NC Wanted: Questions remain in 2005 murder of Durham man

A Durham community was heartbroken and outraged to find that a man considered as a father figure was found dead in Durham.

Posted 2:18 a.m. Jun 12, 2016 — Updated 2:59 a.m. Jun 12, 2016

DURHAM, N.C. — A Durham community was heartbroken and outraged to find that a man considered as a father figure was found dead in Durham.

Officials said the body of 81-year-old Bonnie Daye was found on June 15, 2005 in his home on Buxton Street. An autopsy report showed that he was strangled with a belt.

Daye’s neighbor, Flora Scott, said she knew something was wrong when she hadn’t seen Daye or his car at all that day.

Scott asked friends if they’d seen Daye, but they said he was nowhere to be found.

She later learned the horrible truth when Daye’s grandchildren screaming. Scott ran to Daye’s house to see what was wrong.

“I saw his body. They had him tied up, laying on the foot of the bed,” Scott said. “It was the cover of the bed. He was wrapped up and it was tied on each end.”

Police said they found Daye’s 2002 Cadillac Seville the following day, about a mile from the crime scene.

“I still don’t know what to think,” Scott said in 2005. “It’s a shock; he was a good man.”

Anyone with information about the murder of Daye is asked to call the NC Wanted hotline at 1-866-2683.

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