New Bern police are investigating the death of a person found unresponsive near the intersection of Neuse Boulevard and Professional Drive, officers say, though investigators have so far ruled out both a vehicle strike and foul play. No identity has been released, and the case remains open as authorities wait on further findings.
According to WCTI, officers responded to a report of an unresponsive person in the area early Thursday. New Bern police and CarolinaEast EMS personnel determined at the scene that the person was dead. The outlet reports that police do not believe the person was struck by a vehicle, and investigators currently do not believe foul play was involved — though officials stress the investigation is ongoing and have released no additional information about who the person was.
The spot where the person was found sits along one of New Bern's busiest medical and commercial corridors. Professional Drive intersects Neuse Boulevard immediately adjacent to CarolinaEast Medical Center, a roughly 320-to-350-bed flagship hospital at 2000 Neuse Boulevard that serves as Craven County's primary acute care provider, according to the American Hospital Directory. CarolinaEast is one of the county's largest employers, and its EMS crews routinely coordinate emergency responses with New Bern police along the same stretch of road, Hoodline has previously reported.
Why the Case Stays Open Even Without Suspected Foul Play
Even with foul play ruled out for now, North Carolina law requires the case to pass through the county medical examiner before any official cause of death can be recorded. Under North Carolina General Statute § 130A-383, any sudden or unattended death occurring outside a clinical setting — including an unresponsive body found in a public space — must be turned over to the medical examiner for a formal determination, regardless of whether police suspect a crime, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
State administrative rules give medical examiners a defined window to work with. Under 10A NCAC 44 .0101, county medical examiners must submit their official report of investigation to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner within 14 days of assuming jurisdiction over a body, according to the NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
A Familiar Scenario for New Bern Investigators
This is not the first time New Bern police have worked through an unattended death case before toxicology results come back. In March, officers investigated a separate death after an unresponsive person was located in the city, a case authorities later attributed to a suspected drug overdose, according to a report cited by WITN. Local and state data underscore how often non-homicide deaths make up this category of case: a 2025 Craven County Violence Profile from the North Carolina Division of Public Health found the county recorded 31 total violent deaths in 2022, with suicides, at 16, outnumbering the 7 homicides.
New Bern's police force, which the Virginia Beach Police Department veteran Chief Patrick L. Gallagher has led since March 2021, recorded 4 murders, 11 rapes, 14 robberies, and 88 aggravated assaults citywide in 2024, according to North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation crime data. The department currently maintains a staffing level of about 101 total personnel, or roughly 3.3 officers and staff per 1,000 city residents, per figures compiled by AreaVibes.
How to Help the Investigation
Police have not said when they expect to release the identity of the person found near Neuse Boulevard or whether toxicology results are expected to change their preliminary findings. Anyone with information is asked to call the New Bern Police Department at 252-633-2020, submit a tip to the department's tips line at 252-636-5034, contact Craven County Crime Stoppers at 252-633-5141, or submit a tip online at p3tips.com/986.
