Henderson couple frustrated by lack of answers in son's death

Quentin Yarborough, 32, was last seen by his father on Aug. 4 outside a Raleigh Road convenience store.

A man cutting grass with a tractor ran over Yarborough's body in a field off Old County Home Road, west of Vance Academy Road, on Sept. 1.

"It stays on my mind all the time. We just keep wondering what happened to him," said his father, John Yarborough.

Quentin Yarborough was schizophrenic, according to his parents, and the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons issued a Silver Alert on him six days after his disappearance.

The state Silver Alert system is designed to help locate people who suffer from dementia or some other cognitive impairment.

John and Queen Yarborough said they don't understand how their son could have ended up in the field unless someone had killed him and dumped his body there.

"I don't care where I go, he'd always call me," Queen Yarborough said of her son. "After I didn't hear ... from him, I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what."

The Vance County Sheriff's Office is treating the case as an unexplained death, noting that the medical examiner couldn't determine a cause of death and investigators have found no evidence to suspect foul play.

"It just shocked me, and really, the way they told me, I didn't believe it," John Yarborough said, recalling how he heard of his son's death. "I believe there's some foul play in there somewhere."

Authorities said the case remains under investigation, and the Yarboroughs said they are trying to move forward as they wait for answers.

"I just try to be strong for the family," Queen Yarborough said.

"I (have) heard nothing yet. (I'm) still sitting here waiting," John Yarborough said.