CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte police have arrested a Union County man in the disappearance of a state insurance investigator.

Police said Monday they have charged 40-year-old Michael Arthur Howell of Indian Trail with first-degree murder.  Howell will make his first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon.

 

Authorities say Sallie Rohrbach, 44, has not made contact with her employer or family after visiting Charlotte on business.  Rohrbach was conducting an audit of an insurance agency as part of her regular duties as an agency examiner.

Charlotte Mecklenburg police say they found Rohrbach's state owned 2007 Chevrolet Malibu at the Bojangles parking lot located at 300 West Boulevard shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday.

 

Rohrbach is approximately 5’2” with blond hair and brown eyes.  She was last seen on May 14 at the Dilworth Agency at 1427 South Boulevard in Charlotte.  

 

Police had the agency cornered off early Monday. They did not say how they linked Howell to Rohrbach or whether a body had been found.

 

Rohrbach had been scheduled to return to Raleigh on Friday. The North Carolina Insurance Department said no one had heard from Rohrbach since Wednesday at the insurance agency.

 

Anyone who has information about Rohrbach’s disappearance is asked to call Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Missing Person Unit at 704-336-2311 or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.