Murder of Danielle Locklear highlighted on Dateline: Unforgettable

Dateline: Unforgettable is highlighting the case of 15-year-old Danielle Locklear, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Je’Michael Malloy, in Hope Mills, North Carolina.

On April 3, 2014, an off-duty police officer with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office called 911 after finding a body in the South River near Autryville.

The body was identified through clothing and physical description as that of Locklear, a ninth-grade student at South View High School.

Relatives reported her missing nearly three weeks prior.

According to the State Medical Examiner’s Office, Locklear died of asphyxiation, and they ruled her death a homicide.

She was last seen on March 11, 2014, leaving the home she shared with her grandparents on Trencholm Lane in the Fox Meadow and Brook Ridge subdivisions.

Locklear told her grandfather that she wanted to walk to a friend’s house to return a book, but she never made it there, nor did she return home.

Instead, she met up with her former boyfriend, Malloy, then 18, at Rockfish Creek, a popular hangout spot for the teens in the community.

Je’Michael Malloy confessed to murdering Danielle Locklear

On April 8, 2014, Malloy told authorities that he “freaked” when Locklear told him via text message that she was pregnant.

An autopsy revealed that she was not pregnant.

When Malloy asked Locklear to meet up, she lied to her grandfather about going to a friend’s house so that she could get away.

Malloy’s friend, Dominic Lock, drove them to the creek.

Lock waited in the car about 70 yards away while Locklear and Malloy talked, but sometime during their conversation, they got into an argument.

As Locklear was walking away, Malloy strangled her from behind.

He then ran back to the car and told Lock that he had murdered Locklear and needed his assistance in disposing of the body, or they would both face murder charges. 

Je’Michael Malloy asked his friend, Dominic Lock, to help hide the body

Lock said Locklear was on her stomach when he helped Malloy pick her up and put her body in the car.

When her body started to smell and make noises, Lock told authorities they stuffed a sock in her mouth.

After retrieving rope and cinder blocks from Malloy’s home, they tied it to her waist and ankles, drove to South River, and dumped her body.

Malloy and Lock were arrested.

In May 2016, Malloy took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. A judge sentenced him to 25 to 31 years in prison.

Lock pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of murder. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Dateline: Unforgettable airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Oxygen.