Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe GASTONIA, N.C., June 9 (UPI) -- Police in Gastonia, N.C., said a woman discovered her ex-boyfriend's body in the trunk of her car while investigating a "foul odor." Investigators said Kim Springer phoned police after discovering the body in the trunk of her 2007 Ford Taurus and soon realized that she recognized the corpse's face as her ex-boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simmonds, WCNC-TV, Charlotte, N.C., reported Monday. Advertisement Gastonia Police Detective Sgt. Jimmy West said Springer may have unknowingly been driving the car around with the body in the trunk. "That body appears to have been there maybe as much as 24 hours," West said. He said investigators have not yet determined how Simmonds ended up in the trunk or how he died. "Until we determine the cause of death we can't tell if it's foul play or not," West said. Simmonds served time in prison after he was convicted of killing a previous girlfriend in the 1980s and Springer filed a restraining order against him last week when it appeared that he had broken into her car, police said.
