Man charged after dismembered corpse found in Morgan County

A Morgan County man has been charged with abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence after a woman went missing in May of 2016.

On May 17, 2016, the sister of Joanna Anderson, 54, of Rocky Mount, reported Anderson as missing after not seeing her for several weeks. Charles Steven Swon, the common law husband of Anderson, told Anderson’s sister that he had also not seen her in several weeks. Anderson and Swon lived together at 26966 Highway Y in Morgan County.

On Sept. 5, 2017, a concerned citizen reported information that prompted the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office to bring in Darrell D. Willis, 44, of Rocky Mount. Willis told detectives that during May of 2016, Swon told Willis that he had killed Anderson in a domestic dispute. Swon was diagnosed with terminal cancer and told Willis that he didn’t want to spend his final days in jail. Swon payed Willis $2,000 to help him move the sealed 55 gallon drum that Anderson’s body was in.

Willis went with detectives to an area off of Red Arrow Road in Morgan County. Willis pointed out the drum in the woods around a collected waste area of cut dock foam and said that Anderson’s body was inside of it. Detectives got a search warrant to open the drum, and found a dismembered body inside of it. The drum was taken to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

On Sept. 6, the autopsy confirmed that the body was an adult female. That same day, Willis told detectives that he threw away Anderson’s fake teeth by throwing them in a trash can at a local gas station on the same day he helped Swon move the drum. Willis said he also helped Swon destroy Anderson’s car by taking it to a local scrap yard and having it crushed.

Swon died from cancer in July of 2017.

Willis has a bond of $250,000 cash or surety.

Some resident living along Red Arrow Road who knew Anderson said they were shocked to hear what may have happened to her and who may have been responsible for her death.

The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation is ongoing and that more charges are expected.

ABC 17 News reached out to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office, who said that the autopsy report won’t be complete for several weeks.