Hunter goes missing. Days later, he's found dead below tree stand, NC cops say.

Mark Price, The Charlotte Observer on Dec 24, 2025

Published in Outdoors

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A hunter who went missing a week ago south of High Rock Lake has been found dead, according to investigators in North Carolina.

The body of Jerry Eugene Sutton Jr. was discovered Dec. 16, in a wooded area about a 14-mile drive southeast from Salisbury, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said in a Dec. 22 news release.

It’s suspected 41-year-old Sutton died in a hunting accident, investigators say.

“On December 15 ... deputies with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to 10415 Bringle Ferry Road in reference to a welfare check. ... Jerry Eugene Sutton Jr. was dropped off at that location by a family member on December 9 ... They had not heard anything from him since that day,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Sutton had permission from the landowner to stay in a detached garage while hunting on the property. His belongings were inside the garage, but he was not there. Search efforts resulted in Sutton being discovered by deputies on December 16, 2025, deceased and on the ground near a tree stand.”

Evidence indicates Sutton died when he fell out of the stand, the sheriff’s office said.

A medical examiner is working to determine his cause of death.

Tree stands are elevated platforms 10 to 30 feet high, used to help hunters to stay out sight. Falls are common, with some state’s reporting 1 in 3 hunters fell out of tree stands, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The fatality rate is less than 1%, but a 2022 study published in Southern Medical Journal noted 28% of the hunters who fell reported their injuries were severe, the clinic says.

Sutton’s death occurred about a 55-mile drive northeast from uptown Charlotte.