A postal worker and mother of two was murdered on the job in rural North Carolina — leaving her children orphaned just months after her husband died in a car crash.
United States Postal Service employee Brandi Reynolds was working her route on Friday in Hays — about 160 miles west of Raleigh — when she was allegedly kidnapped and shot dead by William Craig Durham, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Officials said the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene around 4:16 p.m. after receiving a call for law enforcement assistance when a witness saw an armed man in a gray Nissan Altima threatening Reynolds, followed by “multiple gunshots,” the Wilkes Record reported.
Reynolds was found dead when deputies arrived on the scene, officials said.
Durham, 56, was taken into custody in connection with the murder and is accused of “removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim,” according to a warrant obtained by the Charlotte Observer.
Police also said Reynolds was restrained before she was killed, according to the warrant.
Durham has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping and was booked into the Wilkes County Jail.
Durham appeared before a judge on Monday, where a family member of Reynolds told the court he had allegedly threatened her and broken into her home in the past, Fox 8 reported.
The family member also asked the judge to deny Durham’s bond, citing concern for Reynolds’ two daughters — a request the judge granted.
Reynolds and her two daughters had already been stricken by tragedy in the months leading up to her murder when her husband, Brent, was killed in a single-vehicle crash two days before Christmas.
Investigators said the 35-year-old dad was not wearing his seatbelt while driving a 2014 Ram truck in Wilkes County on Dec. 23, 2025, when his truck veered off the road, struck a tree, and overturned, according to Fox 8.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol pronounced him dead at the scene.
Following his death, the devoted mother had shared photos of her two daughters on Facebook in February, writing that they are “what makes life worth living” for her.
“The reason I get up every morning. Love these babies,” Reynolds wrote.
Residents in the rural North Carolina community where Reynolds worked as a mail carrier expressed shock over her death.
“I just kept saying, ‘No, that’s not my Brandi. That’s not my mail carrier,’” Julie Smith, a resident along Reynolds’ route, told ABC 45 News.
“My heart broke for her family and for her children.”
Smith described the hardworking mom as “outgoing, friendly, usually never missed a beat.”
“We could count on her. Like I said, punctuality. I think if you ask anybody in the community, they would probably tell you the same thing,” Smith said.
“I always looked forward to her vehicle come up around our driveway, and now I know that’s not gonna happen.”
Reynolds murder is being investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
