A rural North Carolina mail carrier and mother of two was killed while working her route, leaving her children without either parent only months after their father died in a car accident.
Brandi Reynolds, an employee of the United States Postal Service, was delivering mail Friday in Hays, roughly 160 miles west of Raleigh, when authorities say she was abducted and fatally shot by William Craig Durham, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
The Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office was called to the area at about 4:16 p.m. after a witness reported seeing an armed man in a gray Nissan Altima threatening Reynolds, followed by “multiple gunshots,” the Wilkes Record reported.
Deputies found Reynolds dead when they arrived, officials said.
Durham, 56, was arrested in connection with the killing and is accused of “removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim,” according to a warrant obtained by the Charlotte Observer.
Investigators also said Reynolds had been restrained before she was killed, the warrant stated.
Durham was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping and booked into the Wilkes County Jail.
During a court appearance Monday, one of Reynolds’ relatives told the judge that Durham had allegedly threatened her and previously broken into her home, Fox 8 reported.
The family member also asked the judge to deny Durham’s bond, citing concern for Reynolds’ two daughters — a request the judge granted.
Reynolds and her two daughters had already been stricken by tragedy in the months leading up to her murder when her husband, Brent, was killed in a single-vehicle crash two days before Christmas.
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Investigators said the 35-year-old dad was not wearing his seatbelt while driving a 2014 Ram truck in Wilkes County on Dec. 23, 2025, when his truck veered off the road, struck a tree, and overturned, according to Fox 8.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol pronounced him dead at the scene.
Following his death, the devoted mother had shared photos of her two daughters on Facebook in February, writing that they are “what makes life worth living” for her.
“The reason I get up every morning. Love these babies,” Reynolds wrote.
Residents in the rural North Carolina community where Reynolds worked as a mail carrier expressed shock over her death.
“I just kept saying, ‘No, that’s not my Brandi. That’s not my mail carrier,’” Julie Smith, a resident along Reynolds’ route, told ABC 45 News.
“My heart broke for her family and for her children.”
Smith described the hardworking mom as “outgoing, friendly, usually never missed a beat.”
“We could count on her. Like I said, punctuality. I think if you ask anybody in the community, they would probably tell you the same thing,” Smith said.
“I always looked forward to her vehicle come up around our driveway, and now I know that’s not gonna happen.”
Reynolds murder is being investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
