US postal worker kidnapped and killed in rural North Carolina, state agents say

A recently widowed U.S. postal worker was kidnapped and killed while delivering mail to homes in rural North Carolina, according to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.

It happened Friday in rural Wilkes County, and a suspect has been arrested, officials said.

“At approximately 4:16 p.m., the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office responded to a request for law enforcement assistance at 304 Monteith Acres (in) Hays, North Carolina. Upon arrival, deputies discovered United States Postal Service employee, Brandi Reynolds, deceased at the scene,” the SBI said in a June 27 news release.

William Craig Durham, 56, was arrested and has been charged with first degree murder and first degree kidnapping, according to an arrest warrant.

He is accused of restraining Reynolds and “removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim,” the warrant reports.

Witnesses reported seeing an armed man in a gray Nissan Altima threatening a woman in a U.S. Postal Service vehicle, The Wilkes Record says. “Residents in the area reported hearing multiple gunshots,” the news outlet reported.

The death of Brandi Reynolds is the second tragedy to hit the family in recent months. Her husband Brent Reynolds died in a car accident in December, leaving her to raise their two children alone, family members say.

Durham is unemployed and lives about 9 miles southeast from where the shooting occurred, officials said.

Hays is about a 90-mile drive northwest from uptown Charlotte.

This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 9:45 AM with the headline "US postal worker kidnapped and killed in rural North Carolina, state agents say."