Three found dead in Fairview home, teen located in Gatlinburg

A welfare check in Fairview turned into a triple homicide investigation after Buncombe County deputies found three people dead inside a home at 18 Ashworth Drive and then traced a missing 16-year-old girl to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Deputies were called to the house around 7:15 p.m. Thursday, May 7, 2026, after concerns about the people living there. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said the call quickly escalated once investigators entered the home and found three dead. The sheriff’s office later said there was no threat to the public, even as the scene drew a heavy law enforcement response in the neighborhood.

The victims were later identified as 41-year-old Travis Eugene Grant, 42-year-old Kimberly Michelle Grant and 66-year-old Sharon Harwood Grant. Travis Grant and Kimberly Grant were married, and Sharon Grant was Travis Grant’s mother. Officials have not said how the three died.

The sheriff’s office said a 16-year-old girl who lived in the home had been missing and was later found in Gatlinburg. Around 4 a.m. Friday, May 8, Gatlinburg police found a car associated with the teen outside a hotel on Ownby Street. About 8:30 a.m., Gatlinburg police and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents entered a hotel room and took the teen and an adult male into custody for questioning in connection with the deaths in Fairview.

Investigators have not publicly identified the man or said what relationship he had to the teen. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said detectives were heading to Tennessee as the investigation remained active and ongoing. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Gatlinburg Police Department were all assisting, underscoring that detectives were working across state lines as they tried to reconstruct the timeline leading up to the deaths.

The case left several major questions unanswered for Fairview and the wider Buncombe County community: what happened inside the Ashworth Drive home, how the teen ended up in Gatlinburg, and what role the man taken into custody may have played. For now, authorities say the public is not in danger, but the investigation is still developing.