Tropical storm conditions possible. Windy at times with periods of rain. Low 54F. ENE winds at 25 to 35 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tropical storm conditions possible. Windy at times with periods of rain. Low 54F. ENE winds at 25 to 35 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.

A memorial for Danny McNeal and Alyssa Taylor was set up along the side of I-85 near the site of a fatal tractor trailer crash on Sept. 14. McNeal was confirmed killed in the wreck, but family members of Alyssa Taylor believe she was also on the truck.

A memorial for Danny McNeal and Alyssa Taylor was set up along the side of I-85 near the site of a fatal tractor trailer crash on Sept. 14. McNeal was confirmed killed in the wreck, but family members of Alyssa Taylor believe she was also on the truck.

In a Facebook video posted this afternoon by members of Alyssa Taylor’s family, a single earring is shown being pulled from a storm drain just feet from the site where a tractor trailer struck a bridge abutment Sept. 14 on I-85 in Hillsborough.

Krista Taylor, Alyssa’s mother, and Shelly Payton, her aunt, can be heard on the video saying they were searching throughout the crash site when they happened to look through the steel grate of the drain and saw the earring. 

“We found an earring that looks just like one that belongs to Krista (Alyssa’s mother),” Payton said. “Alyssa was always borrowing and wearing her mom’s stuff.”

Payton used a long piece of metal to pull the piece of jewelry to where she could reach it with her hand. Once she was able to pull out the earring, Krista’s mother broke down into tears.

“Oh my god. That’s her earring! That’s my earring,” she cried. “My baby wore all my stuff because she didn’t have much of her own.”

The earring was black and trimmed in silver, teardrop shaped, and about the size of a half-dollar. The top part that would have slipped into a pierced ear, was missing. Payton held the piece in her hand and showed it on the video. 

On a trip to the crash site days earlier, the women said large construction machinery was doing repairs to the bridge, and covering the drain.

“We’re going to take this back to the Accomack County Sheriff,” Payton said. “We have her earring that puts her at the crash site.”

At dusk, the women were still at the crash site, digging through debris, looking for more clues.

Earlier in the day, the three women from Virginia, who have been in North Carolina since late last week, had planned to head back to their home, full of mixed emotions, questions, and few answers.

“We're going to head back home,” Shelly Paton said early Thursday morning. Payton’s niece, Alyssa Taylor, has not been seen or heard from since Sept. 13. “I’m not saying that we're not coming back because we are. We're not gonna stop. But we really need to get home. My kids are missing me and my sister's kids are missing her.”

Before leaving the area, the three family members, including Alyssa Taylor’s mother and two aunts, made plans to set a visual memorial at the site of the accident.

“We're gonna put something at the wreck site today, maybe like a cross or something before we leave,” Payton said. “We want to put something in the area along the side of the highway. We’ll put two of them out there, one for Danny and one for Alyssa.”

Danny McNeal, 51, of Exmore, Va., died in the accident when he lost control of the truck that was carrying a delivery of frozen chickens from Delaware. The vehicle slammed into the bridge abutment at N.C. 86 and I-85, overturned and burst into flames.

Alyssa Taylor, 25, of Oak Hill, Va., has not been heard from or seen since Sept. 13. A text exchange between Turner and McNeal, who were acquaintances, indicate a plan for McNeal to pick up Taylor on his way from Delaware to North Carolina. 

Family members of Alyssa Taylor also believe she was on the truck with McNeal because her phone last ‘pinged’ between Emporia, Va., and Hillsborough. A missing persons report was filed with the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, which has been conducting the investigation. The agency has obtained Taylor’s cell phone information and GPS logs from Moore’s Trucking Co. McNeal was driver for the Belle Haven, Va., based trucking firm. According to the tractor trailer’s GPS tracking, McNeal’s vehicle last came to a complete stop in Emporia, Va. The stop was clocked between two and three minutes. 

Alyssa’s mother learned of McNeal’s death on her way home from a vacation trip to Orlando, Fla. She detoured through Hillsborough and eventually to Clayton’s Wrecking Co. in Durham. It was there that she found — what she said was Alyssa’s favorite blanket — in with the truck’s wreckage. On a second trip to the salvage yard, this time with her sisters, a flip flop they said belonged to Alyssa was found.

Payton received a tip that the N.C. Highway Patrol had found cellphone. When confronted in person by Payton, an official with the agency confirmed a device had been found. He would not confirm whether the phone was found near or on the tractor trailer wreckage from Sept. 14.

“I had asked him about that and I was like, ‘What’s going on with the cell phone? Has anybody started testing the cell phone? Was it burned up, can you tell me any information here?’ He just said, ‘I have no information on the cell phone,’ so, I don't know if they're not fully telling me everything because they don't want me to put it out to the media.”

Payton said she and her sisters have repeatedly asked for information and help as they pursued answers about the whereabouts of their loved one. She said most have been sympathetic. She said she’s been given inconsistent stories from people who were at the scene of the accident.

Chris Knox, the public information officer with the N.C. State Highway Patrol, reiterated that it found no evidence of anyone else being in the truck that was driven by Danny McNeal, and that the role of the highway patrol is to investigate the accident, and not the missing persons case. Knox said he and the rest of the agency is hopeful that Alyssa will be found safe.

For now, Alyssa’s mother and aunts are hopeful the discovery of the earring will provide more evidence that she was on the tractor trailer on that fatal trip, and provide them with closure. 

“We're not gonna stop,” Payton said. “But for now, we’re exhausted. We haven’t slept much. When I get home, I’m going to hug my babies.” 

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