Pregnant woman who made distress call found dead

A pregnant woman who made a distress call Wednesday afternoon was later found dead, Fayetteville authorities said.

Police and members of the Cumberland County Bomb Squad responded to the call at a home at 2995 BrookCrossing Drive, off Lakewood Drive, just before 3 p.m. Initial information provided to WRAL News indicated that the police response was due to a standoff.

Monique Lingenfelter, 40, who was four months pregnant, was apparently threatening to hurt herself, authorities said Wednesday evening.

“She threatened to do herself harm, so of course, we responded. We could not make contact with anybody inside the home,” police spokeswoman Theresa W. Chance said.

Authorities first sent a robot inside the home to search for Lingenfelter, but it was unable to confirm if anyone was inside.

At about 10 p.m., authorities said they entered the home and found her dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Lingenfelter was the wife of Sgt. Fred Lingenfelter, who is assigned to the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) at Fort Bragg. He told police earlier in the day that he had firearms inside the home.

The surrounding houses were evacuated as a precaution, authorities said.

“For now, we're just hoping to get home, let our dog out, that sort of thing,” evacuated neighbor Ajala Van Dyke said late Wednesday.

Residents were allowed back into their homes shortly after 10 p.m.