from the station on the tape several minutes later. Both vehicles were headed towards Long Shoals Road.

Jason told authorities that Quinn flashed his headlights sometime prior to 9:30 p.m. The men were near T.C. Roberson High School on Long Shoals Road in Asheville at the time. Jason said they both pulled over to the side of the road and Quinn told him he received a page. Jason stated that Quinn drove away to make a phone call at that time.

Jason told authorities that Quinn returned approximately ten minutes later and rear-ended Jason's truck. Quinn apologized for the accident and said that he could not look at the vehicle as planned that evening, then he drove away. He has never been heard from again.

Jason was treated for head injuries and a broken rib he claimed to have incurred during an unrelated automobile accident during the early morning hours of January 3, several hours after Quinn disappeared. Jason stated that the accident occurred near The Waffle House restaurant on Long Shoals Road by the intersection of Interstate 26. No accident report had been filed anywhere in the county, however, and his injuries were not consistent with a vehicle collision.

Jason called Wal-Mart on January 4, pretending to be Quinn, and reported that Quinn was sick and would not be arriving for his shift that day. He later admitted he'd made the call but said he'd done it because Quinn asked him to. After giving his initial statement about the disappearance, he refused to cooperate further with police.

Quinn's car was discovered abandoned on January 16, two weeks after his disappearance. The vehicle was located in the parking lot of the Little Pigs Barbecue restaurant on McDowell Street. A plastic hotel key and a female black Labrador mix puppy, approximately three months old, were found inside Quinn's car, as well as several empty drink bottles, hairs, and a jacket that didn't belong to Quinn. The puppy wasn't his either, and was adopted by one of the police officers who investigated Quinn's case.

A large pair of lips and two exclamation points had been drawn in orange-pink lipstick on the rear windshield, and the driver's seat was adjusted for someone shorter than Quinn. There was no sign of him at the scene. The vehicle was parked nearby Mission St. Joseph's Hospital, where Quinn's grandmother, mother and sister all worked as neonatal nurses.

Authorities believed that foul play was involved in Quinn's disappearance and began investigating his case as a homicide. In 2009, they collected hair, saliva and fingerprint samples from a female friend of his, Misty Taylor, but they stated Misty isn't a suspect in his disappearance. Quinn told his loved ones that Misty's boyfriend, Wesley Smith, was abusive to her, and that Smith had threatened him because of his involvement with Misty.

Police eventually traced the page Quinn got on the night of his disappearance; it came from the home of his aunt, Ina Ustich. She denied having made the call and said that night she was having dinner at her friend Tamra Taylor's house. Tamra is Misty Taylor's aunt, and Misty and Smith were also at the dinner that night. Ustich later filed a police report, saying that someone had broken into her house while she was at Tamra's having dinner.

In the years after Quinn's disappearance, Jason spent a total of 23 months in prison for various minor criminal offenses. A photo of him is posted with this case summary. In March 2015, he was charged with the murders of Joseph "J.T." Codd, Cristie Schoen Codd, and Cristie's unborn child in Leicester, North Carolina.

The couple, who had hired Jason to perform some construction work on their home, were reported missing on March 15. Their weren't found until several days after his arrest. Authorities executed a search warrant on his property and found "hard fragments" and shreds of leather and fabric under a layer of soil and concrete.

Jason pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of dismembering human remains in April 2017; he admitted he'd killed the Codds but said he accidentally ran them over with his truck while heavily impaired on medication, then panicked and decided to dispose of their bodies rather than report the accident. He could have faced the death penalty if convicted at trial.

Jason was indicted for first-degree murder in Quinn's case in July 2017. In July 2022, he pleaded guilty to This would be in addition to the lesser charge of being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and was sentecnted to 13 to 16 years in prison, to be served concurrently with the 59- to 74-year sentence he is serving for the Codds' murders.

At his sentencing, Jason claimed he did not actually kill Quinn but had helped the person who did. He stated his uncle, Walter "Gene" Owens, had convinced him to lure Quinn to a place in the Pisgah National Forest, supposedly to meet with his friend Misty Taylor, but Taylor wasn't actually there and instead Gene was lying in wait, having been hired by Taylor's boyfriend to kill him.

Jason stated his uncle murdered Quinn and dismembered and burned his body. Gene cannot be prosecuted for his alleged role in Quinn's disappearance because he died of natural causes in 2017, at the age of 66.

Quinn was involved with the ROTC while a student at Roberson High School. He was a student at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College at the time of his disappearance and made good grades.

His family describes him as a naive young man who was close to his family and would never have left without warning. He didn't take money, clothes, contact lens solution or any other items that he would have needed if he had left of his own accord. Foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.