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Authorities positively ID body of slain Goldsboro teen

Goldsboro police on Thursday confirmed that the body found buried on a remote farm near Seven Springs in September were those of Kennedy McLaurin Jr., a teen kidnapped by four men Sept. 9.

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GOLDSBORO, N.C. — Goldsboro police on Thursday confirmed that the body found buried on a remote farm near Seven Springs in September was that of Kennedy McLaurin Jr., a teen kidnapped by four men Sept. 9.

The remains were positively identified using DNA testing, Goldsboro police said. The autopsy report remains with the State Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill. 

Four men who police believe abducted McLaurin from Bain Street have been charged with murder in the case. 

Police arrested Leonard Eugene Joyner, 21, Jerome Jilah Butts, 19, Kevin Edward Smith, 18, and Curtis Etheridge, 17, all of Goldsboro, in late September. All four men are being held in the Wayne County jail without bond. 

Investigators have not released the cause or circumstances surrounding McLaurin's death but have said that the crime was neither random nor gang-related.

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