Three days after missing woman Carolyn Ann Watkins' car was ordered to be towed away by a North Carolina state trooper, her body was discovered inside the car at the impound lot, according to the Associated Press.

Watkins, 62, of Clayton, N.C., was originally reported missing by her son early on Monday morning when she did not show up for work.

According to the accident report which was filed by state highway patrolman Marlon Williams on March 29, her 2000 Pontiac was found on Friday morning in a deep ditch in the town of Springifield, which is located approximately 30 miles south of state capital Raleigh.

"Note: No driver at the scene of this collision," patrolman Williams wrote in his report, according to the AP.

According to the crash report both airbags were deployed following the impact. As of Tuesday afternoon, it was not clear when Watkins had died, though she was reportedly last seen alive on March 28.

The police called upon a local towing company to move the car and store it on its lot, where the vehicle - and Watkins' body - remained until the grisly discovery was made on Monday evening by a Smithfield police officer who was investigating the woman's disappearance.

Watkins' son, Al Parker, told news outlets that he wondered if his mother might still be alive had patrolman Williams spotted her inside the car before it was impounded.

"I'm thinking she could still have been alive," Parker said in reports. "How do you not look in the car? When you pulled the car out, how do you not see a body in the car?"

Williams, who has been a state trooper for nine years, was placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation by the Highway Patrol, according to reports.

"We will release accurate information to the public as soon as available and appropriate," Public Safety Commissioner Frank Perry said in a statement. "At this early stage, our main concern is to conduct a thorough and professional investigation so we can determine exactly what happened."

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Car crash