Parts of southeastern North Carolina saw a spike in homicides and other violent crimes in 2020, while fewer property crimes were reported. Read more

Matthew Oxendine, who was shot and killed by a Robeson County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, sustained “multiple” gunshot wounds, autopsy results show. Read more

By Sarah Nagem sarahnagem@borderbelt.org Marqueise Coleman was gunned down in the small southeastern North Carolina town where he was well-known as a good student, a standout on the football field and a young man with a bright future. Now, Coleman’s family is pleading with the community to share information about the shooting that left the 19-year-old dead in the early-morning hours of July 29. “I …Read more

At 4 a.m. each weekday morning, attorney Bryan Wilson grabs a cup of coffee and looks over dozens of files of neglected and abused children from southeastern North Carolina. It’s his job to make sure they’re safe during the months — and sometimes years — that their cases trudge through the court system.  Hours later at the Bladen County Courthouse, Wilson ticks through a series …Read more

When Lisa Hardin didn’t return to her southeastern North Carolina home in the summer of 2003, her mother knew something was wrong.  Days later, police found the body of 36-year-old Hardin in the woods on the east side of Lumberton in Robeson County. Her orange Harley Davidson T-shirt was pulled over her chest, and her underwear was twisted around her right ankle. She had been …Read more