By Leah Justice

leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is interested in speaking to four people who were at the BP gas station in Columbus across from the U.S. 74 on ramp off Hwy. 108 in Columbus where a homicide occurred just before 6 a.m. Thursday, March 31.

The sheriff’s office released surveillance photos from the gas station on Friday, April 1 asking for the people to contact the sheriff’s office.

Capt. BJ Bayne said the people were in the area and they may have seen something.

“If they just passed a car, we need to know what kind of car they passed,” Bayne said Friday.

The sheriff’s office with the assistance of the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), are investigating a homicide that occurred sometime around 5:52 a.m. Thursday, March 31.

The victim was Destry Dean Horne, 51, of Lilesville, N.C., who was driving a box truck. Horne was found by police deceased from a gunshot wound after another truck driver called 911 at 5:52 a.m. saying the box truck rolled backwards and hit his tractor-trailer. The second truck driver told investigators he was traveling from Charlotte to Knoxville and stopped at the on ramp to take a rest and stretch his legs. As he exited the truck, the box truck rolled into his, according to reports.

The sheriff’s office is seeking four individuals who were in the area between 5:15-5:45 a.m. on March 31.

The individuals were in an early model Ford that is red in color, according to the sheriff’s office.

An autopsy was done on Horne early Friday with preliminary results received by the sheriff’s office. According to preliminary autopsy results, Horne died from a gunshot wound.

Horne worked for the trucking company about 10 years, most recently as a driver and a maintenance technician. An obituary is posted at Leavitt Funeral Home in Wadesboro, NC, which at this time only states Horne died on March 31 and funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Anyone with information regarding the persons of interest or who may have seen anything in the area on the morning of the homicide is urged to contact Capt. Bayne at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 828-894-3001.

There is a $1,000 reward for information that may lead to an arrest in the case.