Court records obtained by WRAL show the biological mother of an 18-year-old cold case victim petitioned a court to have her legally declared dead this February, months before investigators arrested in the decade-long investigation.
Thursday, the Robeson County Sheriff's Office charged Connie Graham with the murder of her stepdaughter, Sara Graham, who initially disappeared from Robeson County in 2015 but has not been seen since.
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The records, filed exactly 11 years to the date after Graham's disappearance, say "No communication has been received from Sara Nicole Graham, nor has there been any verified evidence that the person is alive since February 4, 2025."
The filing is centered on North Carolina state law, which when cited in the filing said "A missing person may be presumed dead if they have been absent from their last known residence and unheard from for a continuous period of seven (7) years."
Sara Graham, who was legally declared dead on June 1, according to Wilkins.
In a social media statement Thursday, Robseon County Sheriff addressed the time in between the investigation's start and the agency's arrest of Connie Graham.
"North Carolina law establishes a legal process that must be followed when a person has been missing for an extended period of time. The law requires that evidence be presented before a Superior Court judge, who must determine as a matter of fact whether the individual is deceased," he wrote.
Through her attorney, Graham's mother put out the following statement:
"The last eleven years have been tremendously difficult. Not a day goes by that my other children and I don’t think about Sara. We miss her terribly. After more than a decade since Sara’s disappearance, the decision to seek a court order to have her declared deceased was incredibly painful but something we felt we needed to do. Our family would like to thank the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their tireless efforts to find Sara and for the continued support they have shown us. We would also like to thank the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office for their ongoing efforts to seek justice for Sara. We echo the plea that we have made since 2015 that anyone with information about Sara’s disappearance should come forward and share that information with law enforcement.”
How common are no-body homicide trials? Not very.
No body homicide cases are, as Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman admits, rare.
“Very unusual to have a case where we cannot locate the victim. I’m not aware of many of these tried across the state," Freeman told WRAL.
In 2022, a jury found Brian Sluss guilty of murdering his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend Monica Moynan-- even though her body was never found. Brian Sluss was sentenced to life in prison.
A major question becomes: how difficult is it prosecuting a case when there is no medical examiners report to present during trial?
Without being able to present that evidence, Freeman says, other pieces of evidence must be even stronger. Timelines, for example, must be even more detailed and precise to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Part of what they [defense attorneys] are trying to do is say, 'Something else happened. They ran off.” What you [prosecutors] are trying to do is close those possibilities in the jury’s mind.”
An arrest more than ten years in the making
Sara Graham was last seen around 6:30 a.m. at her home on Centerville Church Road in Fairmont on Feb. 4, 2015. She never arrived at her job at Walmart in Pembroke. Authorities found Graham’s white van on McDonald Road in Fairmont, but she was nowhere to be found.
Connie Graham, 65, was charged with felony conspiracy, first-degree murder, and alter/steal/destroy criminal evidence, according to an arrest warrant. The warrant said Graham conspired to destroy evidence connected to the murder, including a bed, clothing, and flooring.
Court documents also show 42-year-old Bobby Matthew McLellan was arrested in connection with the case. He is charged with felony conspiracy, alter/steal/destroy criminal evidence,e and accessory after the fact. An arrest warrant said McLellan helped dispose of human remains. His bond was set at $1 million.
Investigators have targeted Connie Graham's house previously as part of the investigation into Sara's disappearance.
In 2023, RCSO and the FBI again searched the Fairmont area home, looking for evidence based on recent leads at the time.
"While most of the people we have interviewed have been cooperative, we believe someone very close to her isn’t telling us everything they know," Sheriff Wilkins said then.
WRAL spoke to Hubert Graham, Sara's father and Connie's husband. He declined to comment on the case and the investigation.
“Sara was beautiful, inside and out. She had the sweetest personality, loved life, and making people smile. She was an artist, and would make her friends handmade gifts. She was passionate about animals. Sara did not have a malicious bone in her body and always wore a smile," her friend, Beck Ryan, told WRAL.