WHITEVILLE, NC — Newly unsealed search warrants are shedding light on the forensic evidence gathered by law enforcement in the unsolved homicide of local business owner Cynthia Hansen.
The warrants reveal that Whiteville Police Department investigators collected multiple physical items and biological evidence from the crime scene inside Stronger Body Fitness, located on North Thompson Street. Among the items seized by police were a kettlebell, a claw hammer, rolls of duct tape, and multiple DNA swabs.
Hansen, 71, was brutally assaulted inside her studio during the pre-dawn hours of March 11, 2026. Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene shortly after 6:00 a.m. when an arriving client heard a male voice inside, saw a suspicious individual close an interior door and flee, and immediately called 911 from her vehicle.
Officers located Hansen alive in the studio’s kitchen area suffering from severe, critical injuries. She was transported to Columbus Regional Healthcare System, where she succumbed to her injuries shortly thereafter. Whiteville Police Chief Paul Rockenbach later noted that the assailant used a “weapon of opportunity” found inside the business.
In the months following the attack, law enforcement released security camera footage showing a potential suspect—a man wearing a gray hoodie who appears to walk with a limp—spotted in the vicinity of North Thompson Street around the time of the incident. Investigators, working alongside the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and federal authorities, have processed hundreds of hours of surveillance footage and forensic material.
No arrests have been made in the case.
A combined reward of $27,000 remains available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible, which includes $25,000 from the state authorized by Gov. Josh Stein and $2,000 contributed by local donors and law enforcement.
Authorities continue to urge anyone with information, or who may have unsubmitted surveillance footage from the area from the night of March 10 through early March 11, to contact the Whiteville Police Department at 910-642-5111, the SBI at 919-662-4500, or submit an anonymous tip through the City of Whiteville Online Portal.
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