GOLDSBORO, N.C. — Police say a North Carolina principal accused of raping a 12-year-old student has been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted injury.
[RELATED: North Carolina principal charged with statutory rape]
Goldsboro police said on their Facebook page Monday that Orange County sheriff's deputies notified them that the body of 35-year-old Richard Omar Knight was found by hunters in a wooded area with a self-inflicted injury. The specific nature of the injury wasn't given.
He is alone in the video and appears to be carrying a blanket, authorities said. His car was found at a nearby gas station.
Knight's body was found on a rural road more than 100 miles from Goldsboro. Deputies released photos of Knight taken from a hunter's deer camera, which spotted him just after midnight Friday.
A warrant obtained by police on Friday charged Knight with statutory rape and a sex act and indecent liberties with a female student at Dillard Academy Charter School in Wayne County.
Knight, 35, of Smithfield, was the principal at Dillard Academy until he was charged Friday with raping a 12-year-old student on campus. Police responded to a report of sexual assault Thursday, and a warrant was secured Friday.
Police said Knight had been suspended from his job at the school, and added that an investigation into the incident is continuing.
Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:
- CMS: Carmel Middle School principal, assistant principal, dean placed on leave
- NC school principal accused of raping 12-year-old student found dead
- Charges reduced against teen accused of shooting classmate to death at Butler HS
- WATCH: Keith Monday's Tuesday forecast outlook
- Father of Hopewell HS student killed in crash shares message about son