CNN crew visits town to examine series of murders

A CNN news crew was in Rocky Mount this week, working on a feature story about a string of similar murders that have gripped the community in recent weeks.

The story was scheduled to air Wednesday night during an episode of Anderson Cooper 360. Producers promoted the show online as an investigative report to determine if a serial killer is on the loose in Eastern North Carolina.

Councilman Andre Knight, law enforcement officials, members of the community-awareness group Missing or Murdered Sisters and other area residents were interviewed.

Local authorities announced last month that the FBI was helping investigate the series of murders that date back to 2005. The bodies of five black women with similar profiles have been found partially clothed and abandoned in remote locations outside the city during the past few years, prompting national media attention.

Investigators believe the homicides, as well as a sixth murder of a woman yet to be identified, might be linked. Rumors of a potential serial killer have spread throughout the city since late June, when a worker found the body of 31-year-old Jarniece Latonya Hargrove abandoned in the woods off Seven Bridges Road.

Each of the five victims who have been identified were black women found in remote locations near the eastern boundary of Rocky Mount, and each had a history of drug or alcohol abuse and prostitution, according to criminal records.

Each was found only partially clothed and at least two of the women were strangled.

The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office has led the task force investigation, which also includes Rocky Mount police and the SBI, to determine if and how the murders are related.

A few of the victims’ families told the Telegram that FBI officials had contacted them by telephone and in person, probing for detailed information about the victims and seeking to assure family members the cases would be resolved.

For the most part, the questions focused on the victims’ backgrounds, one mother said, asking that her name not be published. The federal investigator wanted to know who her daughter was friends with, where she hung out and what she did for fun, the mother said.

Another victim’s mother, Diana Nicholson, said the FBI asked her similar questions during a phone interview.

An FBI official declined to comment on the organization’s role in the investigation, other than to say federal officials are offering any resources necessary to assist in solving the case.

Authorities are searching for at least three missing women in connection with the case: Yolanda “Snap” Lancaster, 37; Joyce Renee Durham, 46; and Christine Marie Boone, 43.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411.