Wake man arrested in Virginia after wife's body found in truck

Police in Galax, Va., arrested a Wake County man Wednesday afternoon after finding his wife's body in his truck, authorities said.

The arrest ended a bizarre episode for the Wake County Sheriff's Office, which had received a call at 9 a.m. about a body at a home on Creedmoor Road.

A neighbor called 911 to report seeing a body at 14925 Creedmoor Road, north of Falls Lake, but when deputies arrived, they couldn't find anything.

The homeowners, Sonny and Sherry Howard, were not there either.

Deputies wrapped yellow crime-scene tape around the property and searched the area, even obtaining search warrants to go inside the home.

Hours later, Galax police took Sonny Howard into custody, and found the body of his wife in the bed of the pickup truck he was driving, Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said.

Investigators tracked Sonny Howard in Galax by following the signal on his cellphone.

Sonny Howard, 42, was charged with being a fugitive from justice and will be officially charged with murder once he is extradited to Wake County, authorities said. There's no word on when that is expected to happen.

Investigators have not determined where Sherry Howard, 50, died. They haven't released any information on how she died, either.

"We do not know if it occurred here or not," Harrison said. "That is what we have to piece together."

Sonny Howard has multiple prior convictions for robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, communicating threats, resisting a police officer, larceny and damage to property, according to state Division of Adult Correction records.