Disappearance of Zebb Quinn

As of January 2020, Owens is awaiting trial for the alleged murder, and no trial date has been set.

Seventeen years later, on July 10, 2017, Robert Jason Owens was indicted on charges of murdering Quinn. Owens worked with Quinn at Walmart and was the last known person to have seen Quinn alive.

On July 10, 2017, a Buncombe County grand jury returned an indictment charging Owens with first-degree murder for the death of Zebb Quinn. According to the Asheville Police Department, "this indictment is the result of years of investigative work and persistence by detectives of the Asheville Police Department, as well as ongoing partnerships with members of the Quinn family and the Buncombe County District Attorney's Office."

On March 17, 2015, 15 years after Quinn's disappearance, Owens was arrested in an unrelated incident for the disappearance and murder of Food Network Star contestant Cristie Schoen, her husband J.T. Codd, and their unborn child. Owens later admitted to killing Schoen, Codd, and their unborn child, and also pleaded guilty to two counts of dismembering human remains. In a plea deal which his attorneys reached with Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams, Owens was sentenced on April 27, 2017. Judge Williams ordered Owens to spend between 60 and 75 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

In June 2015, detectives investigating Quinn's disappearance announced they had unearthed "fabric, leather materials, and unknown hard fragments" under a layer of concrete on Owens' property. The search warrant was initially obtained March 31, 2015. According to the warrant, investigators also found an unknown white powder substance, as well as pieces of metal and concrete. On another part of the property, authorities found "numerous plastic bags containing possibly pulverized lime or powdered mortar mix." Authorities did not comment on whether the fragments found were human bones or if they believe they had discovered Quinn's remains, citing an ongoing investigation.

The case received increased visibility in 2012 when the show Disappeared covered the case.

At around 9:00 p.m., on Sunday, January 2, 2000, Zebb Quinn ended his shift at the electronics department of a Walmart in Asheville, North Carolina. At the time, Quinn had been enrolled in an ROTC program. He had plans to travel after work to Leicester with Robert Jason Owens, one of his co-workers, to buy a new car. Quinn met Owens in the Walmart parking lot before they drove separately to look at the vehicle. The two men were seen on surveillance footage at a nearby gas station at approximately 9:15 pm, purchasing sodas at a convenience store.

On January 6, 2000, Vlahakis received a phone call from a fellow nurse at the Asheville hospital where they both worked and former classmate of Quinn, telling her that she had seen Quinn's Mazda Protegé in the parking lot of a barbecue restaurant adjacent to the hospital. Police examined the car, which had been left with its headlights on; a pair of lips and an exclamation mark were drawn on the car's back windshield in lipstick, and a live Labrador-mix puppy was found inside. A hotel key card was also discovered in the vehicle, but investigators were unable to trace the hotel. Also found were several drink bottles and a jacket that did not belong to Quinn. Police collected forensic evidence from the car but uncovered no new leads.

Zebb Wayne Quinn (May 12, 1981 – disappeared January 2, 2000) is an American man who went missing in Asheville, North Carolina. Quinn was 18 years old and working at a local Walmart when he disappeared after finishing his shift. His car was discovered several days later in a restaurant parking lot under unusual circumstances: its headlights had been left on, a live puppy had been left inside, and a drawing of a pair of lips and an exclamation mark had been scrawled in pink lipstick on the back window.