— A 76-year-old Warren County woman died Friday in a house fire that was the culmination of a day of terror for her and her husband, authorities said.

When firefighters arrived in the Wildwood neighborhood along Lake Gaston, they discovered a deadly crime scene.

"We're a small community, and for this to happen in this kind of town is unheard of," business owner Pete Richardson said.

Authorities said two masked intruders burst into a home on Mulberry Court in Littleton Friday morning and kidnapped Nancy Alford.

One of the intruders drove her to a State Employees' Credit Union branch in Roanoke Rapids and forced her to withdraw money from an ATM, while the second intruder stayed in the home with her husband, John Alford, Warren County Sheriff Johnnie Williams said.

John Alford is a minister at Sanford Memorial Baptist Church in Brodnax, Va.

Nancy Alford was driven back to the house on Lake Gaston, where the intruders beat up her husband before setting the home ablaze with the couple tied up inside, Williams said.

John Alford was able to escape and was airlifted to Duke University Hospital for treatment. His wife didn't make it out of the burning house, however.

Shelly Thompson and other neighbors found John Alford and had to keep him from going back into the burning home to save his wife.

"He was all swollen up. He was bleeding from his nose," Thompson said. "He was trying to go back in for his wife."

Richardson said the couple were upstanding members of the tight community.

"They were always willing to help somebody else out versus trying to take care of themselves," he said. "So, it's a very, very deep loss for this community and somebody that we will so miss."

There's a mix of sadness and concern with little information on the men who did this.

"You can't even have a home or property without someone coming in and destroying it or setting it on fire or killing you," neighbor Joyce Humphreys said.

Police said the intruders also stole the family's car, a gray Mercedes, which has not been found.

Police have not yet released suspect descriptions.

Investigators spent much of the afternoon combing through the charred rubble where the house once stood for evidence in the case.

The State Bureau of Investigation and the State Highway Patrol are assisting in the investigation.