Police in Catawba County reopen 13-year-old girl’s 1992 murder case

BROOKFORD, N.C. — Police in Catawba County have reopened a more than 30-year-old cold case murder involving a 13-year-old girl.

Family members are now offering a reward after the teenager was found dead along the banks of the Henry Fork River in 1992. They put up banners along Highway 127 south of Hickory, which isn’t far from where she was found.

Dee Dee Dawkins murder case Police in Catawba County have reopened a more than 30-year-old cold case murder involving 13-year-old Denise Dawkins.

Family members and friends of 13-year-old Denise “Dee Dee” Dawkins showed Channel 9′s Dave Faherty shirts that have been made to remember Dee Dee.

Dee Dee’s cousin, Kessiah Young, was just a few years older than she was and grew up with her in Hickory. Kessiah’s wife, Stephanie, knew her around the time she disappeared in July 1992.

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“Through the years, we have just done a lot of praying and a lot of hoping,” Stephanie Young said. “I do believe there’s a chance. I do believe there’s a chance we’ll get justice for her.”

This month marks 32 years since Dee Dee disappeared in the Hickory area. Weeks after she vanished, someone made a gruesome discovery: Police said she was only wearing a bra and a single tennis shoe when her body was found along the Henry Fork River.

Faherty learned the 13-year-old was partially buried up to her chest by logs and debris along the river.

Family members said several law enforcement agencies have been involved in the investigation. Now, the Brookford Police Department has reopened the case.

For months, four Brookford police investigators have been re-interviewing anyone connected with the homicide. Faherty got a chance to talk with Chief Willie Armstrong on Tuesday, who said they are making progress with identifying a suspect. He showed Faherty the 2-inch thick case file.

“It’s an active murder investigation,” Armstrong said.

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The chief said he put together a team of investigators to go over every aspect of the unsolved case. He said now, more than 30 years later, they’ve developed possible suspects.

“We feel that there are folks who know things in the community that don’t want to talk, partly based off of fear,” Armstrong said.

Police are hoping someone comes forward to give closure to the family and provide answers about why Dee Dee died.

“I would love for this to be solved,” Kessiah Young said. “My grandmother is 89 years old and I would love for this to be solved before she dies. I think our family deserves some answers.”

Faherty asked Armstrong what the chances are of the case being cracked.

“I think we’re very close. We just need that someone with that one piece of key evidence,” the chief said.

(WATCH BELOW: Family has new hope in decades-old Burke County cold case)