Inmate confesses to Goldsboro teen's 1996 death
GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- Authorities say a convicted murderer has confessed to killing a 16-year-old teenager who was found in a field in 1996.
Thomas Steele Dail, a prisoner of the North Carolina Department of Correction in Sampson County, was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder after admitting in an interview to killing Jared Graybeal.
The teen's body was found in a field on Louie Pollock Road in the town of LaGrange in Lenoir County on Apr. 4, 1996. He was last seen the day before sitting in a car outside a small restaurant in Goldsboro called Cafe Eldeweiss.
A waitress at the restaurant said she allowed Graybeal to sit in her vehicle while he waited for a ride. She said once she left work that evening, she discovered that Graybeal and her car were missing.
Her car was found the next morning about a block from the restaurant with the engine running.
A short time later, the teen's body was found, partially nude, in the field. Autopsy results revealed he died from multiple stab wounds to his abdomen and back.
Following an investigation, authorities determined there was not enough evidence to move forward with an arrest.
While the case sat for some time, evidence was later resubmitted for further analysis. As a result of extensive testing, authorities were able to put together a criminal case against Dail. The 50-year-old had previously lived in Goldsboro and the Mount Olive area.
At the time of Graybeal's death, Dail was under investigation for the murder of a North Carolina DMV examiner that had occurred in Duplin County on Nov. 11, 1995.
Before Dail was arrested for that murder, authorities said, it was believed that he killed Graybeal.
Dail was arrested for the Duplin County murder on June 16, 1996 and convicted of the first-degree murder in May 1997. He is currently serving a life term in prison.
