Raleigh — Authorities are following up on a new lead in the August slayings of two Virginia sisters.

Nellie Bradley, 71, and Dorothy Hobbs, 74, both of Emporia, Va., were found stabbed to death on a farm near Murfreesboro -- about 40 miles from their home in early August.

Their car, a black 1996 Ford, was found in Boykins behind an abandoned house. New tests on the car show DNA belonging to a third person.

Investigators said they are not ruling out the possibility that the women were killed elsewhere and that their bodies were dumped along the wooded area less than two hours later.

A purse belonging to one of the victims was found tossed on a roadside, about a mile from where the bodies were found.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Hertford County Sheriff's Office at 252-358-7800 or the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation at 800-334-3000.