Man sentenced for role in murder of Hope Mills teen

A Fayetteville man was sentenced Monday to at least six years in prison for helping cover up the killing of a Hope Mills teen two years ago.

Posted 2:34 p.m. Jun 13, 2016 — Updated 10:56 p.m. Jun 13, 2016

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A Fayetteville man was sentenced Monday to at least six years in prison for helping cover up the killing of a Hope Mills teen two years ago.

Danielle Nicole Locklear, 15, was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, Je'Michael Malloy, on March 11, 2014, during an argument. The South View High School freshman's body was then tied to cinder blocks and dumped in the South River, where it was found three weeks later.

Malloy, now 19, of Autryville, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the case and was sentenced to 25 to 31 years in prison.

Dominic Tayvon Lock, now 20, helped Malloy dispose of Locklear's body. Lock pleaded guilty last July to a charge of accessory after the fact of murder, but his sentencing was delayed until after Malloy's case was resolved to ensure Lock's cooperation.

On Monday, he was sentenced to 73 to 100 months in prison. He has already served a year of that time.

He apologized to Locklear's family, but her mother wasn't ready to forgive him.

"You are a loyal friend because, if my friend would sit there and ask me get a cinder block and ropes and tie somebody up and throw them across the river – yeah, that's real brilliant, – I would have ran somewhere so fast. I would have called 911, knocked on somebody's door to say something has transpired now, my friend has done something. But no, you went along with it," Rona Fowler said.

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