01x05 - m*rder at the Creek

[bunniefuu]

I'm videotaping
myself eating cake

'cause I'm just that fabulous.
- Oh, yes.

If you please know
where my daughter is...

Any information, please.

We definitely had to
entertain the possibility

that this young
girl was abducted

and taken quickly
out towards I-95.

My heart couldn't take
it. It was horrifying.

She was able to
provide investigators

with two photos of Danielle.

In the reflection
of the eyeglasses,

you can see other people.

So it's actually an incredibly
valuable piece of evidence.

Now this is starting a lot of
more questions than answers.

What police find is a shovel.

And there was something on
there that looked like blood.

Narrator: 15-year-old
Danielle Locklear

is enjoying a yearly tradition:

spending her summer
with her grandparents

and extended family
in the quaint town

of Hope Mills, North Carolina.

Danielle and I, we
was really close.

My name is Darline Heegel.

Danielle Locklear
is my granddaughter,

and she cared a lot about me.

And we did a lot
of things together.

Go down to the church.

The church was always in it

because that's, you
know, what we did.

My name is Chena Papa,
and I am Danielle's aunt.

She loved to make
videos and tutorials.

Anything that involved
some creativity,

she... she can do it.

She really loved baking
cakes, that's for sure.

I was like, "Wow, where did
you learn how to do this?"

And her cakes were delicious.

I'm videotaping
myself eating cake

'cause I'm just that fabulous.
- Oh, yes.

It was just like a little
home away from home.

She had a good time coming
to visit for the summer.

Narrator: That summer,
Danielle meets a young man

who is familiar to her family,

17-year-old Je'Michael Malloy.

We've seen them over
the years at the church.

I've seen him when he was a kid.

And then one day you see him,

he's, like, a handsome teenager.

Once I seen that they seem
to be getting along well

and liking each other,

I felt that, "Oh,
this is a good thing."

narrator: When the
summer comes to an end,

it's time for Danielle
to return home

to her mother Rona
and stepfather

in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

But there's a problem.

When it was time
for her to go back,

she didn't wanna go back

because she had a love interest,

and she was like, "Please,
Grandma, let me stay."

narrator: Adding to
Danielle's desire

is the fact that her
mother and stepfather

are going through
a painful divorce.

So Danielle's mother agrees
to let her stay in Hope Mills.

She came to live with us
and we were all open arms.

She enrolls in South View
High School in Hope Mills,

which is, like, right
behind our neighborhood.

Narrator: While Je'Michael
starts his senior year

14 miles away in Fayetteville,

Danielle settles into
her freshman year.

I met Danielle when she had
just come to the school,

and we just clicked instantly.

Danielle is the most kind
person, very outgoing.

She could make a
friend instantly.

You could definitely
spot her from a crowd.

That was what all guys
talked about in school,

was how beautiful she was.

But she was very much
in love with Je'Michael.

She really thought that
that was it for her.

Narrator: Later
that school year,

on the morning of
Tuesday, March 11th,

Danielle's grandmother
and Aunt Chena

are preparing to go out of town,

leaving Danielle with her
grandfather for the night.

It was kind of a busy morning
for myself and my mother.

We were about to go
to Atlanta, Georgia,

for a doctor's visit.

And Danielle usually
is out the house

by 8:00 in the morning,
rushing off to school.

Narrator: But that morning,
Danielle is running late.

I remembered looking
at her and I said,

"Okay, bye, Danielle."
She said, "Bye, Grandma."

And I just seen the side of
her face and then she was gone.

I had no idea that was
gonna be the last time

I would see Danielle.

Narrator: That evening,
hours after Danielle

returned from school,
at around 9:45,

she asks her grandfather if
she can run a quick errand.

He said he remember seeing her

come up beside his
shoulders and said,

"Papa, I need to
take this binder

to my friend up the
street. Is it okay?"

He said, "Oh, okay. Yeah,
just come right back."

Just as simple as that.

Narrator: But an hour later,
Danielle hasn't returned home.

The grandfather said that
he's calling the phone.

She's not answering,
going to voicemail.

So he starts driving
around Hope Mills

looking for Danielle.

And he can't find her.

The grandfather said that he
hesitated calling the police

because he always believed
that you had to wait

24 hours to report
someone missing.

Finally, at 3:00
in the morning,

he gave up, went back to sleep,

hoped that by the morning
she would have come home.

Narrator: When he wakes
up, he begins to panic.

I got a phone call down at
Atlanta from my husband,

and he said that
it's been a while now

and she never came
back to the house.

I'm all nervous at that point.

So we started getting our
things together real quick

to come back home.

Narrator: Danielle's
grandmother instructs

her husband to call the police

and then rushes to
return to Hope Mills.

We reach Hope Mills. The
police are already there.

I'm Detective Joshua Hamilton,

and I was assigned to
be the lead investigator

on the Danielle Locklear case.

The grandfather was questioned
by responding officers.

So Danielle was said
to be going to Alexis,

who was a friend of hers
she goes to school with.

She was taking a book to
drop off at her house.

Narrator: But
before investigators

head to Alexis' house,

Aunt Chena reveals
that she knows

where Danielle may be.

Her hunch stems from
an odd encounter

she had with her niece

two days before
she went missing.

It was becoming dark,

and Danielle is running past
the driveway toward the door,

and caught me off guard

'cause she's never
really out at nighttime.

And I say, "Where
are you coming from?"

Out of breath she
was. She's like,

"Oh, I'm coming from the
back of the neighborhood.

"There's, like, a
creek back there.

"And all the kids have
been trying to get me

to go hang out."

The first thing that comes to
my mind is this creek area.

Maybe she's hanging out
back there or something.

Officers did respond down
to the creek with Chena.

They canvassed
that area with her.

We did not know at the time

that's where a large group of
teenagers would congregate.

I'm seeing like, you know,

some kid's notebooks back there.

Just, like, things where
you could tell teenagers

have been back
there, hanging out.

Narrator: However, there were
no active signs of Danielle

or anyone else.

But as the group are
leaving the site,

Danielle's Aunt Chena

spots something.

And I looked down and...

And I see her night sock.

Little fuzzy striped gray
and black and white sock.

And it's balled up.

And I know it's hers because,
you know, I bought these socks.

And I told the police, I said,
"You know, this is something

that she wears
around the house."

It's weird that
this particular sock

would be found at the creek,
especially if it's something

that Danielle would
only wear at night,

which brings up the question,

had Danielle been to the creek
that night she disappeared?

Narrator: Danielle's
inner world revealed.

I remember her texting
me in gym class

and she just started
bawling instantly.

She's really
distressed about this.

And she had a lot going
on for a 15-year-old.

Narrator: And classmates
point the finger

at a former student.

The other kids had
told the police,

she had rejected him

narrator: The day after
15-year-old Danielle Locklear

goes missing, while
searching a creek,

her aunt discovers a sock

that Danielle only
wore at night.

We treated it as an item
of evidence and secured it.

Narrator: The family
then makes a painful call

to Danielle's mom.

We called my daughter Rona

while she was still
at Myrtle Beach,

told her that Danielle
didn't come home.

And she said, "What do you
mean she didn't come home?

What do you mean?
Where's she at?"

All this kind of stuff.

And so everybody
was dumbfounded.

You can't sleep,

you can't eat, you can't think.

Now, there's so many
different things

that could have happened to her.

By the time we were looking
for her, she could be anywhere.

Narrator: Danielle's mom
rushes to Hope Mills.

While police visit Alexis,

the friend Danielle
told her grandfather

she was visiting
the previous night.

Alexis told investigators
that Danielle had not come

to her house during
the nighttime hours

the night before.

Her friend was not even aware

that Danielle was
coming to her house,

which kind of shocked us.

Now we don't know
where she went.

Narrator: Detectives
wonder why did Danielle lie

to her grandfather about
where she went that night.

Alexis goes on to tell police

that she did spend time
with Danielle earlier

that afternoon at a place now
familiar to investigators.

She had seen Danielle the
day before at the creek.

It was during school hours.

So we quickly found out
that she actually skipped

part of the day and
went to the creek.

So now this is starting
a lot of, like,

more questions than answers.

Alexis was able to provide
investigators with two photos

taken from the creek
the day before.

Danielle seemed to
be enjoying herself.

She's smiling.

These images were, you know,
final images of Danielle

that we're aware of.

As I'm looking at
pictures of Danielle,

she has, like, some glasses on.

If you look, there's like
four people in the background.

In the reflection
of the eyeglasses

you can see other people,

and it just takes
a matter of moments

to figure out who
those people are.

So it's actually an incredibly
valuable piece of evidence.

Narrator:
Investigators consider

if the afternoon at the creek

is somehow connected to
Danielle's disappearance.

Establishing what exactly
transpired at the creek,

it was super, super important.

We had to figure that
out pretty quick.

Narrator: Detectives
then set out

to identify and interview

all of the teens
that were present.

One of the first they interview

is Danielle's friend, Caroline.

She tells them that two days
before her disappearance,

a heartbroken Danielle
shared some stunning news.

I remember her texting
me in gym class,

and I went to go see her

and she just started
bawling instantly,

which is not her
characteristic at all.

She told me about Je'Michael,

and that he had cut
things off with her,

and that she was really upset.

And she started asking
me about the creek

and where I go when I skipped.

And I was like, "Do
you wanna see it?"

And then we went down there

and we just joked
around for a little bit.

Narrator: That evening,

Danielle encountered
her Aunt Chena

when she returned home.

The next afternoon, the
day Danielle went missing,

she and Caroline
stealthily returned.

The next day, we
spent the day there.

I remember it being
sunny and warm.

There was probably at
least six kids down there.

We had laid out, like,
beach towels and blankets.

She was just laughing
the whole time.

Like, I didn't... I didn't think
she was sad anymore at all.

That was the last time I saw
Dannie, my final day with her.

I just feel like that was a
good day to have with her.

If I had to pick a
last day with somebody,

I mean, that was...
That was a good one.

Danielle was able to burn up

about an hour and a half,
two hours of her day

down there at the
creek with her friends

before she kind of snuck
back onto the school property

and then walked
back in undetected.

Narrator: After school,
Danielle went home

before heading out
later that evening.

Detectives wonder if Danielle

didn't visit Alexis that night,

did she meet up with Je'Michael?

Once we established that
she did have a boyfriend,

we wanted to talk
to him as well.

Je'Michael tells the police

that Danielle was
having such a hard time

with the breakup that she
kept bugging Je'Michael,

and he said he had to
block her from his phone.

So he hadn't talked
to her in days.

Narrator: Detectives then
ask where he was on the night

Danielle went missing.

Je'Michael tells investigators

that he was at home
with his friend Dominic.

Those two were tight.

I mean, they were...
They were like brothers,

but he hadn't left the house,
and he was there all night.

Investigators asked for consent

to do a forensic analysis

of his phone and the
contents within it.

He surrendered that phone to
us with... with no problems.

That's extra step to reassure us

that he didn't
know where she was.

Narrator: As they sift
through the messages

on Je'Michael's phone,

they make a shocking discovery.

Several days before
she went missing,

she was saying to him
that she had taken a test

and was in fact
pregnant with his baby.

Messages concerning
her pregnancy

raised a lot of alarms.

We had to assume
that she is pregnant,

and we're looking for
a pregnant teenager.

It was obvious that
there was a lot of anger,

and Je'Michael didn't believe
that Danielle was pregnant.

So this seems to be something
that they were fighting about.

Narrator: Did Je'Michael's
anger spill over

the night Danielle disappeared?

When they locate the texts
from that evening, however,

they discover something else.

Police learn from
Je'Michael's phone

that he was home that night
texting with other girls.

It looks like he was home
all night, as he said he was.

Narrator: To
Danielle's family,

the turmoil in her personal life

comes as a surprise.

So I didn't really hear anything

about any of the
pregnancy scare stuff.

When I found out
that she was thinking

about being sexually active,

I immediately took
her to the doctors

to get her put on birth control,

but she didn't really seem like

there was that much
that was bothering her.

Narrator: In hopes of
unearthing new clues,

detectives file a subpoena
for Danielle's cell data.

Then they retrace her steps
from the day she went missing,

starting with her walk
from school to the creek.

Investigators
discovered the camera

aiming at the sidewalk,

which leads to the
trail to the creek.

This surveillance
video of Danielle

is proof of what Danielle
was doing that day

before she disappeared.

Narrator: In March,

a few days before
Danielle disappeared,

she and her aunt

threw a birthday
party for her uncle.

My husband was turning 65,

and I got together with Danielle

and asked if she
would bake the cake.

And she said yes.

She was really
excited about that.

So the day arose.

Everyone was
enjoying themselves.

My husband loved the cake.

The cake was delicious.

And really, it just
breaks my heart

because that was the last
time that I seen her.

Narrator: Two days after
she's reported missing,

investigators review
security footage of Danielle

on the day she vanished.

It was certainly of interest
to investigators at that point

because it was
earlier in the day

that she went missing
later that evening.

Danielle was seen
walking toward the creek.

It captured her stopping,

putting her head down,

kind of putting her
head in her hands

as if she may have been upset
or thinking about something.

And then she moves out of view.

Police are also learning that
she is absolutely heartbroken

about her breakup with
Je'Michael Malloy.

It's possible that
Danielle may have thought

that she was pregnant.

She had a lot going
on for a 15-year-old.

- I don't think we'll ever know

exactly what was going
through her mind,

but you know, it was
obvious something's there.

Narrator: Then investigators
get another critical clue

when the location data from
her cell phone comes through.

When we started to
receive those records

to see what her movements were
the night she went missing,

it showed her in that
area of her residence.

And then it showed her
heading towards I-95.

It started going north
roughly by eight miles

before it cut off.

Narrator: Danielle's phone
last ping to cell tower

at 10:40 p.m.

Investigators comb that area
for Danielle's cell phone

to no avail.

But the location
data presents them

with a new theory of
her disappearance.

It told a story of
leaving Hope Mills

in a very, very fast manner,
faster than one can walk.

She had to have
been in a vehicle.

At that point, we
definitely had to entertain

the possibility
that this young girl

was abducted walking
down the road

and taken quickly out,
you know, towards I-95.

We've gotten the federal
authorities and FBI involved.

We were able from social media,

from pictures of the
family, to get descriptions

as well as photographs
of Danielle out there,

and really try to push them out.

Narrator: Just a few days
after she's reported missing,

Danielle's disappearance
makes national news.

Basically every news channel,

everywhere you could
possibly put news,

it was Dannie's face.

I want my baby to come
home. That's my baby girl.

No one knows what a mother...

a mother goes through when...

I feel like my heart

has been ripped out.

If you please know
where my daughter is,

any information, please,
tell her to come home.

Or Danielle, if you
see this, come home.

Baby, I love you.

Narrator: Danielle's
ex-boyfriend

also joins the
efforts to find her.

Je'Michael was right there
in the huddle with us,

looking for, making the
plan, where are we gonna go?

Where are we gonna search?
Who we gonna talk to next?

We did everything
within our power...

Making phone calls,
calling friends,

making flyers, sending faxes.

Our attitude was that, you know,

do whatever's
necessary to find her.

And we're praying and hoping
that you find her alive.

Narrator: While the
search for Danielle

continues across
the United States,

detectives continue to
interview classmates

who were at the creek the
day Danielle disappeared,

and one of them points
to a former student

with a questionable past.

Investigators
learned about Derek

through another individual
who told us about Derek,

how, you know, he potentially
had something to do

with her disappearance.

The other kids had
told the police

that Derek maybe was
interested in Danielle,

and that maybe she
had rejected him,

and that maybe he had something
to do with her disappearance.

Narrator: Detectives'
suspicions are raised

when they learn that
Derek lives near the area

where Danielle's cell
phone last pinged.

We took him to the
sheriff's office voluntarily

when we felt that several
things he told us,

they didn't sit easy with us.

Narrator: Investigators are
questioning a former student

who lives in the area

where Danielle Locklear's
phone last pinged.

The best way to describe Derek

is he's kind of, like,
the school truant.

Has been expelled a few times,

but he still hangs out with
the kids from the high school.

And Derek was at the creek

on the day that
Danielle was there.

Derek was unique in the fact
that he was very outspoken.

He admits to not liking her.
You know, she's too preppy.

That's not his cup of tea.

He made it clear that, you know,

he does ill*gal things.

We don't hear that very often.

Let's put Derek's
posturing aside.

Let's look at the facts.

Where was Derek on the night
that Danielle disappeared?

Narrator: When questioned
on his whereabouts

during the hours of 8:30 p.m.
to 12:30 the next morning,

Derek says he was at
his father's house.

He was alone for those hours,
which is also very suspicious.

There's no one else
in the home with him.

Derek is certainly someone

that has raised investigator
suspicion at this point.

Narrator: Detectives
then turn to the location

of the final cell ping
from Danielle's phone.

Narrator: But police
aren't convinced

Derek is telling the truth.

Police decide they're gonna
take this a little bit deeper.

Police get a search warrant,
and they search Derek's house.

We do a search of that property

based on the
information provided.

Narrator: While
examining the property,

investigators immediately
observe something alarming.

What police find is a shovel.

And there was something on
there that looked like blood.

The shovel appeared to have

what we thought was blood on it.

So, you know, we ran
some tests on it.

But when the police
took the shovel in

for a forensic examination,

they determined that it was
not blood on the shovel.

So at this point,
there was nothing

tying Derek directly to
Danielle's disappearance.

People tried to say that

Derek had done something to
her or hurt her in some way,

a lot of very mean things
that he did not deserve.

We reached a point, you know,

where we couldn't rule him out,

but we couldn't corroborate
what he's saying to us.

We didn't have enough to
keep moving forward with him.

So we regrouped and
started to pick up

where the evidence
left off again.

Narrator: Then on April 2nd,

22 days after
Danielle disappeared,

an off-duty police officer
discovers something concerning

off a bridge about 20 miles
outside of Hope Mills.

Narrator: On April 2nd,

three weeks after
Danielle disappeared,

an off-duty cop calls
911 for assistance.

Once he got the binoculars,

he was able to see that it was
in fact a body in the river.

Narrator: Detectives
raced to the scene.

When the body was
pulled from the water,

I recognized personally the
shirt that was on the body

as being the shirt

that Danielle was pictured
wearing at the creek.

It was heartbreaking.

We knew at some point we were
gonna have to tell her family

that the worst outcome
possible was now a reality.

When Danielle's body was
recovered from the water,

there was a cinder block
tied around her waist.

It was tied with yellow rope.

There was also another cinder
block tied around her feet,

again, with yellow rope.

The cinder blocks
were of coarse gravel.

They were definitely
an older cinder block.

They weren't, like, the
crushed fine concrete

you see typically in
today's cinder blocks.

Narrator: Once police receive
a positive identification

from the medical examiner,
they notify Danielle's family.

It was very hard.

It was hard. It
was a hard day.

At that point, my
heart couldn't take it.

I couldn't take it.
It was horrifying.

I just kept thinking
this can't be real.

Like, this is, like,
the worst thing

that could possibly
have happened.

I just felt like I could never
really believe it in my mind

that she was gone.

Narrator: As Danielle's
family and friends

begin to mourn,

detectives get to work.

The medical examiner concludes

that Danielle had
been strangled,

and they find something else.

It also noted that
there was a sock

that had been stuffed
into her mouth.

Narrator: It's a match
to the night sock

Aunt Chena found on the
creek trail weeks earlier.

The sock was listed
as part of the death.

The medical examiner
cannot rule out

the actual mechanism
for her death.

Was it strangulation,
or was it the sock?

Only thing they could
say was it was from both.

The other important fact

that the medical examiner
is able to provide

is that Danielle Locklear
was not pregnant.

It's possible that
Danielle may have thought

that she was pregnant
at a certain time,

but she was not pregnant
when she was k*lled.

Narrator: Detectives
theorized that Danielle

was m*rder*d at the creek,

and her body was disposed in
the river about 20 miles away.

To investigators,

the location of
the disposal site

seemed significant.

The South River, where
Danielle was found,

is a little under a mile from
Je'Michael Malloy's residence.

Narrator: Despite his alibi,

Je'Michael is now the
focus of the investigation.

It only added to my suspicion

based on everything
to that point

that he had everything
to do with this

and we were going to chase down
every bit of evidence we could

to make sure that we could
hold him responsible.

Narrator: Detectives prepare
a search warrant for his house

and bring him into the
station for questioning.

Je'Michael willingly comes in.

His mother goes with him

because she's now
really worried.

Narrator: Investigators
press Je'Michael

on his involvement
in Danielle's m*rder.

Narrator: Investigators
then inform the Malloys

that officers are
searching their home.

While Je'Michael is being

interrogated at
the police station,

other officers are
searching his property.

And they find
something unbelievable.

Cinder blocks that match
exactly to the cinder blocks

that were tied around
Danielle's body.

At his home, in the soil,
they find the indentation,

the marks left from
the cinder blocks

that had been there
and had been removed.

Then they find rope
very similar to the kind

that had been tied
around Danielle's body.

Obviously, cops are trying

to get a confession
out of Je'Michael.

They're putting the evidence
on the table and saying,

"Je'Michael, it had
to have been you."

The cops think this
is the aha moment,

but Je'Michael doesn't crack.

He doesn't confess.

He is so calm.

Narrator: Je'Michael's
best friend, Dominic Lock,

is also brought in
for questioning.

But he refuses to
speak with detectives.

Everything points to Je'Michael,

but we don't have
the probable cause

to go ahead and charge him.

We wrapped it up, let him
go on his way and told him,

narrator: Four
days after denying

he had anything to do
with Danielle's m*rder,

Je'Michael Malloy tells police
he's ready to talk again.

Narrator: Je'Michael
explains that

on the night of the m*rder,

he and his friend, Dominic,
drove to Danielle's home.

Narrator: To get
out of the house,

Danielle told her grandfather

that she needed to
drop off a notebook

at her friend's house.

Narrator: According
to Je'Michael,

in the middle of their
alleged fight, he snapped.

Je'Michael says he goes up

to where Dominic is
waiting by the car

and explains that he's
just k*lled Danielle

and says, "Dominic,
you've gotta help me."

Dominic and Je'Michael
walk back down to the creek

where Danielle's body is.

And they start to pick
her up and carry her back.

Narrator: The sock
that Chena found

likely fell off along the way.

According to Je'Michael,

Dominic shoved the remaining
sock into her mouth.

Narrator: With his
confession on record,

Je'Michael Malloy and
Dominic Lock are arrested

and charged with
second-degree m*rder.

- It was terrible.

I mean, to get that information,

and we had been
searching about a month,

having Je'Michael with us
during those searches saying,

"Have you heard anything?
Oh, I pray that she's okay,"

and "We'll find her,"

all of these things,
all the time knowing

exactly where she was.

- Je'Michael betrayed
us as a family.

He knew that she
was precious to us

and that we would never
stop looking for her.

To go and pick her
lifeless body up

and toss her in the river
like she was nothing.

Not one time did you
say, "Oh, my God,

I made a terrible mistake.
I've got to call for help."

narrator: In a tragic twist,
investigators suspect that

Danielle lied to Je'Michael
about being pregnant

in order to gain his attention.

But one question remains:

the texts from
Je'Michael's phone

that placed him at home

the night of Danielle's m*rder.

A specialist in phone analysis

was able to uncover

that Je'Michael had
used a texting app

where you could
schedule your phone

to send out texts
at a future time.

And so he had left his
phone at his house,

but yet his phone was still
sending texts to friends

as if he was still at his house.

Narrator: In May of 2016,

Je'Michael Malloy pleads guilty

to second-degree m*rder.

At his sentencing,
he turns to speak

to Danielle's
heartbroken family.

Narrator: He is sentenced
to 25 to 31 years in prison.

Dominic Lock pleads guilty
to accessory after the fact,

and is sentenced to six to
eight years behind bars.

You never get over
something like this.

You learn to live with it.

My sister's never
gonna be the same.

Danielle was more
than a niece to me.

And I'm just thankful for
those years I shared with her.

Narrator: Years later,
friends and family

still cherish their final
moments with Danielle.

Dannie was just a great
person to be around.

And I don't think I can ever
forget the person she was.

You'd think after
years and years,

and it being high school,
it would fade a little bit.

I always thought it would.

I would get older and
I would get over it.

But Dannie was too much

of a good person
and a bright person,

and such a positive
energy and life

that you can't forget that.

- When she left
the house that day,

she said, "Okay,
bye-bye, Grandma."

I said, "Okay, bye-bye." It
was real quick like that.

And as she was
going out the door,

she's like, "I
love you, Grandma."

I'm forever grateful to her.

And I thank the Lord every day

for letting me have that moment,

that last moment with her.

And I'll always love her.