The Hickory bridge had been inoperative for about nine years, and any barricades had been washed away ... A North Carolina man is dead after his GPS led him to a defunct bridge that dropped off into a creek on Sept. 30. Phillip Paxson, a 47-year-old father of two girls, had been driving his Jeep at night from his oldest daughter's birthday party in Hickory when his GPS led him to a bridge that has been inoperative since heavy flooding in July 2013 destroyed it. "It was a dark and rainy night and he was following his GPS which led...