Kristen Locklear Oxendine was working her shift as a Robeson County 911 dispatcher on February 4, 2015, when she answered a call about a missing 18-year-old woman.
Although she had grown accustomed to answering heart-wrenching calls, something about the disappearance of Sara Graham stuck with Locklear Oxendine.
Graham, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina who had moved to Robeson County six months earlier, was the daughter and stepdaughter of local sheriff’s deputies. She was last seen leaving her Fairmont home early that day for her job at Walmart in Pembroke. But she never arrived, and her empty van was found hours later off East McDonald Road.
As the case lingered for days and months and then years without answers, Locklear Oxendine began posting on Facebook on Graham’s birthday – and on the anniversary of the 911 call – in honor of the missing woman, who she didn’t know personally.
“I wanted her name to stay out there constantly because people would forget,” Locklear Oxendine told the Border Belt Independent.
A judge declared Sara Graham legally dead in early June. About three weeks later, on June 25, the sheriff’s office announced a break in the case. Investigators arrested three people – including Graham’s stepmother, 65-year old Connie Graham, and charged her with first-degree murder. Connie Graham’s sons, Luke Locklear, 29, and Bobby McLellan, 42, were charged with being accessories to the crime.
Locklear Oxendine said she drove to the courthouse in Lumberton right away when she heard the news of the arrests and watched as the trio was escorted inside in handcuffs. She had been waiting 11 years for the moment.
Locklear Oxendine and the Lumbee Tribe organized a community vigil on Monday evening to honor Sara Graham. About 40 people, including some of Sara Graham’s family members, gathered at the downtown plaza and lit candles, prayed, and shared stories.
Locklear Oxendine, a member of the Lumbee Tribe, led a moment of silence for all missing and murdered Indigenous people in North Carolina.
Native American women “experience murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average,” N.C. Gov. Josh Stein said in a proclamation on May 5 for the Day Of Awareness For Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women. Fifty-seven percent of the 106 recorded cases of missing and murdered Native Americans In North Carolina over the past 60 years have involved women or girls, he said.
“You trust people that are supposed to love you and protect you. They turned their back on her.”
Kristen Locklear Oxendine
In a statement through her attorney, Catherine L. Armenta, Sara Graham’s biological mother, thanked the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, which helped in the investigation. “The last 11 years have been tremendously difficult,” Armenta said. “Not a day goes by that my other children and I don’t think about Sara. We miss her terribly.”
Sara Graham’s father, Hubert Graham, who now serves as the Rowland police chief, did not attend Monday’s vigil and did not return requests for comment from the Border Belt Independent.
Hubert Graham began working for the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office in 1999 and served in several roles over the years, according to information obtained by the Border Belt Independent through a public records request. He was part of the domestic violence division, the detective division, and the Department of Social Services division. He was also a school resource officer at Purnell Swett High School. He left the sheriff’s office in 2017.
Connie Graham was sworn in as a deputy with the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office in 1992, records show. She served as a school resource officer and was promoted to the rank of sergeant within the juvenile division in 2008. She was fired on March 18, 2015, about six weeks after Sara Graham disappeared.
Investigators have not said how or where Sara Graham died, and her remains have not been found. Arrest warrants say that Connie Graham is suspected of killing Sara Graham and destroying and altering evidence including a bed, clothing and home flooring, WMBF reported. Investigators believe that Locklear helped burn evidence and that McLellan helped dispose of Sara Graham’s remains.
Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said in a statement that investigators never stopped pursuing the case, but he declined to say what led to the recent arrests.
“The length of time between Sara Graham’s disappearance and the arrests should not be viewed as inactivity,” Wilkins said. “It is far more important to conduct a thorough investigation that leads to a successful prosecution than to rush to make an arrest before the evidence supports it.”
A grand jury indicted Connie Graham on August 3. She is being held without bond.
At Monday’s vigil, community members said they wanted to remember happy times in Sara Graham’s life. Reggie Brewer, the cultural enrichment coordinator for the Lumbee Tribe led a sacred smudging ceremony and recalled how he used to see Sara Graham as a child attending powwows with her father.
“She was just a sweet, happy girl with a big smile on her face. And she just loved her family so much.”
Sheron Moore, Sara’s Graham’s cousin
Although she was born in Robeson, Sara Graham spent most of her childhood with her mother in Texas after her parents separated.
“She always had a smile on her face,” Brewer said in an interview.
Sheron Moore, Sara’s Graham’s cousin, said she wished they had more time together. When Sara Graham returned to Robeson County, they visited the North Carolina State Fair. Moore recalled how Sara would sometimes speed in her van.
“She loved that van so much,” Moore said. “She was just a sweet, happy girl with a big smile on her face. And she just loved her family so much.”
The day before she disappeared, Sara Graham had barbecue sandwiches at Moore’s house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Moore said.
Now it’s tough for Moore to keep the tears at bay any time she thinks about her cousin. After the vigil on Monday, she joined other Lumbees in singing words of consolation.
“Oh I will sing for the goodness of God,” the group harmonized. “Your mercy never fails me.”
Locklear Oxendine said Sara Graham didn’t get a fair shot at life.
“You trust people that are supposed to love you and protect you,” she said. “They turned their back on her.”