Zebb Quinn
Eighteen-year-old Zebb Quinn had recently graduated high school and was working his way through college at a local Walmart in Asheville, North Carolina.
Zebb Quinn was a quiet and reserved young man. The full-time A-B Tech student was working full-time at Walmart while he attended Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
On the evening of January 2nd, Zebb and his friend Robert Owens had no idea what would happen that night…
But Quinn was making money and doing well. He was even thinking about purchasing a new car.
Zebb’s Friend
Zebb was friends with Robert Jason Owens, who worked at the Volvo plant in Asheville, North Carolina. On the night of January 2, 2000, Owens had arranged to meet up with Zebb in the Walmart parking lot.
Then the two were going to drive separately to look at a vehicle Zebb was thinking about buying.
That Night
That evening, Zebb Quinn had gotten off work at the Hendersonville Road Walmart at around 9 p.m. The car he wanted, a Mitsubishi Eclipse, was at a dealership just outside of town.
The two made their way down Long Shoals Road, when suddenly, Zebb got a page and had to stop his car.
Pager Goes Off
The two stopped at a Citgo station on Hendersonville Road, and Zebb ran to a payphone. When he had finished the phone call, he walked over to his car. He was frantic, according to Owens.
He hastily told Owens that he needed to go. Something was very wrong…
Drove Off
At around 9:45 pm, Zebb Quinn jumped into his car and drove off in a panic. On his way out of the Citgo parking lot, he rear-ended Owens’ vehicle.
But with no idea where he was going and no way to contact him, Owens decided that nothing could be done. He’d talk to Zebb the next day about paying for the damage.
Zebb Disappeared
The next day, Zebb Quinn never returned home.Zebb wasn’t an outgoing individual, he liked his job and enjoyed going to college. He hadn’t packed anything, no clothes, contact lens solution, and no money.
He had simply driven off into the night and vanished….
Treated for Wounds
In that evening, Robert Owens was treated at a local hospital for fractured ribs and a head injury. He said that he sustained in a second car accident after Zebb had driven off.
No accident report was filed with police. It was an odd coincidence to be sure.
Calling Out
The day after Zebb disappeared, his mother filed a missing person’s report. Then, two days later, the Hendersonville Road Walmart received a strange phone call.
The man said that he was Zebb Quinn and he was sick. But Zebb’s coworker knew Zebb’s voice, whoever had called out of his shift was certainly not Zebb Quinn…
Prank Phone Call
Police traced the phone call back to the Asheville Volvo plant where Robert Owens worked. Once questioned, Owens admitted to making the phone call on his friend’s behalf.
According to Owens, Zebb had called him and asked for him to call in sick for him. But there was no proof of this conversation having occurred.
Aunt Ina
Once they were able to track down the page sent to Zebb’s pager, the police found that it was from the home of his aunt, Ina Ustich.
She told police that she had been having dinner at the home of Tamra Taylor, the mother of another suspect in Zebb’s disappearance, Misty Taylor…
Mysterious Misty
Misty and her boyfriend, Wesley, were also present at the dinner. Misty and Zebb had been friends, and Zebb had some interested in becoming more than that.
But Misty’s boyfriend, Wesley Smith, was abusive, and it seemed that he had threatened Zebb after he had discovered she was telling tales to her new “friend’ Zebb.
A Break-In
Meanwhile Aunt Ida stated that her house had been broken into on the morning of Zebb’s disappearance. Nothing had been stolen, but a few picture frames had been moved around.
As odd as all these coincidences were, nothing could compare to what the police found two weeks later…
Locating the Car
Two weeks after his disappearance, police found Zebb’s 1990 Mazda Protégé in the parking lot of the Little Pigs Bar-B-Que on McDowell Street. The car seemed untouched at first until police looked a bit closer.
A pair of large lips and exclamation points had been drawn in lipstick on the back window of the car.
Car’s Contents
The car also contained several empty drink bottles and a jacket that did not belong to Zebb. The driver’s seat and steering wheel had been pulled forward, which indicated that someone much shorter than Zebb had been driving.
An untraceable hotel key was also found in the car. But the strangest item of all, was a live Labrador puppy.
Worried for His Life
In the weeks before his disappearance, Quinn had been heard discussing some rather sensitive topics with his Walmart co-workers.
Zebb had mentioned that he feared for his life.
Not Acting Alone
The ongoing police investigation indicates that it is most likely that Zebb Quinn was murdered on the night of January 8th. For the longest time, the case went cold, and no links between Owens and Misty were found.
That is, until 2009…
New Suspect
In October 2009, detectives gathered hair, fingerprint and saliva samples from a 28-year-old West Asheville woman, believed to be involved in some way with Zebb Quinn’s disappearance.
Owens Arrested
Then, on March 17, 2015, police finally arrested Robert Owens. The arrest was for an unrelated incident, regarding the disappearance and murder of Food Network Star television contestant Cristie Schoen, as well as her husband J.T.
Codd, and their unborn child.
No Breaks in the Case
Despite the arrest and Owen’s implication in the Schoen/Cobb disappearance, police were still unable to link Robert Owens to the demise of Zebb Quinn on the night of January 2nd, 2000.
However, Asheville police still believe that Owens is the key to unlocking what happened to Zebb.
A Mother’s Hope
In the meantime, Denise Vlahakis, Zebb’s mother, continues to scour the internet for answers about her son’s disappearance.
The Facebook group dedicated to her son is still up and running, and she implores followers to continue to pray for her son and send her any information they might have on Zebb’s whereabouts or even his ultimate fate.