Raeford, N.C. — Relatives said Friday that a 59-year-old Hoke County man was dead of an apparent stabbing in the home where he lived alone.

Hoke County Sheriff Hubert A. Peterkin said that Roy Murchison’s death was an apparent homicide.

Murchinson’s brother went to check on him Friday morning at his home in Pilgrim Park Mobile Home Park, off Hobson Road, between Fayetteville and Raeford. He couldn't get the door open and had to force his way in, then found Murchison's body and called 911.

Murchison left behind three daughters and a grandson.

"He was a very helpful person, and I hope that he's resting in peace right now," his 16-year-old grandson, Timothy Fox, said.

Fox said he was at school when he got the news.

"My grandma came to get me. That's when she said, 'They found your granddad dead,'" Fox said.

Fox remembered his grandfather as a generous person.

"If you were cold, he'd give you the shirt off his back," he said.

Murchison was the oldest of nine children.

"He was a hard worker. He worked until his health failed," his sister Beatrice Fowler said.

Due to his health, Murchison was on disability.

"He did get a check at the first of the month. It could have been a robbery," Fowler speculated.

Authorities have not released more details of the case.