{"id":39747,"date":"2026-07-03T11:12:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=39747"},"modified":"2026-07-03T11:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:36:08","slug":"north-carolina-mail-carrier-kidnapped-and-killed-while-on-her-route-authorities-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2026\/07\/03\/north-carolina-mail-carrier-kidnapped-and-killed-while-on-her-route-authorities-say\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina mail carrier kidnapped and killed while on her route, authorities say"},"content":{"rendered":"

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William Craig Durham, 56, was charged with kidnapping and murder in the killing of 35-year-old Brandi Reynolds.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

7\/1\/26 – A man kidnapped and killed a U.S. Postal Service worker while she was delivering mail in North Carolina last week, police said, orphaning her two daughters, who lost their father just a few months before.<\/p>\n

Brandi Reynolds, 35, was found dead following a call for help to authorities in Hays, North Carolina, on Friday afternoon, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The bureau did not provide any potential motive in her killing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm that Brandi Reynolds was delivering mail on her route when the incident occurred,\u201d U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel said by email.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors in Wilkes County charged William Craig Durham, 56, of the community of Roaring River, with first-degree kidnapping and murder, according to court records.<\/p>\n

The defendant, arrested on the day of the murder, remained in Wilkes County Jail on Tuesday, according to a third-party inmate information service used by the county. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A warrant filed in district court alleged that Durham committed kidnapping \u201cby unlawfully restraining the victim, removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said Durham carried out the alleged kidnapping \u201cfor the purpose of terrorizing\u201d Reynolds and \u201cdoing serious bodily injury\u201d to her.<\/p>\n

On Monday, District Judge Robert J. Crumpton ordered the defendant to remain in custody without bond, citing his \u201csignificant criminal record.\u201d<\/p>\n

State prison records show Durham has served time for second-degree kidnapping, assault on a female and possession of a gun by a felon, among other offenses. Read more at NBC News<\/a><\/p>\n

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NY Post: The slain mom, Brandi, used her house for \u201ckeeping and selling controlled substances,\u201d including \u201cmarijuana and fentanyl,\u201d according to a criminal indictment.<\/p>\n

She was also charged with \u201ctrafficking opium or heroin\u201d of more than 4 grams but less than 14 grams with the intent to sell and conspiring with her husband to sell marijuana.<\/p>\n

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Police found \u201cdrug paraphernalia, baggies, wax rubber containers, plastic totes and scales to package and repackage\u201d in the home, the indictment states. Read more at the NY Post<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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William Craig Durham, 56, was charged with kidnapping and murder in the killing of 35-year-old Brandi Reynolds. 7\/1\/26 – A man kidnapped and killed a U.S. Postal Service worker while she was delivering mail in North Carolina last week, police said, orphaning her two daughters, who lost their father just a few months before. Brandi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-postal-crime","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39753,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39747\/revisions\/39753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}