News 13 Investigates: Mandy Stone's final communications as Buncombe County manager

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A week in June that began with an indictment against former county manager Wanda Greene ended with then county manager Mandy Stone retiring.

The week of June 5 is when the public first learned the county spent more than $2 million on life insurance policies and an annuity for a handful of county employees. On Friday, June 8, commission chairman Brownie Newman said Mandy Stone told him she would retire immediately. Her emails show her work had already stopped.

At 8:17 a.m. June 7, Stone was preparing for the following week.

"We have to be in Winston-Salem Monday," she emailed.

She never attended that meeting.

However, that Friday morning was business as usual. Her emails show her discussing clean energy, Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College and also an apology.

At 9:14 a.m., Stone emailed the county attorney and HR director, "I am totally responsible for any media communication that went out yesterday and clearly owning that."

The previous day, the county sent out a news release which contradicted, in part, the indictment against Greene. Stone did not say anything about the release being inaccurate, but she told her staff, "Blame on me."

At 12:16 p.m., it was still business as usual. She emailed staff about plans for the county manager to report expenditures. However, that was her last email as county manager.

Four hours later, at 4:26 p.m., Stone got a text from HR director Lisa Eby saying, "Such a deep sense of sadness and grief. I hope you are OK.

The records released by the county show Stone replied to Eby's text, but the county did not release what Stone texted, saying it is a protected personnel record.

What happened in those four hours? We don't know. However, Newman said he knew Stone was considering retirement.

"I encouraged her to think about it, sleep on it, and we set up a time the next day, and, at that meeting on Friday, she directly communicated to me that she was going to retire," Newman said.

June 7 began with Stone planning for work the following Monday, but that Monday the public learned she planned to retire.

Stone has now been indicted on federal charges. Reached on the phone, Newman called the charges against Stone, former assistant county manager Jon Creighton and former Greene, "terrible" and "about as bad as it gets."