It seems it's being reported a lot of different ways:
From News 14:
Someone called 911 on Thursday morning to report a wreck near the same location, but emergency officials couldn't locate a crashed car, North Carolina Highway Patrol Lt. Everett Clendenin said.
CBS News:
North Carolina highway patrol said a 911 call was made near the time and
location of the crash site but authorities failed to find any evidence of a crash, reports CBS News correspondent Meg Oliver.
From New York Daily:
A Nash County dispatcher in North Carolina took a 911 call Thursday morning reporting a car crash. Fire and rescue personnel came, but no one found the vehicle.
A highway worker doing repairs on a nearby bridge yesterday saw luggage floating, then spotted the outline of the car in the creek about 3:30 p.m., according to the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
Thank you. It seems like a reported "crash" is in all three reports. A crash implies to me more than running off the road, a contact between a car and something outside that car. Another car or object (tree, guard rail, debris). And I think it's interesting that someone --unknown?--called 911. Maybe that car was responsible or involved somehow in the car running off the road and didn't want to get involved, but a flicker of conscience led them to call 911. Wouldn't that person's number show up in their records? But poor reporting can hide the actual details, so I guess it's too early to tell what happened. A real tragedy, though.