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Family: Lee County Man's Suicide 'Coincidental' In Case Of Missing Woman

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LEE COUNTY, N.C. — Friends and family are not slowing down in their search for Michelle Bullard.

Investigators think the 23-year-old Lee County woman was abducted during a home invasion early Monday morning. As police continue their search for clues, the family of a man who lived nearby said his suicide just hours afterward was merely a coincidence.

On Saturday, loved ones of Bullard handed out fliers at the Broadway Elementary School parking lot. A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information leading to an arrest or Bullard's recovery.

News reports have linked Bullard to David Wilson, but detectives are keeping quiet about their investigation. In the meantime, Wilson's family wants to clear his name.

Wilson's sister, Diane Myatt, said the reports and rumors are convicting him of a crime he didn't commit.

"We pray for that family and we hope that young girl comes home safe," said Myatt. "But it hurts us to see his name linked to her missing."

Wilson killed himself Monday night. It happened hours after Michelle Bullard's friends reported her missing, and six miles from the trailer home where her friends say a masked man kidnapped her.

Lee County detectives aren't saying much about the case, except that they can't rule out anything. Wilson's pick-up truck, and clothes remain at the crime lab, where they've been for six days.

Myatt says enough is enough. She said her brother didn't even know Bullard.

"We want everyone to know our brother was a good man; that what our brother was going through, he had his issues, but he had nothing to do with that," she said.

Myatt said her brother had lingering health problems from a car crash 20 years ago. She said he had some financial problems, but her brother was kind, generous, and hard-working.

"I'd call and he'd say, 'I'm on my way to another job," she said. "The man worked. You couldn't keep him still."

He worked hard, and played hard.

"He just wanted to make people happy," said Myatt. "He was a happy person."

In the end, Myatt said that the pressures of life got the best of her brother. Now her family is left to grieve his loss, and now clear his name.

Lee County detectives are holding on to Wilson's belongings. His family said they haven't told them anything about the investigation.

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