A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy found two people trying to dispose of a body behind an abandoned house Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
Investigators charged Tony Hearne, 51, and Linsey Lentz, 33, with murder and failure to report a death.
"We brought him up here. I just panicked to hide him. I didn't know what to do," Hearne told WSOCTV.
Hearne said he isn't a killer and was only defending himself when he choked his uncle, Robert Adam Hearne Jr., to death, WSOCTV reported.
Investigators said a car driven by Hearne and Lentz got stuck, and somebody driving by noticed them and called police.
"I never wanted to fight my uncle, but he came in and came at me with his knife," Hearne said. "So we were fighting, and I tried to defend myself. He was choking me and I was choking him."
Hearne didn't say where the fight took place but said he had never been to the abandoned home where police found him.
Deuties said he and Lentz tried to get rid of the body at the abandoned property, but their plan unraveled when their car got stuck.
"The officer found what appeared to be drag marks in the leaves and went to the end of it and found a black male deceased,” Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman said.
Deputies said the body was covered with leaves, a couple of tires and some wood. They believe that the couple chose the abandoned property in hopes that no one would find the body.
Deputies are trying to determine where the homicide happened and if there were any witnesses.
"When the cops pulled up and your car was stuck, what was your thought right then?” WSOCTV asked Hearne.
“(I) told them I was stuck. (I) wasn't trying to hide or nothing because I was basically trying to defend myself,” he said.
Bowman said his investigators have already been in contact with police in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Albemarle, North Carolina, in hopes of locating the crime scene and determining possible charges.
Ellendale Elementary, a nearby school, was on lockdown as a precaution.
