Serial Killer In Asheville Nc
A North Carolina man has been charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed his six-year-old daughter in the heart, according to the FBI.
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Seth Willis Pickering, 36, was arrested in Asheville, North Carolina, after it was reported his daughter, Lila Pickering, had gone missing amid a bitter custody battle with his estranged wife, according to KTLA 5.
The FBI said Pickering was taken into custody around 7pm on Friday after authorities discovered his car parked on the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Police said they found Lila's body inside the vehicle.
Seth Willis Pickering (left), 36, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his daughter Lila Pickering (left pictured together, right). Police have said that Lila was stabbed in the heart
Lila's body was found inside Pickering's car. Authorities said Pickering abducted his daughter from her foster home on Friday before murdering her
Lila was placed in a home by child protective services as Pickering and his estranged wife Ashley, who lives in Florida, battled for custody.
Ashley Pickering said she had talked to a CPS worker just hours before Lila was killed and was told the little girl was 'happy and healthy and in a great home'.
'They were going to work on getting her back down (to Florida)', Ashley told the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Pickering was taken into custody around 7pm on Friday after authorities discovered his car parked on the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway
But just hours later Ashley received a phone call at 2am from a police officer, informing her that Lila was dead.
'What they said to me just keeps playing in my head like a broken record,' the devastated mother said.
Lila was abducted from her foster home some time after she was picked up from school on Friday, Ashley told Fox Carolina.
The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office was about to issue an AMBER Alert for Lila when they were notified by the National Park Service of a homicide on the Parkway.
Two rangers found Pickering and his daughter after they saw his car outside of a designated parking space and decided to investigate.
The FBI is leading the homicide investigation because Blue Ridge Parkway is part of the National Park System.
Named 'America's favorite drive', the Blue Ridge Parkway connects the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.
It is dotted with numerous campgrounds, picnic areas and trails.
Video courtesy of WLOS
Lila was placed in a home by child protective services as Pickering and his estranged wife Ashley Pickering, who lives in Florida, battled for custody
Authorities closed a portion of the Parkway until 1am on Saturday morning as investigators gathered evidence at the scene of the murder.
Serial Killer In Asheville Nc
The National Parks Service and Buncombe County Sheriff's Office are also involved in the investigation.
Ashley said she separated from Pickering in May 2015 because he was abusive. She said the custody battle to bring Lila to Florida had been going on for 15 months.
Lila was placed in another home after Pickering was involved in a violent dispute with another person.
But Ashley said he had never hurt Lila in the past and she never thought he was a danger to their daughter.
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'Lila worshiped the ground he walked on,' she told the Asheville-Citizen Times.
'She would jump in his lap and smile and laugh and be so happy when he was holding her.'
Pickering's occupation on Facebook is 'Daddy' and his profile is full of pictures of the curly-haired girl.
Lila was just a month shy of turning seven-years-old. Ashley's mother said they had planned to pick her up in just a week to take her back to Florida.
The girl's grandmother also revealed that Pickering was mentally ill and had recently been released from a psychiatric hospital.
Ashley Pickering (pictured) said she separated from Pickering in May 2015 because he was abusive. She said the custody battle to bring Lila to Florida had been going on for 15 months
She told WHNS that it's 'still a mystery how Lila got into his custody after school on Friday'.
'The family doesn't understand that either. They were notified at 2am that Lila was 'deceased' over the phone,' said her grandmother.
Ashley revealed Lila was a miracle baby, as the mother suffers from a connective tissues disorder that makes it dangerous to carry a child to full term.
'I had her and she was perfect,' Ashley said. 'She was happy and healthy.
'She had no medical problems. She was absolutely beautiful. She is absolutely beautiful.'
Lila was a student at Johnston Elementary in Buncombe County. The Buncombe County School District issued a statement about the incident:
'While many questions have yet to be answered, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the heartbreaking loss of this wonderful little girl, Lila Pickering' BCS Superintendent Dr Tony Baldwin said in the statement obtained by KTLA.
'We will have crisis support teams on hand Monday morning at Johnston Elementary School to help students, teachers, and staff come to grips with this senseless tragedy. They will remain for as long as they are needed.'
Pickering is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center without bond.
I was living in Asheville, North Carolina at the time. I hung out at a local coffee shop all of the time. The day I met this guy was like any other. I went in to the coffee, ordered my coffee, and sat down to read the local IWANNA when an older man came up to me and asked if he could sit down.
I had gone in there to meet new people, and usually I went for younger guys, but I thought what the heck. I said yes, and he sat down and started to ask me questions. Where did I work? Where did I live? Did I have any relatives? etc. Of course, during the discourse, I asked him questions and found out that he was a traveling salesman who travelled I 40 from Ohio to Asheville. The last question he asked me was how old I was. When I told him, he couldn't believe me. I looked a lot younger than I was. At the time, I was 29, but looked like a teenager. Part of my kitch was to show people my ID, and I showed it to him, too. As soon as he saw it, he said, 'Thanks for the chat,' and got up and left.
I didnt think anything of it until I went to get another cup of coffee. The guy behind the coffee bar asked me if the old man was bothering me. I told him that it wasn't anything I couldn't handle and thanked him for his concern.
The next night I went to a strip club with my on again off again boyfriend that had just opened up a town over. My boyfriend asked me if I wanted to strip because someone had offered the manager $500 for me to strip. I didn't want to, but was pretty interested to find out who it was that was going to pay me that much to strip. Coincindence or no, it was the same guy from the coffee shop. I was creeped out.
He came up to me later on that night and started talking to me about how many people he had killed in Vietnam--especially young woman and children. I was really creeped out then and edged away from him and found another group of friends to hang with and made sure I as never alone. He didn't try anything, though. He just left.
I kind of freaked out, but didn't really do anything about. I just went to work the next day, and one of the girl's I worked with came up and asked if I had heard about that girl who had been stabbed in the neck from behind as she came out of one of the bars. The girl went on saying that her dad was a cop, and they were looking for a serial killer who was killing young girls from Ohio to Asheville off of I40. They werent sure but they thought he was an older guy who probably was a traveling salesman. The cops thought that he had a thing for woman who had my characteristics and were 18 and under.
I freaked out and told her about that guy. She called her dad, but I dont know if they didnt believe me or what, but they didn't question me. I really think that the only thing that saved me was the fact that I was much older.