Firefighters responded Tuesday morning to a report of a fire in a red Subaru Legacy that was parked on a rural road near N.C. Highway 105 near the community of Foscoe, about halfway between Boone and Grandfather Mountain.
When firefighters and a sheriff's deputy arrived, they discovered the fire was coming from the trunk, where they found the body of Stephen Harrington, 19, of Raleigh.
According to reports, Harrington was apparently killed at an apartment complex in Boone, tied up and taken to Foscoe, where he was left in the burning car.
Matthew Dalrymple, 20, of Bessemer City, and Neil Sargeant, 24, and Kyle Triplett, 21, both of Boone, were charged with first-degree murder. The three are jailed without bond and scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 19.
Harrington, who graduated from Wakefield High School, was a dedicated student who loved music, according to band director Joshua Potter.
"He was one of our inaugural band students," Potter said. "He was in the first group at Wakefield to be part of the band program and got it up and running in all the right ways."
Harrington was also a cross-country runner.
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