What had been a quiet and happy life in Charlotte for the Bohorquez Barbosa family, after fleeing the violence and insecurity of their native Colombia in 2022, ended last weekend in tragedy and desolation after the death of Jeimy Alexander Bohórquez Reyes.
The 47-year-old husband and father of two children, ages 8 and 10, was found dead in the early hours of Sunday, July 28, on the side of a road in Lenoir, a town in eastern North Carolina, with his face disfigured and three shots to the head, according to what was told to Latin NC Linkby his wife Sandra Barbosa.
“He was very happy in Charlotte. I don’t understand why he had to suffer such a horrible and brutal death, why his life was cut short like this. I ask the authorities to do what they have to do, but that there be justice,” said his wife.
Jeimy Alexander Bohórquez Reyes worked as a part-time independent driver, making local trips to acquaintances. The Colombian drove a Jeep Cherokee.
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He was hired to make a trip two hours from Charlotte
On the evening of Saturday, July 27, he was contacted by a woman to whom he had only made one previous trip.
“The woman contacted him around 10:30 p.m. asking him to arrange a ride for three people to take them two hours from Charlotte,” the widow said.
According to Sandra, usually on longer trips she or her brother accompanied her husband, but when she was told that he would be accompanied, the woman did not respond.
“When my husband saw that she wasn’t responding, he told her that he would send someone else, but she told him that she only trusted him, and in the end he said that there were four adults and two children, meaning that I couldn’t go, so he went alone,” she said.
Fears arise
For Sandra it was a normal night, and as usual her husband sent her his location in real time, and they kept in touch via text message and calls.
“The last time I spoke to him was around 11:40 pm when he called me to look into a flight to Maryland for the two of us. Later, the last message of his location that I saw was at 12:21 am,” Sandra explained.
At around 3:00 am Sandra woke up and when she didn’t see her husband, she sent him a message, but he didn’t respond.
The last location her husband was listed for was 1:49 am, so she got worried and decided to call her sister-in-law.
“My sister-in-law told me to go to the place where his last known location appeared and to call the police, because it all seemed very strange to us, since he had never been without communication for so long,” said Sandra.
While on the road with his brothers-in-law and two relatives, he called 911 and told the operator that they were going to the place where the cell phone appeared, but the operator told him that he had to return to the point from which he had made the call.
Sandra returned home, and her family continued on their way to the place where the cell phone appeared.
Meanwhile, the operator asked Sandra for all the information about her husband and the reasons for reporting him missing.
She says that an hour and a half later a patrol car arrived at her house, and almost at the same time her brothers-in-law arrived at the place where the cell phone was found, near a gas station.
“The police asked me about him, asked for a photo, vehicle information, and then looked at the radar on his computer where he was checking the license plate and said to me: ma’am, this car is four miles from here. And I said: how come if your cell phone is showing me that it’s an hour and a half from here. And he said: I don’t know, but this vehicle is moving here in Charlotte,” Sandra narrated.
The car was moving east of Charlotte
Meanwhile, the officer could see Jeimy’s vehicle moving on radar near Shamrock Road, and then near Central Avenue and Eastway Drive, very close to his home.
“When I saw that the car was still moving, I told the police officer, please stop that car! That’s when my sister-in-law called me and told me that she had found the cell phone. There was a cabin nearby and she went into the land to look for it, but since it was someone else’s property, they started shooting at her, and the police officer told her to get out of there,” Sandra continued.
According to Sandra, her brothers-in-law went to look for a police station in Lenoir, the town where they arrived, in Caldwell County, in the west of the state.
“Meanwhile, the policeman told me not to worry, that he was nearby and that he must have been delayed, but I told him that I knew my husband and that if he didn’t communicate it was very strange, and that he was certainly not the one driving the car. And he told me that they couldn’t do anything because he was the owner of the car and he couldn’t stop it without reason,” the widow continued.
Finally, the policeman had to leave, even though Sandra told him that she authorized them to stop the vehicle because she claimed that her husband was in it.
Body found in Lenoir in Caldwell County
At the same time, her brothers-in-law arrived at the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, where they remained for several hours to see if they would be given information.
But on Sunday, just after noon, two Spanish-speaking sheriffs arrived at Sandra’s house to inform her that her husband had been found dead at 2:00 a.m. and was in the morgue.
“I was in shock and it seems that my brothers-in-law were given the news at the same time,” said Sandra.
According to a report from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, Jeimy was found dead in the 2742 block of Blowing Rock Blvd, Lenoir, 30 minutes from the alleged destination.
Extortion attempt and stolen cards
However, after a post on social media about Jeimy’s disappearance, where they had put his sister-in-law’s phone number, they began to extort them asking for a ransom of $10,000, so he came to think that he was kidnapped, because, in addition to this, he received a message from the bank that his funds were low.
I had no enemies
Sandra says she cannot understand why her husband met such a violent end, as he was a hard-working man who was highly regarded by many.
“Everyone always says that people are always good after they die, but that’s not the case with Jeimy, he really was a good person, he had nothing to do with anyone, and I think that’s why about 100 people who knew him went to Lenoir to see what had happened,” he mentioned.
Authorities confirm identity of the body
The wife said that since the cell phone was in the hands of the authorities in Lenoir, they were able to see the latest audio recordings, messages and phone numbers of calls made and received, as well as the locations where he had moved.
“I couldn’t just stand there, I couldn’t understand why the authorities hadn’t stopped the car if it was still moving on Sunday in Charlotte, and I also wanted to be sure that the body they found was my husband’s,” she said.
Sandra and her brothers-in-law managed to get to Lenoir on Sunday afternoon, where they were able to speak with the detective in charge of the case, whom they asked to see the body.
“He told us that he had become unrecognizable, that the image was very strong, and that he could not show it, but he ended up showing my sister-in-law a photo, but she did not recognize him and the detective asked about any mole or tattoo, and the next day (Monday, July 29) she called me to confirm that it was him,” said Sandra.
They find the vehicle that they tried to burn
Sandra continued to ask questions about her husband’s car, and at that precise moment the detective told her that they had just found it parked in Charlotte, in the Eastway Park area, near where the client who had hired him lives.
“I just want them to investigate why they did that to him, and I think there is a reason why they couldn’t leave him alive, they didn’t think he had two children, a man without problems. He sought justice. We hope there is justice, that they don’t forget this,” she said.
The Colombian woman also said that she fears for her and her children’s safety, due to the dangerousness of the people who took her husband’s life.
The homicide investigation remains open to Caldwell County authorities in collaboration with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).
Fund-raising
The tragedy of this family goes even further, because now Sandra is left alone to care for her two children. Although she works, she says that what she earns is not enough to run her home as her husband did, who also had a job in a factory. In fact, several of her clients were workers at that factory.
To cover part of the expenses Sandra has at the moment, and what comes with the funeral of her husband Jeimy, she had to create a fundraiser in the Gofundme platformwith the goal of raising $20,000, of which 127 donors have donated $7,010.
