Body of Ohio woman found in Dare

Published 9:10 pm Monday, July 16, 2012

MANTEO (AP) — A body discovered in a vacant lot on North Carolina’s Outer Banks is an Ohio woman missing since her family vacationed there earlier this month, police said Monday.

Medical examiners determined the body was that of Lynn Jackenheimer, 33, of Ashland, Ohio, said Dare County Sheriff’s Capt. Charles Nieman. Jackenheimer’s cause of death hasn’t yet been determined, Nieman said.

Jackenheimer had been missing since July 4 on the Outer Banks, where she and her two children vacationed with her on-and-off boyfriend, Nate Summerfield.

Summerfield’s brother called Ashland County sheriff’s deputies last week to say Summerfield returned to Ohio from vacation and told him he strangled Jackenheimer in North Carolina.

Jacob Summerfield then said his brother left his parents’ home in Ashland.

“He just took off,” Jacob Summerfield said, adding he had no idea where his brother may have gone. Nate Summerfield left Jackenheimer’s children with relatives before disappearing.

Police have not commented on whether Nate Summerfield is suspected of any crime and the cause of death would determine whether the case is a homicide.

Jackenheimer’s body was found Saturday in a vacant lot just off a street in Frisco, about 20 to 30 miles south of where she’d been vacationing with Summerfield.