Two arrested in killing of Lincolnton man in 2021

Both suspects  Madison Dawn Lail, 31 and Thomas Wayne Mathis, 38 are charged with first-degree murder

By Edward Era Barbacena

Two white  people have been charged in connection to the death of a Lincolnton man whose body was found in a wooded area in 2021, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said.

On July 13, 2021, deputies responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle in a wooded area along Smith Farm Road. A K-9 located the body of an unidentified male a few hundred yards from the car.

Police described the scene as "a heinous and gruesome murder," saying the victim's hands and feet were tied behind his back. Deputies said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. 

The body was sent to a medical examiner's office where the man was identified at William Buster McCarter, 37, according to deputies. The green Kia Sportage found in the woods was registered to McCarter.

Prior to the discovery, McCarter's mother Pattie Sisk filed a missing persons report for him on July 7, 2021.

Following an extensive investigation, deputies arrested Madison Dawn Lail, 31, of Maiden, NC after an interview at the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.

Thomas Wayne Mathis, 38, was located in Lancaster County, South Carolina where he was taken into custody, deputies said. Mathis is scheduled to be extradited on Friday and will be sent to Lincoln County.

Both Lail and Mathis are charged with first-degree murder and are being held without bond.

Deputies said both suspects knew McCarter, but they are not sharing a motive at the time of this publication. 

McCarter's mother, Pattie Sisk, told WCNC Charlotte that she is relieved suspects have finally been arrested. "It won't bring back my son but it brings me a little more closure," Sisk said.

Sisk described her son as kind-hearted, funny, and well-known in town. 

She placed a flower and a balloon that says "love you" in the woods where McCarter's body was found after the announcement of the arrests. "Today it feels good, I can feel the love and the presence,” Sisk told WCNC Charlotte.

According to the LCSO, McCarter was likely killed on July 1st, 2021. His body was discovered by detectives about two weeks later.