MURFREESBORO, N.C. — More than a half-dozen law enforcement agencies are investigating the deaths of two sisters whose bodies were found along a rural dirt road in northeastern North Carolina on Friday night.

The victims, Dorothy R. Hobbs, 74, and Nellie Bradley, 71, both from Emporia, Va., had been stabbed multiple times, Hertford County Sheriff Juan Vaughan Sr. said. They were found dead about 40 miles from their home.

During a news conference on Monday, authorities said the two women were last seen alive at about 4 p.m. Friday in Boykins, Va.

"They went through and made a donation for Relay for Life," Vaughan said on Monday. "So, that was the last time someone saw them alive."

Their car, a black 1996 Ford was found in Boykins behind an abandoned house. 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 sisters was found tossed on this roadside, about a mile from where the bodies were found.

The public is asked to report anything unusual they might have seen on Friday afternoon on the back roads between Boykins and Murfreesboro.