WINDSOR – The search for a missing Bertie County teen ended tragically near here on Sunday.

Dylan Lee Cullipher, 18, of Windsor was discovered inside his vehicle that was partially submerged in a pond located off US 17 Bypass near the Wakelon Road exit, approximately 4.5 miles east of Windsor.

Cullipher, a recent graduate of Bertie Early College High School, was reported missing by his family shortly before midnight on Friday. He was last seen leaving the Midway area of Bertie County traveling on US 17 driving a 2003 Jeep Liberty.

“We received the call on Sunday that the young man and his vehicle had been located in a pond off US 17,” said First Sgt. Mike Warren of the North Carolina Highway Patrol’s office in Ahoskie.

Warren added that he was not aware of who located the vehicle.

According to a preliminary report filed by NCHP Trooper J.C. Copeland, the accident was the result of Cullipher apparently losing control of his vehicle and then overcorrected. That caused the vehicle to travel off the right side of the road and down an embankment where it overturned several times before crashing through a fence and coming to rest in the pond.

“The vehicle was partially submerged with the passenger’s side facing down,” Warren stated. “That meant the driver’s side was pointed up, but unfortunately the young man didn’t survive. I hate to see anyone lose their life in a traffic accident, but it hurts worse when we lose someone so young.”

The fatality was the 10^th of the year in NCHP’s Troop A / District II area that includes Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties. Of those 10, seven have occurred in Bertie County.