People in this chapter · Willie Armstrong · D. Scott Reilly · Ronald Crawley · Sheriff Don Brown

The family asks for help

Dee Dee’s father died in 2022. Dateline reports that his death is when the family began investigating on its own. In July 2023 the family met with Willie Armstrong, Brookford’s new police chief. He opened a Brookford Police Department investigation and asked the other agencies for their files. He told Dateline he met resistance from the sheriff’s office and the SBI.

A year later Armstrong showed WSOC a case file about two inches thick and said four Brookford investigators had spent months re-interviewing everyone connected to the case. He said they had developed possible suspects and that some people in the community might be afraid to talk. “It’s an active murder investigation,” he said. The Hunting 4 Answers podcast reported his belief that someone in the small town knew something and had kept silent out of fear.

“We just need that someone with that one piece of key evidence.”Chief Willie Armstrong to WSOC, July 2024

Sources: NBC News Dateline, Cold Case Spotlight · WSOC, Dave Faherty, July 23, 2024 · Hunting 4 Answers podcast, Jan. 15, 2026

The phone that kept recording

In October 2023 Armstrong and a Brookford police captain went to a private home to interview a man about the case. Armstrong recorded the interview on his phone. When he left, the phone stayed behind and kept recording. Armstrong has said he realized it was missing and went back for it. The Brief does not name the man who was interviewed. He has not been charged with anything, and police have not publicly named a suspect.

On November 7, 2024, the sheriff’s office reported allegations against Armstrong to the FBI and the SBI, and a joint investigation began. In January 2025, days after Armstrong announced he would run for Catawba County sheriff, an SBI agent told him he was the subject of a criminal investigation. Armstrong told WBTV he had gone to that meeting believing the second man present was a polygrapher. He was with the FBI.

On May 5, 2025, a grand jury indicted Armstrong on one felony count of altering, destroying or stealing criminal evidence and one misdemeanor count of willful failure to discharge his duties. Prosecutors alleged that he clipped and deleted parts of the recording. He pleaded not guilty in November 2025 and said the charges were politically motivated, tied to his campaign. He remained Brookford’s chief.

Sources: NBC News Dateline, Cold Case Spotlight · WBTV, Derrion Henderson, July 20, 2026 · WBTV, Cassidy Johncox and Derrion Henderson, June 11, 2026

Three days of trial

The trial began in June 2026. On June 10 prosecutors played more than 40 minutes of audio of an interview between Armstrong and SBI Agent Ronald Crawley, who asked why Armstrong had left the recording phone in the man’s home. Armstrong maintained that he did not intentionally record the conversation. WBTV reported that the case turned on North Carolina’s recording law. After the state rested, the defense moved to dismiss for insufficient evidence. On Thursday, June 11, the judge granted the motion and dismissed both charges. WBTV reported the judge found his actions did not rise to the level of a crime.

Armstrong was back in his office the next morning. He told WSOC that prosecutors had offered him a plea to a lesser charge and he refused. Dee Dee’s family and the mayor had supported him throughout. The mayor called the prosecution a waste of taxpayer money. Armstrong said he would keep investigating Dee Dee’s death.

Sources: WBTV, Cassidy Johncox and Derrion Henderson, June 11, 2026 · WSOC, Dave Faherty, June 12, 2026 · WBTV, Derrion Henderson, July 20, 2026

After the verdict

The dismissal did not end the fight. The district attorney, D. Scott Reilly, had placed Armstrong on his office’s Giglio list. In March 2026, Reilly wrote to Brookford’s mayor that Armstrong was “no longer a credible witness for criminal prosecution.” Hickory police ended their mutual aid agreements with Brookford on March 24, 2026, citing that determination. Sheriff Don Brown had also revoked mutual aid, saying the decision concerned jurisdiction and was not related to the charges. Reilly said the letter was not meant to pressure the town and that his office would keep the determination in place.

On October 2, 2026, Armstrong sued. WBTV reported that the suit challenges the notice Reilly issued in October 2025 under N.C. General Statute 17C-16, argues the statute is unconstitutional because it has no evidentiary standard or appeal, names the attorney general and the legislature’s leaders along with Reilly, and seeks more than $25,000 in damages. WBTV also reported that court filings include text messages between a sheriff’s lieutenant and an SBI agent about a vigil held for Dee Dee. Those are allegations in a pending lawsuit, and no court has ruled on them.

In July 2026 Armstrong told WBTV that in 33 years no one had been arrested in Dee Dee’s case, and that the only person arrested was him.

Sources: WBTV, Derrion Henderson, July 20, 2026 · WBTV, Alianna Kendall-Brooks, Oct. 4, 2026 · WBTV, Derrion Henderson, Oct. 6, 2026

Whatever one concludes about the chief’s case, it has kept Dee Dee’s name in the news. The next chapter turns back to her family and to what could still solve it.