The Murder of Brittany Locklear

An innocent young girl, abducted from the bus stop near her home and later found dead. At just 5 years old, Brittany Locklear was waiting patiently for the bus so she could go to her school. Her mother stepped inside to use the bathroom. When she walked back out, she didn’t see her daughter. Assuming she had been picked up by the bus, she decided to go to the school to check. When she found that Brittany never even got on the bus, she knew what must have happened. And while calling local police, she learned a horrifying truth. Neighbors had witnessed her young daughter being taken from the end of the driveway by an unidentified man in a pickup truck. At this point, anything could happen. As news spread, fear gripped the town. No one had answers to the multitude of questions flying around. The next day, the young body of Brittany resurfaced three miles away from her home. Drowning was the cause of death, and signs of assault were seen. Was it possible to catch the killer with any DNA left behind? Any of the tips early on ended up not being very useful in getting a break in the case. However, a potential lead rose in 2002 when they found a suspect: a firefighter in Fort Bragg, arrested for armed robbery, who seemed to take special interest in Brittany. That, unfortunately, gave police nothing, since the DNA did not match. They were essentially back to square one. The next break did not come until 13 years later, in January of 2015. The police were confident that they had enough DNA evidence to be able to create a genetic profile of the killer. Could they finally find Brittany’s killer? Nothing has come of the DNA as of yet, but Brittany’s mother still holds out hope that the killer will be found and tried.