KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — A Kings Mountain man missing since early November was found dead on Thursday, Kings Mountain Police Chief Lisa Proctor announced Friday.
The body of Keith Adams, 61, was found Thursday afternoon in Cleveland County off Jim Patterson Road, police said.
Adams’ live-in girlfriend, Darlene Black, was arrested Friday morning in South Carolina on first-degree murder charges, Proctor said. She is awaiting extradition.
Black was the last person to see Adams on the night he disappeared. She told police and family someone came by the house in the middle of the night on Nov. 5.
“There was a loud bang at the door,” Antoinette Matthews, Adams’ sister told Channel 9 on Thursday. “She said Keith got up to go to the door and said, ‘Hey, man.’ She could hear voices but could not recognize the voices.”
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Adams got dressed and left with them in a black sedan, Matthews said.
“(Adams’ girlfriend) had been target shooting with her daughters,” Matthews said. “She said he grabbed her daughter’s gun and said he’d be right back, proceeded to get in the vehicle with these gentlemen.”
Matthews said she doesn’t want people to question her brother’s character because he took a gun. She said her brother is a long-distance trucker who had a gun for protection.
Matthews told Channel 9 her brother became the patriarch of the family after their father died.
“He loves his family,” Matthews said. “He loves his sisters.”
Kings Mountain police continue to ask for any information in connection to the case.
“We’re going to leave no stone unturned until we can piece this case together and bring closure to the family,” Proctor said.
Call Kings Mountain police if you have information at 704-734-0444.
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