Woman Found Slain Near Falls Lake

RALEIGH, N.C. — A Granville County woman was found shot to death late Thursday near Falls Lake, authorities said.

Mark Upchurch found his wife, Estelle, in a truck parked near a Falls Lake dock near the intersection of Old Weaver Trail and Beaver Dam Road, Wake County authorities said. She had been shot twice in the abdomen, and a gun was in the truck, authorities said.

Authorities are investigating the shooting as a suspicious death, although they haven't ruled out suicide.

But Estelle Upchurch's daughter and friend said they don't believe she killed herself.

"I don't think it was a suicide because I don't see anybody shooting themselves twice in the stomach with a .38," neighbor Jay Perdue said.

"I don't know what happened. I just know this is not like my mother to do something like this," Diane Ray said. "This is not something she would do."