The
ews
No. 39 Vol. 91
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Week
Superior Court
page 7
■y.
Hoke County
got iced
page?
Anniversaries 6
Business 4
Calendar 11
Classifieds 15-16
Deaths 7
Editorials 2-3
Engagements 6
Legals 14
Public Record 7
Religion 8
Socials 6
Sports 5
TV listings 12-13
Around Town
By Sam C. Morris
Contributing Editor
We didn’t lose power over
the Christmas holidays, but
we did have ice on trees and
cars. The ice was around for
three days. We also had one
and a third inches of rain dur
ing that time. On Christmas
day the only time I went out of
the house was to pick up the
paper and to take out the gar
bage. We have had a trace of
rain on Monday and more was
forecast for Monday night and
Tuesday morning. The tem
perature was in the 5()s Mon
day afternoon.
The forecast for the remain
der of the week, Wednesday
through Saturday, calls for the
highs to be in the 4()s and the
lows to be in the low 3()s or
high 2()s. There isn’t any rain
in the forecast.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ *
As stated above I didn’t
leave the house on Christmas
day. The bad weather kept my
daughter and her husband in
Virginia over the holidays. She
’ will come this weekend. John
and his two boys came Satur
day and returned to New Bern
on Sunday. So it will take a
couple of weekends for Mary
(See AROUND, page 10)
Journal
'If it happened, it's news to us'
50 cents
Wednesday, December 30, 1998
From left, Jim Davis takes the oath of office as Hoke County Sheriff; Brittany Lynn Locklear in happier days; Sheriff Wayne Byrd deals with the media in the days following Brittany’s
death. (File photos)
Davis, Brittany and Byrd
1998 was a tumultuous year in Hoke County
By Pat Au,en Wilson
Staff writer
Just a few days into 1998, a
five-year-old girl was abducted,
raped and murdered. So began a
tumultuous year for Hoke
County. It might be said that the
year started with fear, and it is in
such an atmosphere that 1998 is
drawing to a close.
Sheriff Wayne B>rd, whose
department led the investigation,
was defeated in the May primary
— some say because he did not
find Brittany Lynn Locklear's
killer — and Jim Davis, who
faced Byrd’s chief of deputies in
November’s general election,
became sheriff. One of Davis’
campaign promises was to arrest
the little girl’s murderer.
As we look back at the top
stories of 1998, t he ol fice of 11 oke
County sheriff has to be at the
center in both the investigation
of Brittany’s murder and the bit
ter race that has somewhat di
vided this county.
Other top stories include elec
tions results, the dismissal of
voluntary manslaughter charges
against a Hoke County deputy,
economic changes in the county,
changes within county govern
ment, and we celebrate our won
derful senior citizens who have
each lived a century — or al
most.
Legacy of hugs
Brittany Locklear was the
youngest and the smallest stu
dent at West Hoke Elementary
School, where she attended kin
dergarten. Teachers there say she
was usually late for classes be
cause she had to stop all the teach
ers in the hall for hugs.
I lugs have become Brittany’s
legacy, that and the fact that the
man who grabbed her as she
waited for her bus on an early
January 7 morning has not been
apprehended.
Witnesses saw a man in a
truck, believed to be “brown
ish,” stop, jump out and grab
something moments before her
bus arrived, slowed down and
did not stop. A neighbor, alarmed
because the bus continued on,
notified Connie Chavis,
Brittany’s mother, who had been
watching her daughter through a
window until she made a fateful
trip to the bathroom. Mrs. Chavis
went to her daughter’s school,
where she learned Brittany had
not boarded the bus.
It was first believed that
Brittany’s disappearance might
be linked to a domestic dispute,
but two hours later her book bag
was found alongside Ryan
McByde Road, less than three
miles from Brittany’s Gainey
Road home in southwest Hoke.
Even later that day, her overalls
and shoes were found in a wooded
area about 50 yards from where
the book bag had been thrown.
A search was begun with ev
ery available officer, aircraft,
helicopters carrying heat sensor
equipment and tracking dogs.
Byrd called in the SBI and the
FBI, but by 7 p.m. the search was
called off, to be resumed on Ryan
McBryde Road at daylight the
following day.
Despite the cold, rainy mi,ser-
able weather, more than a thou
sand people turned out to help
search for the three-foot tall, 35-
pound Lumbee girl. Man\ more
helped with food and drink and
other support. Sometime during
the afternoon searchers were
called back, and shortly after 4,
Byrd announced. "It's .sad news
that 1 bring. We have recovered
the body of Brittany."
The child, clad only in t-shirt
and socks, had been found in a
concrete drain pipe which con
tained water. She had been sexu
ally molested and drowned.
Shock turned to outrage, l.aw
enforcement machinery went
into motion to try and catch
Brittany's killer. Road checks
were set up along Gainey Road
and U.S. Highway 401 south of
Raeford. An II-member team
consi.sting of three deputies and
four each FBI and SBI agents
followed leads "around the
clock,” according to Byrd. A
hotline number was set up, and
the FBI Child Abduction and
Serial Killer Unit in Quantico,
Virginia put together a profile of
the murderer which officers have
yet to release. Governor Jim Hunt
Driver totals pickup,
charged with DWI;
auto driver vanishes
1
By Pa'i Ai 1 i.N Wii SON
Staff writer
The driver of a new pickup
that collided with a tree late
Christmas Eve morning was
charged with DWI.
Aron Wayne Gore, 33,
Raeford, lost control of the 1999
Chevrolet pickup he was driving
southeast on Pittman Grove
Church Road near the Jones Road
intersection.
The truck ran off the road to
the right, spun around several
times, ;ind overturned when it hit
an oak tree.
Gore and his passenger, An
drea Barringer, 44. of Raeford
received minor injuries but re
fused treatment.
The accident happened shortly
before noon.
F’mergency and safety person
nel were called to the scene of a
single car crash Christmas night
only to find no one there.
A car had crashed through a
bridge railing on Old Maxton
Road and had glided over a
stream to land upside down on
the bank.
Tlie accident was reported at
10:40 p.m. by a passer-by.
Arriving officers found the li
cense phite did not match the
vehicle it was on, leaving one to
believe either the car or the tag
was stolen. A green jacket was
(See WRI'.CKS, page 10)
The driver of this truck was charged with DWI after this Christmas
Eve wreck. (Pat Allen Wilson photo)
authorized a reward for the ap
prehension and conviction of the
killer.
Byrd and his officers left the
county many times to follow up
on leads that look promising, but
always they come back without a
suspect. The latest suspect — in
November — was a Kannapolis
man accused of taking indecent
liberties with children and who
had attempted to grab a girl and
put her in his pickup in Concord.
The circum.stances were similar
to Brittany s case, but there was
no match, according to Byrd.
More than I,()()() turned out
for Brittany 's funeral held in the
large auditorium of Turlington
School. In his sermon, the Rev.
Tony Hunt warned the killer that
he should “be afraid, not of Sher
iff Byrd or the FBI, but of God—
the Highest Law Officer of all.”
The weekend after Brittany’s
murder was a warm one but chil
dren were not playing outdoors.
Fint black sheriff
It was an election year for
county offices and also a year for
(See YEAR, page 9)
Probe
continues
into house
burning
From siAti ri i'okis
One week after Robin Byrd
was arrested and charged with
setting fire to an unoccupied
North Main Street home, the in
vestigation into the crime con
tinues.
Byrd was released on $5,(KK)
bond.
'Hie 35-year-old son of former
Hoke County Sheriff Wayne
Byrd was charged with setting
fire to a home Greg Thompson
bought but has not yet moved
into. The house is under renova
tion.
Thompson, an attorney, was
the campaign manager for Sher-
(See PROBE, page 10)