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Body found in Virginia may be that of missing North Carolina man

Andy Banks, 39, grew up in Gaston County and had been missing since Saturday.

DANVILLE, Va. — Police said Thursday that a body found in rural Virginia may be that of a Raleigh man who has been missing since last weekend, Raleigh NBC affiliate WRAL-TV reported. 

Andy Banks, 39, who was last seen Saturday afternoon in the Woodburn Road area near Cameron Village. Friends said he was meeting a potential Craigslist buyer about his silver 2011 Range Rover Sport.

Police said Wednesday that they had evidence of foul play in Banks' disappearance and were investigating the case as a homicide.

The body found in Chatham, Va. by the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office will be sent to a coroner in Roanoke, Va. for an autopsy and positive identification, police said.

Police found that same Range Rover on Monday in Danville.

Credit: Raleigh Police

RELATED: North Carolina man's disapperance being investigated as homicide

Investigators arrested 34-year-old Justin Merritt, of Danville, for stealing the car.

Close friends say Banks grew up in Gaston County. He graduated from Ashbrook High School in 1999.

“He never meets a stranger and he really has a way with people that they gravitate towards him and they want to be around him,” his sister Dede Banks-Smith told WCNC Charlotte.

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