Dateline: The Creek – 5 harrowing details about Danielle Locklear’s murder, explored

Dateline: The Creek covered a case from March of 2014 where a 15-year-old, Danielle Locklear, disappeared from the home of her grandmother in Hope Mills, North Carolina. Her weeks-long disappearance stumped detectives and grieving loved ones. Her body was found in the South River in Sampson County on April 2, 2014, ending the search sadly.

The Dateline true-crime series on NBC broadcast the case in an episode entitled The Creek, providing a chronological account of the murder, key evidence, and individuals involved. Dateline revisited the unfolding of events that occurred before Danielle disappeared, the subsequent body recovery, and the subsequent confessions that ended in arrests.

The program covered the full extent of the investigation, such as police interrogations, the back history of suspects, and the subsequent court hearings.

Here are 5 harrowing details about Danielle Locklear’s murder

1. Danielle Locklear left her grandmother's house and never came back

Southeast of Fayetteville, in the small rural town of Hope Mills, Danielle Locklear lived with her grandparents. On March 11, 2014, Danielle informed her grandfather that she was heading to a friend's house. She never returned later that evening, prompting concern by her family, who submitted a missing persons report.

Initially, in the course of investigating the matter, the police regarded the incident as a missing persons case and investigated the same using neighborhood canvassing and screening of tips. Hope Mills police, with assistance from the FBI and the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, began a massive search. Flyers were distributed, and search parties were formed, but Danielle was still missing.

Dateline highlighted the manner in which Danielle's family and community held on to hope as the authorities pursued every lead that came their way. But nothing significant happened in the first two weeks.

2. Her body was discovered in a river wrapped in plastic.

Her body was found on April 2, 2014, around two weeks and two days after she had gone missing, by some fishermen in the South River of Sampson County, around 30 miles from where she had gone missing. After police officers were called to the scene, Danielle Locklear's body was later identified. Her body was found wrapped in plastic and paracord, as explained in police reports and the Dateline report.

The finding turned the case into a homicide from the original missing person case. Detectives in the Dateline special stated that the state of the body signaled deliberate hiding. The selection of material used and where the body was found were also major points of investigation. The police started investigating whether it was someone who knew Danielle personally.

3. The killer was someone she knew herself

The turning point for police was the identification of a suspect: Je'Michael Malloy, a former boyfriend of 17-year-old Danielle. Malloy went to South View High School and had, as far as known, an earlier relationship with Danielle. In keeping with Dateline reporting, detectives picked up on suspicion based on seeing an inconsistency between Malloy's words and behavior.

Malloy later confessed to the crime. Malloy told investigators that one night, he had picked Danielle up just before she disappeared. The two had spent the night driving to a remote area near the creek where they fought. Malloy informed police during the confession that, during the fight, he strangled Danielle to death. He put her in a plastic tote and then, with the assistance of his friend Dominic Lock, he threw her body into the river.

4. The paracord employed in the attack was from Malloy

The strongest evidence in the case was the parachute cord, or paracord, used to tie the plastic around Danielle. Paracord seemed to look like what had been distributed to Junior ROTC members—a group to which Malloy belonged, reports Dateline. With the tangible link to Malloy and his eventual confession, it was simpler to make him the prime suspect.

The rope, which was military-grade rope, was the same military-grade rope that was used for training and equipment drills. The incident described how this information assisted in verifying Malloy's participation, particularly when his confession was corroborated by forensic evidence. Officials concluded that Danielle's murder was premeditated and that what ensued signaled an attempt to cover up the crime.

5. Legal repercussions followed confessions from both suspects

Following the inquiry, Je'Michael Malloy was taken into custody and accused of second-degree murder. In 2016, he entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder and received a sentence of 25–31 years in prison. His co-conspirator, Dominic Lock, entered a plea to accessory after the fact of second-degree murder and was sentenced less. On Dateline and in court papers, the two teens were said to be teenagers at the time.

The court proceedings were extensively reported in the local media and were previewed on the Dateline show. The trial was conducted in adult court, and both defendants took plea bargains. Although the court trial concluded with sentencing, the emotional residue of Danielle's death is still in her family and community.

Dateline NBC's report, The Creek, is a factual and in-depth representation of the case of Danielle Locklear, from when she went missing to the eventual sentencing of her perpetrators. Journalistic reporting stems from official accounts, police records, and publicly available court files.