18-Year-Old Woman Charged After Man Found Fatally Injured in NC Cemetery

Police in Raleigh said Maria Elizabeth Pena-Echeverria was charged with murder and is being held in the Wake County Detention Center. (Wake County Sheriff's Office)

An 18-year-old woman was charged with murder in connection to the death of a 69-year-old male who was found fatally injured in a North Carolina cemetery, authorities said over the weekend.

Police in Raleigh said Maria Elizabeth Pena-Echeverria was charged with murder and is being held in the Wake County Detention Center.

Officials told WNCN that they responded to Mt. Olivet Cemetery after receiving a 911 call at around 10 p.m. on Friday. Police arrived and discovered a man who was seriously injured, although they did not say how he was hurt, according to the report.

The man, named James Lacy Taylor, was declared dead at a local hospital, WNCN reported. Authorities did not disclose a motive in the case.

Campus police at North Carolina State University put out a bulletin about two men and a woman leaving the cemetery on Friday evening, with witnesses saying that the suspects left in an extended cab pick-up truck and an old four-door sedan, WTVD reported.

The cemetery is adjacent to Schenck Forest, which is managed by North Carolina State University. Campus Police had put out an alert Friday night saying witnesses saw a woman and two men leaving the scene.

Other details about the case are not clear. An investigation into the matter is ongoing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.