In the summer of 2026, a grim discovery began to unfold in Burke County, North Carolina, starting with a report of suspicious circumstances near a nature trail in the Glen Alpine area on July 20. The following day, investigators from the Burke County Sheriff's Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation unearthed the buried remains of a man. The victim was soon identified as Raheim McClain Murray, a 31-year-old resident of Morganton. The initial shock and mystery surrounding his death would only deepen as the investigation pressed on. The community was left to wonder what had happened to the young man, whose life was memorialized with a service on August 1st.
The case took a more tragic and complex turn just four days after Raheim's body was found. On July 25, as law enforcement continued to search the area around the nature trail, they discovered more human remains buried nearby. The second victim was identified as Raheim's wife, 39-year-old Carla Janon Murray. With this second discovery, a missing person case turned into a double homicide investigation. The focus of the authorities quickly shifted to finding those responsible for the deaths of the married couple. The answer to that question came swiftly, as investigators made two arrests in the early morning hours of July 25, the same day Carla's body was found.
Two individuals, 36-year-old Jamar Quarmaine Propst and 36-year-old Tosha Lee Lewis, were taken into custody. Initially, they were each charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of felony conspiracy in connection with Raheim's death. Following the identification of Carla Murray's remains, they were both charged with a second count of first-degree murder and another count of felony conspiracy. During their initial court appearances, both Propst and Lewis were denied bond and appointed legal representation as they faced the grave accusations. For Propst, this was not his first encounter with such serious charges; he was reportedly already out on bond for a 2008 cold-case murder for which he was indicted in 2023. The investigation into the double homicide of Raheim and Carla Murray centers on the two suspects now in custody, with the community awaiting the progression of the legal case through the court system to bring clarity and justice for the slain couple.
