North Wilkesboro is a town in Wilkes County, North Carolina. The population is approximately 4,200. Prostitution is an ongoing concern in the town, and reports of violence against individuals engaging in commercial sex, including a targeted homicide of a prostituted women, have been reported.

In January 2019, a man approached police in Washington, DC, and admitted to the murder of a woman form North Wilkesboro, NC, at his home in Kernersville, NC. The man had allegedly hired the woman for prostitution and then stabbed her several times in the head and neck, the medical examiner said. According to the autopsy, a sock was also found in her mouth. Deputies also found drugs in the apartment. The man was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and solicitation of prostitution. He had previously been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in Greene County, NC, in May 2013, and was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released on parole in March 2015.