DEEP RUN – The house sits across a gravel path from a field and down the way from a turkey farm.
You could miss it if you weren’t looking for it.
Tucked into the back of a Tyndall Williams Drive property near the tree line, a suspected methamphetamine operation was discovered Thursday by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office.
Friday, the area appeared placidly calm if not a little eerie, considering the hive of activity at the residence the day before.
“We’ve not suspected a thing,” said a neighbor who wished to remain confidential.
“My husband and I use to rent the house – while we were building this house, we rented that house for, like, a year. And, no, we didn’t have a clue in this world. I mean, the woman who owns the house is just as precious as she can be,” the neighbor said.
The woman’s daughter mentioned she’s around the area on a regular basis and didn’t suspect anything, either.
Leading up to the house is a string of burned debris, snaking around the side and ending near the back porch, the site of a number of burned bottles and other trash.
In the pile was a partially filled prescription drug bottle belonging to a 22-year-old woman. The presence of a girl’s clothes on the front porch and a pile of documents and memos from Lenoir County Public schools in the backyard suggests the regular presence of a young girl at the residence.
Also present were documents pertaining to a case in Lenoir County Family Court related to custody of a boy and detailing child support payments.
Neither the girl nor the 34-year-old woman listed in the documents were discussed by the LCSO in reference to the case.
Deputies are still on the lookout for the sole suspect mentioned – Donald Robert Page III, 35. His publicly available criminal record includes convictions on a number of charges through the years, but none related to methamphetamine.
During the initial investigation at the property, investigators noted “significant evidence” meth was produced recently at Page’s residence.
“Meth production has been a growing problem in eastern North Carolina because it is easy to make, the products are readily available and cheap to buy, and the finished product is highly addictive,” Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill said in a statement Thursday night.
He added, “For some home grown chemists meth production can be ‘self-correcting’ in that they may make a mistake and cause an explosion. This has occurred in Lenoir County on several occasions over the past few years.”
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.