Overview
- Brandi Byrd Reynolds was found shot and dead after deputies responded to a call on June 26 following reports of an armed man and multiple gunshots along her Hays mail route.
- William Craig Durham, 56, was arrested the same day and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping and is being held without bond.
- A district court warrant says Durham unlawfully restrained and moved Reynolds “for the purpose of terrorizing” her and doing serious bodily injury, language prosecutors used to describe the alleged kidnapping.
- The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office are jointly leading the homicide probe and the USPS confirmed the killing occurred while Reynolds was on duty.
- Reynolds, 35, leaves two daughters who lost both parents within months and the case has raised local concern about safety for rural delivery workers and sparked continued investigative work to determine motive or any prior connection between the suspect and victim.