The heartbreaking abduction and murder of five
-year -old Brittany Locklear still haunts Bowmore,
North Carolina. This episode explores the events
of January 1998, the investigation and its challenges,
and the lasting impact on Brittany's family and
the Lumbee community. Let's examine not just
the facts, but the echoes of a case that demands
justice decades later. Welcome to Beyond the
Silence, Whispers Across America. I'm Sammy,
your host. Driven to shine light on the dark
corners of forgotten cases, demand justice, and
keep alive the voices the world has tried to
silence. Today, we're diving into a case that
is haunting, even after all these years. Bowmore,
North Carolina, January 7th, 1998. A lot of these
stories I cover start with words like, it was
just a normal day. And that's the thing. These
tragedies slide in on days when life's supposed
to be as ordinary as ever. Brittany Locklear
was five, the kind of little kid everyone loves,
hugging everybody she met, excited to go to church,
and fiercely proud of her Lumbee roots. That
morning, her mom Connie did what so many of us
have done. picked out her daughter's outfit,
that bright green and white t -shirt, those green
overalls, little pink sneakers, even a green
tie for her hair. Brianna, Brittany's baby sister,
just 18 months old, got a hug before Brittany
shrugged in her red riding hood coat. Connie
and Brittany head out, hand in hand, to the bus
stop less than 500 feet from their front door.
It was right there. in the clear sight line of
their home. Connie's got to use the bathroom,
and just like any one of us, probably thinking,
I'll be two seconds, the bus might come. Brittany,
who I imagine was just shuffling her feet the
way kids do when they're bored or impatient,
stays at the stop. When Connie comes back, Brittany's
not there. That split second, a gut punch, right?
She checks at the school, hopeful, but Brittany
hadn't arrived. Within moments, the reality set
in. Brittany was missing. Here's the thing that
always rattles me. Neighbors saw it happen. They
saw a truck, tires screeching, a man getting
out and grabbing Brittany before speeding off.
It's the kind of nightmare detail that keeps
you up at night. Calls went out to police, words
spread like wildfire. Hundreds started searching,
but it was Brittany's clothes discovered just
two miles away that hinted at the horror beginning
to unfold. I wish I could say this kind of unthinkable
thing is rare, but it's these routine days that
make the ground fall out from beneath families.
Covering cases like Brittany's, I always wonder
how those little moments, something as everyday
as leaving your child for a second, can haunt
a family forever. I don't know, maybe I'm rambling,
but the normalcy hurts the most. The Locklear's
morning could have been anyone's. That's what
sticks with me. The early investigation, it was
frantic, and honestly, a mess in ways only hindsight
makes clear. Law enforcement neighbors, just
about everyone in Hope County hit the ground
searching. Registered sex offenders within 50
miles were hauled in for questioning. Tips flooded
in. Hundreds of them. Agents scribbled notes
onto whatever paper was handy, tracking leads
on paper forms and spreadsheets. But, let's be
real, systems got overwhelmed. Some tips slipped
through the cracks. Detective Jay Tilly, yeah,
he later admitted straight up, we know there
was info we didn't follow up on. We weren't prepared.
And look, as the weeks ticked by and calls slowed,
things got muddy. New sheriffs came in, Bird
was replaced by Jim Davis, who, well, let's just
say the Locklear family does not look back fondly
on his tenure. By their account, he tried to
scare confessions out of them, even pinning the
crime on Brittany's step -grandfather, James
Stevens. There was a lot of pain there, family
torn between grief and suspicion. Meanwhile,
evidence and hope. seemed to evaporate in that
sea of leads. Then, in 2002, you might remember
folks thinking, maybe this is it. A firefighter
from Fort Bragg gets busted for robbing a bank.
And bizarrely, they find a photo of Brittany
in his locker. I mean, come on, that's a weird
break. But the hope fizzles just as quickly as
it appeared. Turns out his DNA didn't match what
was found on Brittany. The photo? Just a newspaper
clipping. That sense of being on the edge of
answers, then slipping right back into the unknown.
Brittany's case is full of those moments. False
starts. Lost momentum. Pain upon pain for a family
still searching, decades later. They always say,
time is the enemy in cases like this. Memories
fade, people move, evidence gets lost. But someone
knows something. These stories don't just vanish.
Through all this, Brittany's mom, Connie, was
left picking up the pieces. Imagine the years
passing. You're trying to raise Brianna. Who'd
never again wait for the school bus alone. Who
learned to shoot a gun at age three. because
fear and loss colored her childhood from the
start. Connie and Charles, Brittany's stepdad,
tried to hold on, but the weight of unanswered
questions pulled them apart. There's this ache
in every part of their lives. It's the kind of
thing that changes a family forever. And it's
not just the Locklears. Brittany's murder echoes
in the whole Lumbee community. and more painfully
in the broader pattern of violence against indigenous
women and girls. Statistics are brutal. Indigenous
women are killed at ten times the rate of others.
Murder is the third leading cause of death for
indigenous women and girls in America. Brittany
Locklear, just five years old, is one more heartbreaking
marker in those statistics, a name that deserved
to be so much more than a number. Yet hope is
hard to kill. In 2015, law enforcement finally
got enough DNA to make a genetic profile of Brittany's
killer. There's still a $20 ,000 reward for information
leading to an arrest, and every year memorials
bloom in Bowmore. Ceramic angels, flowers, crosses
bearing her name. The Lumbee tribe keeps her
memory alive. This community, Brittany's family,
they aren't done fighting. Neither are we. Answers
are still out there. Cases like Brittany's, well,
they're exactly why I do this. The pain doesn't
fade, but neither does the hope for justice.
Somebody knows. Someone out there has a piece
of the puzzle. If you know anything about what
happened to Brittany Locklear, please, don't
let the silence win. That's it for today's episode.
The questions remain and the search continues
because every missing person deserves answers
and every story deserves to be heard. What are
your thoughts? What do you believe happened?
Share your voice because sometimes the smallest
detail can spark the biggest breakthrough. I'm
Sammy and this is Beyond the Silence, Whispers
Across America. Thank you for listening. Stay
safe and I'll see you next time.