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Goldsboro teen shot, beaten, burned, buried

A Goldsboro teen who police say was kidnapped last year died of two gunshot wounds to the upper left chest, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.

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Kennedy McLaurin
GOLDSBORO, N.C. — A Goldsboro teen who police say was kidnapped last year died of two gunshot wounds to the upper left chest, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.

The body of Kennedy Fitzgerald McLaurin Jr., 16, was found Sept. 22 on a farm about 30 minutes east of Goldsboro, less than two weeks after the teen was kidnapped near his home in the Woodcrest Housing Community.

Leonard Eugene Joyner, 21, Jerome Jilah Butts, 19, Kevin Edward Smith, 18, and Curtis Etheridge, 17, all of Goldsboro, each face murder charges in the case.

According to the autopsy report, McLaurin was shot, beaten on the head with a shovel, burned, buried and then dug up a day later and re-buried.

Goldsboro police have not commented on a motive but have said the crime was neither gang-related nor random.

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