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N.C. Slaying Suspect May Be On Way To Bay Area

Buncombe County (N.C.) Sheriff's Office

Investigators canceled an Amber Alert for Haley, left, and Hayes Heatwole Friday morning.

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 1, 2009

Richard Heatwole

A North Carolina father on the run after allegedly killing three people, including the mother of his children, may be on his way to the Tampa area.

The man, Richard Douglas Heatwole, is believed to have killed three adults, possibly while his children watched, said Lt. Ross Dillingham of the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina. The crimes occurred in Candler, N.C.

The bodies were found Thursday afternoon, but Dillingham said it is not yet known when the deaths occurred.

The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office said the two children, Hayes Heatwole, 6, and Haley Heatwole, 10, were taken from the home. It issued an amber alert for the children Thursday but canceled it Friday morning, a dispatcher with the sheriff's office said. There is no word on why the alert was canceled or where the children are now.

The father is still on the run, the sheriff's office said. Heatwole is 45 years old and 165 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes.

He is thought to be in a white extended cab Toyota truck bearing North Carolina plates, YNS-8257 or LTS 3741.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

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