The annual Blue Ridge Relay took a bizarre turn Friday afternoon on East Buck Mountain Road as authorities have confirmed that a Blacksburg, VA runner died from self-inflicted stab wounds after abruptly dropping out of the race.

According to Det. Rob Powers of the Ashe County Sheriff Office, 32-year-old John Corbett was in the final stages of completing his Ashe Park to Friendly Grove Baptist Church leg of the race when he handed his race number to another team of runners prior to reaching the check point and then disappeared.

After Corbett disappeared, a group of concerned runners began to look for him when he failed to arrive at the checkpoint, Powers said. One of the neighbors in the community indicated to the runners that a man matching Corbett’s description was observed walking toward a residence in the area. Powers would not comment on how Corbett gained entry into the unoccupied residence where he was later discovered but did say that he sustained substantial self-inflicted stab wounds.

On Friday afternoon, what appeared to be some of the relay’s runners were standing in the front yard of the residence after authorities had arrived on the scene, one of whom appeared to be crying. Yellow police crime tape was placed around the outside perimeter of the house. Curious onlookers and neighbors had gathered at the edge of the roadway by the time that county authorities had arrived.

By Friday evening, all signs of police and paramedics presence had disappeared as the yellow crime tape had been removed and a group of unidentified individuals had gathered underneath a tree in fold-away chairs. A short distance from the residence, relay runners had continued to check-in earlier at the church’s checkpoint during the ordeal.

On Monday afternoon, a van from a Boone cleaning and restoration company was parked in the driveway of the residence where Corbett was discovered.

Authorities have not provided an explanation as to why Corbett inflicted the wounds from which he later died from.