Disappearance of Zebb Quinn

Zebb Wayne Quinn
Born	(1981-05-12)May 12, 1981
Disappeared	January 2, 2000 (aged 18) Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Status	Endangered Missing for 17 years, 6 months and 15 days
Residence	Asheville, North Carolina
Known for	Missing person
Height	5'9"-5'10"
Weight	165 lb (75 kg)

Zebb Quinn is an American man who went missing on January 2, 2000, in Asheville, North Carolina. Quinn was 18 years old and working at a Walmart in Asheville when he disappeared. On July 10, 2017, Robert Jason Owens was indicted on charges of murdering Zebb Quinn. Owens was a coworker at Walmart and the last known person to see Quinn alive.

Disappearance

Quinn ended his shift at Walmart around 9pm on Sunday January 2, 2000. He had plans with a man named Robert Jason Owens who he worked with at WalMart on Hendersonville Road. In addition to being coworkers, they also played pool together occasionally. Quinn had interest in buying a new car; Owens told Quinn that he knew of one for sale in Leicester. He met Owens in the Walmart parking lot before driving separately to look at the vehicle. The two men were seen on surveillance footage at a gas station down the road at approximately 9:15pm, purchasing sodas at a convenience store.

According to Owens, after leaving the gas station, Quinn flashed his headlights, signaling for him to pull over. Quinn told him that he had received a page and needed to return the call. After returning from a pay phone, Owens described him as "frantic". Quinn told him that he needed to cancel their plans to look at the vehicle, and eventually sped off, rear ending Owen's truck. Hours later, Owens was treated at the hospital for fractured ribs and a head injury that he said he sustained in a second car accident that evening. No accident report was filed with police.

Quinn's mother Denise Vlahakis filed a missing person's report the next afternoon.

Two days after Quinn was last seen, a man purporting to be Zebb Quinn placed a phone call to the Walmart where Quinn was employed. The man told the coworker that he wouldn't be coming to work because of illness, but the coworker became suspicious upon noticing that his voice sounded unfamiliar, and wasn't Quinn's. The phone call was traced back to a Volvo plant where Owens worked. Owens admitted making the phone call, claiming that he was doing his friend a favor after Quinn phoned and asked him to call in sick for him. Owens denies any involvement in Quinn's disappearance but is considered a person of interest in the case.

Investigation

During the investigation, police interviewed a woman named Misty Taylor, whom Quinn was interested in romantically. Quinn had developed a relationship with her in the weeks preceding his disappearance and had told his friends and family that Taylor's boyfriend, Wesley Smith, was abusive and had threatened Quinn after he discovered Taylor and Quinn had been speaking. Taylor and Smith deny any involvement in the disappearance.

A review of the phone records in the case indicates that the page Quinn received that evening was dialed from the home of his paternal aunt, a woman named Ina Ustich. Quinn had very little contact with Ustich prior to his disappearance, and she denied making the call. Ustich told police she was having dinner at the home of her friend Tamra Taylor, Misty's mother. Misty and her boyfriend, Wesley, were also present. Ustich later filed a police report stating that her house was broken into that evening. Although nothing was stolen, she reported that a few picture frames, and items were moved around.

Two weeks after Quinn's disappearance, his car was found in the parking lot of Little Pigs Barbecue on McDowell Street near the hospital, where his mother worked. A pair of lips were drawn on the car's back windshield, and a live Labrador mix puppy was found inside. A hotel key card was discovered in the vehicle, but investigators were unable to trace the key. Also found in the car were several drink bottles and a jacket that did not belong to Quinn. Police collected forensic evidence from the car but uncovered no new leads. Quinn's mother believes the car was placed there by someone who had knowledge that she worked nearby, with the hope that she would find it. The puppy ended up being adopted by one of the investigators.

Police believe more than one person was involved in Quinn's disappearance, but no arrests have been made in the case. No link between Owens and Misty Taylor or Wesley Smith has been established.

"We all feel very certain that he was killed that night," Quinn's mother Denise Vlahakis commented, noting that he had no extra clothes, money, or contact lens solution with him when he disappeared.

Developments since 2015

On March 17, 2015, 15 years after Quinn's disappearance, Owens was arrested in an unrelated incident for the disappearance and murder of Food Network Star television contestant Cristie Schoen, her husband J.T. Codd, and their unborn child.

In June 2015, detectives investigating Quinn's disappearance announced they had unearthed "fabric, leather materials, and unknown hard fragments" under a layer of concrete on Owens' property. The search warrant was initially obtained March 31, 2015. According to the warrant, in addition to the fabric, leather, and hard fragments, investigators found an unknown white powder substance, as well as pieces of metal and concrete after digging up the concreted fish pond area. On another part of the property, authorities found "numerous plastic bags containing possibly pulverized lime or powdered mortar mix." Authorities did not comment on whether the fragments found were human bones or if they believe they discovered Quinn's remains, citing an ongoing investigation.

Owens later admitted killing Schoen, Codd, and their unborn child in March 2015. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of dismembering human remains. In a plea deal his attorneys reached with Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams, Owens was sentenced on April 27, 2017 to spend a minimum of 59.5 years to a maximum of 74.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

Indictment

On July 10, 2017, a Buncombe County grand jury returned an indictment charging Robert Owens with first degree murder for the death of Zebb Quinn. According to the Asheville Police Department, "this indictment is the result of years of investigative work and persistence by detectives of the Asheville Police Department, as well as ongoing partnerships with members of the Quinn family and the Buncombe County District Attorney's Office."

Media coverage

The case received increased visibility in 2012 when the show Disappeared covered the case.

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously
• List of kidnappings