DOBSON, N.C. — The Surry County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in the 1980 rape and killing of a teenage girl, according to a news release.
Robert James Adkins, 62, of Dobson, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree forcible rape.
The sheriff’s office said the charges stem from the death of Ronda Mechelle Blaylock.
Ronda, 14, was a ninth-grade student at Atkins High School when her parents reported her missing on Aug. 29, 1980, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
She and a friend got into a blue pickup outside of a bowling alley in Rural Hall. Three days later, her body was found in the woods off Secrest Loop Road in Surry County.
The medical examiner determined Ronda had been stabbed to death.
Adkins was arrested on Friday and is being held in the Surry County Detention Center without bond.