It was like a scene out of the TV series “Breaking Bad.”
A 40-year-old North Carolina man went missing on Christmas Eve. He was found dead and dismembered inside a barrel filled with concrete.
Police made the gruesome discovery on January 26, at a residence in Sanford, North Carolina.
According to a press release by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies executed a search warrant on the Sanford home and surrounding property on January 25. They searched a wooded area near the home and found a 55-gallon barrel filled with concrete and inside were human remains.
Police sent the barrel to the North Carolina State Medical Examiner’s Office, and it was later confirmed that the human remains belonged to a man identified as Michael Bradley Cox, 40.
No one had seen or heard from Cox December 24, 2022 and he was reported missing almost two weeks later, on January 5.
Investigators arrested Jackie Lamar Bright, the resident of the home in Sanford, and charged him with the murder of Michael Bradley Cox.
Police said Bright was a known drug dealer with an extensive criminal record. He had been released from prison in May of 2022.
The Sheriff’s office said after being released from prison last year, Bright had been arrested twice in January 2023 on unrelated charges. He was on parole when deputies from Lee County Sheriff’s Office took him into custody on January 6 for possession of a stolen car and drug violations. Police found a stolen vehicle at his home with a substantial stash of opioids, marijuana, and cocaine.
The Sheriff’s office said in the press release that the suspect was released from jail after bail was posted. Lee County deputies arrested him a second time five days later, on January 11, for violating parole and additional controlled drug violations.
Bright was already in police custody when officers made the gruesome discovery of the barrel on his property.
The Sheriff said the investigation is still active and additional charges will be filed against Bright.