On the evening of March 11, 2014, 15-year-old Danielle Locklear told her grandfather that she had plans to visit a friend who lived close by. But when she didn’t come back home, her grandfather reported her missing two days later. The shocking disappearance of Danielle in Hope Mills, N.C. triggered an extensive search involving local, state, and federal investigators.
Community members, including Danielle’s boyfriend, Je’Michael Malloy, also joined in the search efforts. Je’Michael, a high school senior from nearby Fayetteville, had been dating Danielle since June 2013. Little did they know that the case would take a chilling turn.
Less than a month after Danielle went missing, Je’Michael, then 17, confessed to killing her. The news devastated Danielle’s family, especially her aunt, Chena Simmons, who said, “It’s been a month-long nightmare, and I feel like they’ve been around us. They’ve been in our home. He’s walked with us on searches. We’re disgusted. And to find out that the perpetrator, or the person who took her life allegedly is her own boyfriend, is a lot to take. It’s a lot. We can’t deal with it.”
Je’Michael admitted to choking Danielle during a fight at a local creek hangout on March 11. He then stuffed a sock in her mouth. Je’Michael and his friend Dominic Tayvon Lock, 18, disposed of Danielle’s body in the South River in Cumberland County, using cinder blocks to weigh it down.
Authorities discovered Danielle’s body at the bottom of the river on April 2. Je’Michael pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 to 31 years in prison in 2016. At his sentencing, Danielle’s mother, Rowna Fowler, expressed her pain and loss, saying, “You ripped out my soul. I can’t watch my baby get her high school diploma. I can’t watch her get married. That was my only one, I can’t have any more children, Je’Michael. You took that away from me.”
Dominic Lock, who was involved in disposing of the body, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder in 2015. He was released from prison nearly eight and a half years later.
While Danielle’s family continues to grieve the loss of their beloved daughter, Je’Michael is projected to be released in 2040, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. The case serves as a sobering reminder of the tragedy that can occur when trust is broken and lives are shattered.
