Man found dead in creek; no foul play suspected

Anthony Lee Hartley, 42, of the Ferguson community, was found in water about two feet deep in Elk Creek about a mile from the Wilkes-Watauga county line and about three miles from the Wilkes-Caldwell county line, said emergency personnel. It was near Triplett Road.

Hartley was fully clothed and wearing work boots when members of the Ferguson Fire Department found him between 10:30 and 11 p.m. Monday.

The Wilkes Journal-Patriot learned from emergency personnel that Hartley was fully clothed when members of the Ferguson Fire Department found him in water about two feet deep

Aside from saying no foul play is suspected, Summers declined to comment on a cause of death.

He said the sheriff’s office and Ferguson Fire Department were dispatched to the 6400 block of Elk Creek-Darby Road in response to a call received from a woman about 9 p.m. Sept. 12 in reference to a possible missing person.

Deputies spoke with the caller upon arriving at that location, which is near the intersection of Elk Creek-Darby and Triplett roads in the Darby section of the Ferguson Fire District.

Summers said the woman told deputies that “she and a friend had been swimming/fishing in an area called the “Granny Hole” on Elk Creek when the missing man “went around a bend in the creek to fish and that was the last time she saw him.”

Summers said Hartley was deceased when he was found later that night in a section of Elk Creek. Wilkes Emergency Medical Services and the Wilkes Rescue Squad were also dispatched.

Summers said Monday that the investigation is continuing.