An autopsy has confirmed that Lee Funderburk, the Charlotte man whose skeletal remains were discovered wrapped in a rug inside a car at a Lexington scrapyard, died of multiple gunshot wounds to his torso. Funderburk was reported missing on May 31, 2016, and his remains sat unnoticed for nearly a decade before scrap workers stumbled onto them just minutes before the vehicle was set to be shredded.
According to the autopsy report obtained by WBTV, Funderburk also suffered multiple fractures to his face. He was identified through his dental records, and the car in which his remains were found had been registered to his mother. Officials said the car was mere minutes from being shredded when workers noticed the remains wrapped in plastic inside the vehicle, according to the same report.
A Discovery That Almost Didn't Happen
The remains turned up on May 14, 2025, at a scrapyard in Lexington, North Carolina, when scrap workers were clearing out a vehicle that had arrived from Charlotte and was headed for a shredder in Rocky Mount, Virginia. The skeletal remains were discovered inside the vehicle, and the car was reportedly about 10 minutes away from being shipped off for shredding when the discovery was made.
The Davidson County Sheriff's Office was called to the scrapyard the same day, and North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation was also involved in processing the scene. Once investigators determined the death was a homicide, jurisdiction shifted: the Davidson County Sheriff's Office and the SBI transferred primary jurisdiction of the murder investigation to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, as evidence indicated the killing occurred in Charlotte, according to WCNC.
A Father Who Vanished Before His Son's Wedding
Funderburk, known to family as “Anthony” or “Doc,” was 44 years old when he disappeared. WBTV reports he was reported missing in May 2016 out of north Charlotte. WFMY News 2 reported that his son and his son's future wife were about to marry. What led up to the shooting remains unclear, per WBTV's reporting.
No Time Limit on Prosecuting the Case
North Carolina has no statute of limitations for felony offenses under North Carolina General Statutes § 15-1, according to the UNC School of Government, meaning prosecutors can still file murder charges no matter how many years have passed since Funderburk's death. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are handling the investigation, according to WCNC.
The case now falls to CMPD's Homicide Unit. CMPD's Homicide Unit includes 28 detectives, four squad sergeants, and two detectives dedicated specifically to cold cases, according to agency records published by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was involved in processing the scene before jurisdiction moved to Charlotte investigators.
