Abigail Margulis

amargulis@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE - Long before Robert Jason Owens was charged in a double homicide, his name had been attached to the Zebb Quinn disappearance and presumed killing 17 years ago.

“What happened to Zebb?” has often been followed by, “What does Owens know?”

Owens pleaded guilty to killing Cristie Schoen Codd, 38, and Joseph "J.T." Codd, 45, and their unborn child, Skylar, in March 2015. He also pleaded guilty to dismembering their remains. Owens will spend a minimum of 59.5 years to a maximum of 74.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole, according to a plea deal reached by Williams and Owens' attorneys.

Following a Thursday plea hearing, Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams declined to comment on the active investigation of Quinn’s Jan. 2, 2000, vanishing..

However, when Owens defense attorneys Victoria Jayne and Sean Devereux were asked about the Quinn case, they said their client has cooperated with authorities.

“He has given a very detailed statement regarding that matter,” Jayne said. “In our opinion, he is not at all responsible for the death of Zebb Quinn.”

Asked if Owens was present at Quinn’s death, Devereux said, “That matter is not over yet.”

Both attorneys said they expect the Quinn case and disposition to be handled in another legal proceeding.

Williams also said he expects the Quinn case to be handled separately.

All three attorneys said the Quinn case and any information Owens may have were not a factor in the plea agreement reached in the Codd case.

Quinn's mother, stepfather and sister were at the hearing Thursday but declined to speak with media.

Related

Owens pleads guilty to Codd killings, avoids death penalty

All of our coverage of Robert Jason Owens

The mystery

Owens and Quinn had known each other after working together at Wal-Mart on Hendersonville Road and would occasionally play pool together.

The night of the disappearance, Quinn clocked out of his job at 9 p.m. with plans of checking out a new car with Owens.

Owens offered that he knew of one for sale in Leicester.

The pair stopped at a convenience store at 9:14 p.m. to buy soft drinks, and soon after Owens' truck passed the gas station pumps followed by Quinn's Mazda Protégé, according to surveillance footage released by city police in 2004.

Quinn followed Owens along Long Shoals Road, and Owens later told police Quinn had signaled for him to stop by flashing his lights. When the two stopped, Quinn said he received a page he needed to answer and left to find a payphone, according to Owens’ account.

He returned about 10 minutes later and bumped into Owens’ truck. Quinn promised to pay for the damages, then said he had to leave, according to Owens. Investigators have said that was the last time anyone reported having seen Quinn.

Two days after the disappearance, a Wal-Mart supervisor received a call from a man claiming to be Quinn, saying he would not be at work. When she dialed *69 she found the call had come from Volvo Construction Equipment, where Owens was then working.

Owens told police Quinn asked him to make the call.

Two weeks later, Quinn’s car turned up in the parking lot of Little Pigs Barbecue on McDowell Street with a puppy inside and a large pair of lips drawn in lipstick on the rear window.

Quinn took no clothes, no contact lens solution, no extra money — nothing that would indicate he was going away. He liked his job and always stayed in close touch with his mother and sister.

Shortly after, investigators considered Owens a top suspect in the case.

The teen’s disappearance was featured on the Investigation Discovery Channel show “Disappeared” in 2012.

In the months and years that have followed Quinn’s disappearance, police have received hundreds of tips and leads. Most recently, a pair of searches linked to the Quinn case took place in March and in May 2015.

Investigators that March searched Owens’ property off Hookers Gap Road in Leicester.

That search was prompted by an unnamed relative of Owens who told police on March 27 that Owens was digging a fish pond near his home sometime after Quinn’s disappearance and later poured concrete over the area, according to a search warrant.

That search was not the first on Owens' property. In 2007, Asheville police used ground-piercing radar, but officers at the time declined to say what prompted them to use the technology seven years after Quinn went missing.

The March dig unearthed fabric, leather materials and “unknown hard fragments,” though investigators have not said if the items are significant.

The May 2015 search took place in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest, one that was spurred by a tip and not been publicly disclosed.

At the time, Owens had been in jail for about 11 weeks. Officials would not say, if the tip came from Owens.

Both DNA and dental record information regarding Quinn have been entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, better known as NamUs.