By Staff
Monday morning, the Forsyth county Sheriff’s Office announced that the Medical Examiner’s Office at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has made positive identification of both skeletal remains located at 2749 Knob Hill Drive in Clemmons. The first victim has been identified as Joshua Fredrick Wetzler who was born in 1977 and would be 37 were he alive. The second victim has been identified as Tommy Dean Welch who would be 36.
Joshua Frederick Wetzler, known as Josh, was last seen on June 15, 2009, while visiting his ex-girlfriend and son in Salisbury. He was reported missing February 15, 2010, after he did not contact them during the holidays. A source close to the family has told CCD that they initially believed his absence could have been attributed to the fact that he was on probation for a drug charge from February of 2009. They believed he may have been using drugs again in violation of his parole conditions and therefore avoiding meeting with his officer. He was listed in the NC Department of Corrections records as an “absconder”.
Josh was 32 years old when he went missing. In the initial report he was described as being about 6 feet tall and weighing about 220 lbs. Dental and DNA records were available on Wetzler. CCD has learned that his father was a dentist and that earlier in the investigation his records were able to be utilized to identify his son. Understandably the family has been distraught since hearing the news.
Four months before Wetzler was reported missing, the local police department found Mr. Wetzler’s vehicle abandoned behind an apartment building in Winston-Salem. Six months before he was reported missing, Wetzler was reported to be last seen in Clemmons. At that time, both the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office along with the SBI conducted an investigation and were unable to locate Wetzler.
Tommy Dean Welch was 31 when he disappeared in 2009. According to family, who had filed a missing report on October 3rd 2009 at 7:30pm, Tommy Welch walked away from his brother’s house in Clemmons heading to his own house a half mile away. Welch was reportedly traveling on foot and had been thought to have made it home, but no one had heard from him until the bodies were discovered on Knob Hill Drive.
John “Pazuzu” Lawson and Amber Burch have been charged with murder and as accessories in the death of these men. Krystal Matlock has been charged with being an accessory in the deaths.
This story is developing. CCD will update with information as it becomes available.
