Police say after a day long investigation, numerous individuals were interviewed and as a result of the interviews, Annie Bynum's son, 42-year-old Tony Edward Bynum was charged with the murder of his mother.
Family members say investigators told them Tony confessed to the murder.
When the 68-year-old didn't show up for her overnight shift at the Day-By-Day Treatment Center, co-workers called her sister --who along with her own daughter-- drove to Bynum's house on Meadowbrook Road.
They found the door open around 7 a.m. and called 911.
"It was dark when they got here and they didn't want to go in because they thought if something had happened they thought that someone could be in there so they decided to stay in their cars, lock their doors and wait for the police. Police were the first to go in," Bynum's Niece Carolyn Harding said.
Officers found her home disturbed and Bynum dead. Family members say her son Tony lived with her.
They say he was fired from his job at Wal-Mart Sunday and was out drinking Tuesday night and never came home.
Johnston county investigators questioned him and took information from potential witnesses.
One neighbor told Eyewitness News he saw a man walking along Meadowbrook Road around 9 p.m. Tuesday night.
It's a rural part of Johnston County, an area family members say Bynum loved and where she felt safe.
"Tears my heart out, she was such a nice person to me she had no known enemies so for somebody to do this it just takes us all by surprise it rips my heart out," Harding said. "I don't know why someone would do this to her."
Tony Bynum is being held in the Johnston County Jail without bond. The investigation is still ongoing at this time.
