DNA evidence used to make arrest in 1984 killings of mom, son, CMPD says

CHARLOTTE — A man has been arrested using DNA evidence found where a mother and son were killed near Hidden Valley nearly four decades ago, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

“The family never forgot and we never forgot,” said CMPD Capt. Joel McNelly.

According to McNelly, on March 14, 1984, CMPD was called to a home on Ventura Way. When officers arrived, they found the front door open and a “foul smell” coming from the home. McNelly said 27-year-old Sarah Mobley Hall and 10-year-old Derrick Dion Mobley were found brutally killed -- they were assaulted and both strangled to death, Capt. McNelly said.

Channel 9 covered the case, and investigators at the time said the two were strangled with a telephone cord.

He said Hall was a single mother who worked with children who had special needs, including her son Derrick.

McNelly said the two were killed a few nights before they were found.

On Thursday, McNelly announced James Thomas Pratt, 60, had been arrested in the case. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, McNelly said and is also facing a fugitive of justice charge in South Carolina.

Pratt was 22 at the time of the crime and he had a friendly relationship with Hall, according to McNelly. He also lived in the neighborhood.

McNelly said the case went cold back then, and since then, four different CMPD units have been trying to track down the person responsible. The case is so old that several of the officers who were rookies back then have been retired for about 10 years

Then, in 1998, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings, who was a homicide detective at the time, found DNA evidence in that case -- he found it on Hall’s pillow. That evidence was submitted to a national database but there were no hits at the time.

Then this past year, McNelly said they got a hit for a DNA relative through a state lab, which is the first time that has happened for a murder in North Carolina. They were able to find a person of interest -- Pratt -- in South Carolina and, with the help of the FBI, got a direct match between his DNA and the DNA found on Hall’s pillow.

Pratt, of Fort Mill, was arrested on Feb. 1 in York County and was transferred to the Mecklenburg County jail, where he was given no bond, McNelly said. That’s the jail that another former homicide detective who worked the case in the 80s now runs -- Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden. Both he and Jennings were partners at the time and both worked on this case.

McNelly said Hall’s remaining family -- her siblings -- and Derrick’s father were “elated” with the news of Pratt’s arrest. Hall’s parents have both since died.

“You can imagine sitting for four decades, not knowing what happened to your sister, not knowing what happened to your son or your nephew,” McNelly said.

Dr. Joseph Kuhns, an assistant professor of criminology at UNC Charlotte, said solving cases like this are incredibly tough.

“Cold cases are cold for a reason because a lot of time, as time goes by, you lose witnesses to other things, including death,” Kuhns said. “You lose the trails and clues you were following. You lose evidence.”

Who is James Thomas Pratt?

VIDEO: Neighbors say suspect in 1984 double-murder lived at motel near Carowinds

VIDEO: Neighbors say suspect in 1984 double-murder lived at motel near Carowinds

The motive for the crime is still unclear, McNelly said. Pratt had misdemeanor arrests in the 1980s and 1990s, but none of those were consistent with this kind of crime.

Channel 9 veteran crime reporter Glenn Counts went to a Fort Mill motel after CMPD’s announcement and spoke with people who know Pratt.

They were shocked by the news.

“He was a good guy,” a resident said. “He made sure the kids got in from school OK.”

“He told us he was a church-going man,” another resident said.

The women Glenn spoke with wanted to remain anonymous.

Pratt wasn’t on the run from the law. He was hiding in plain sight, working, and living at a motel off Highway 21 near Carowinds.

He was the handyman there for two years.

Residents said Pratt was a good person, even helping install a car battery.

Pratt has a long criminal record that goes back to the early 1980s.

• 1982: Drug charge.
• 1987: Car break-in.
• 1991: Assault and battery.
• 1992: Assault on a female.
• 2002: Assault on a female.

He was not a suspect in the double murder at the time of those arrests.

The previous charges were disposed of quickly.

Pratt’s current neighbors considered him a model citizen.

“(A) nice guy,” one of the residents told Counts. “I mean, I never picked up any vibe or anything. I’m still shocked right now talking to you about it.”

‘Struck a nerve’

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz went to the apartment where the double-murder happened. Nobody was home, but Sáenz spoke to Tamara Law, who grew up nearby and was 14 at the time. She told him she remembered the slayings.

“It struck a nerve when you said that,” she told Sáenz.

“While a lot of the world may have forgotten about Sarah and Derrick, the family certainly never did. And we certainly never did,” McNally said.

(WATCH BELOW: Retired officers revisit 1992 murder as team reviews Statesville cold cases)

Retired officers revisit 1992 murder as team reviews Statesville cold cases

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