FBI releases more details 3 months after body found along Blue Ridge Parkway

BOONE, N.C. — Police are asking people to come forward to help solve a homicide at the popular Yadkin Valley Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Investigators found 33-year-old Josue Calderon’s body near Blowing Rock on Oct. 9, 2021.

Investigators told Channel 9 that Calderon had been stabbed. Authorities have not released whether the murder happened at the overlook or somewhere else.

On Jan. 13, 2022, the FBI said investigators had determined Calderon traveled with two other men in a 2018 silver Chevy Equinox with Florida license plate KBY E67 from Rhode Island to North Carolina.

The FBI and the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch are asking the public if they saw the men or the Chevy SUV on Oct. 6 or Oct. 7, traveling between Raleigh and Blowing Rock. Anyone with information should call FBI Charlotte at 704-672-6100 or the National Park Service tip line at 1-888-653-0009.

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‘I hope the family can get closure’

Family members said Calderon was from Rhode Island, had no car and that they didn’t know how his body ended up at the location north of Hickory.

The National Parks Service Investigative Services branch is asking anyone who took videos or pictures anywhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina on Oct. 9 or who has information about the case to submit a tip.

Two witnesses told Channel 9 hours before the body was discovered, the stretch of the parkway had fog so thick that it was difficult to even see the overlook.

Two students from Appalachian State University visited the Parkway on Thursday and were near a roadside memorial for Calderon.

“This is crazy because this is a very popular spot,” student Stephanie Simpson said. “I come up here all the time.”

The students from App State hope the family gets some answers.

“I hope the family can get closure,” student Natalie Eaton said. “I hope they can figure out what happened and everything.”

A family member left a note at the memorial, which said, in part, that Calderon was a son, a brother and a husband. He will be missed.

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Channel 9 obtained the 911 call made moments after the gruesome discovery.

“I need to report a dead body off the Blue Ridge Parkway,” the 911 caller said.

“OK, is he in a vehicle or,” the dispatcher asked.

“No it’s down in a ravine,” the caller said. “We were about to walk away.”

Channel 9 spoke with a man last month who lives nearby but said he didn’t notice anything unusual.

“Makes no sense to me. Six o’clock at night, almost 24 hours a day people park there to watch the sunrise, watch the sky, watch the views,” he said.

The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office and the SBI are also involved in the investigation.

No further information has been released.

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