The nationwide search for a North Carolina murder suspect with ties to this area gained more assistance this week when an alert for 35-year-old John Raymond “Woody” Woodring was issued by the FBI.
Woodring, a 1989 Tyrone Area High School graduate, stands accused of shooting his wife to death at a western North Carolina domestic violence shelter on Sept. 18. Blair County court documents from 1990s show Woodring once had a Port Matilda address and it has been widely reported that Woodring still has family in this area. Authorities in Sylva, N.C. had reason to believe Woodring might flee to this area and Tyrone Police and other area law enforcement were informed of the case last week.
Woodring allegedly fled in a stolen Honda Civic that was recovered Monday night behind a Greyhound Bus station in Knoxville, TN.
The Associated Press reported yesterday the FBI issued an alert this week through the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program for Woodring, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, 48-year-old Bonnie Woodring. She was buried in Texas on Monday with services being held under police guard according to reports from the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times. Her family decided to use her maiden name of Wilson on her headstone.
The AP reported that in the FBI alert posted Monday, authorities warned Woodring might be armed and dangerous and is possibly suicidal. However, a report published yesterday in the Citizen-Times said a forensic psychologist believes Woodring fits the profile of a “narcissistic sociopath.” The profiler said the chances of Woodring committing suicide were slim. The expert said Woodring has too much pride to kill himself but might chose to die in a police shootout, according to the Citizen-Times report.
In other developments in the case, as reported yesterday in a Daily Herald exclusive, Woodring is scheduled to be featured on the “America’s Most Wanted” television program on the FOX network. The show will air locally on FOX 8, WWCP at 9 p.m. on Saturday. The murder and search for Woodring is being featured on the “AMW” web site as its top case as of this morning.
However, according to a report posted this morning on the Asheville Citizen-Times web site, the case is generating other national media attention. The report said CNN was in Sylva, N.C. for a Sept. 26 report. The paper said the report is now the most-watched video on the cable news network’s web site. Additionally, the newspaper’s web report said Fox News, Geraldo Rivera and Court TV and hundreds of newspapers are covering the story.
Woodring made his way into a domestic violence center where his wife and her 13-year-old son were staying to commit the alleged crime. One expert told the Citizen-Times, although a husband killing his wife in the United States is not unusual, violating the safety of a domestic violence shelter might have caused the case to gain national notoriety.
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On the net: www.amw.com, www.citizen-times.com
