On May 25, 1989, 10-year-old Cora Hamby left her family’s residence and walked to a nearby Food Lion grocery store in the Southland Shopping Center on Shelton Avenue in Statesville. It was 8 p.m., and the sun had not yet set. Once at the store Cora used a pay phone to call and ask her older sister what kind of candy she wanted. Cora, who stood around five feet, one inch tall and weighed 87 pounds, had long, dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. She was wearing a dark blue shirt, white shorts, and white tennis shoes. Her fingernails were painted a pearly pink. She had planned to return home after picking out the candy, but by 10 p.m., she hadn’t returned and her parents contacted the local police.
Cora Lee Hamby was born on August 24, 1978, the daughter of James and Uncie Hamby. She had one sister, Elizabeth Nadine Hamby, who lived with the family in Statesville, and a half-sister, Geraldine Moore from Statesville. Cora had begun kindergarten at Monticello School, where she earned the reading award for her class for the 1985-85 school year. She had an aptitude for math as well. The state of North Carolina eventually took the family’s home on Bristol Drive to make way for an extension of Industrial Drive, and the family moved school districts.
The fifth grader had been attending Avery Sherill School, where her teacher described her as a hard-working student and a lovable child who got along well with her peers and her teachers. She’d recently made the “Terrific Kid” list for students who displayed exceptional citizenship. She was a member of Bristol Drive Baptist Church.
Cora had been looking forward to a fun summer full of adventure. An adult sister was going to take her Lake Lure, and their church was planning a trip to Carowinds, with Cora planning to ride every ride she could. She also intended to spend many hours at the Garfield Recreation Center pool, where she’d taken swimming lessons the previous summer. She had a special love for animals, especially dogs and horses.
Eyewitness Accounts
The Statesville Police Department and an agent from the FBI’s Charlotte field quickly joined forces in the search for Cora. After canvassing the Food Lion and the surrounding neighborhood, they told the public they believed Cora had gotten into a vehicle in the store parking lot. Several witnesses saw a girl they thought was Cora enter a car with multiple people inside, but they couldn’t give an adequate description of the vehicle or its passengers.
A tracking team from nearby Burke County and bloodhounds and searchers from the Alexander Department of Corrections searched the woods of South Statesville the day after Cora went missing, but turned up no leads.
In the days following her disappearance, investigators received additional information about the vehicle Cora may have gotten into at the Food Lion parking lot. According to eyewitnesses, it was a blue, 1977 four-door Chevrolet Chevette with a wide, blue, racing stripe. Two men with shoulder-length brown hair and a heavy-set blond woman were in the car. As police continued to talk to people in the area, the description of this mysterious vehicle also included a blue-grey Volkswagen Rabbit and light-blue Sunbird. The description of its passengers, however, remained consistent.
Three days after Cora went missing, a fisherman discovered her deceased body lying on some rocks in a cove near the Catspaw Development of Lake Norman. She was still wearing the clothes she’d left her house in, but although she was wearing socks she had no shoes on. Her body appeared to have been in the water for several days.
As investigators worked to uncover who could have been responsible for unspeakable tragedy in their town, her family prepared to lay her to rest on May 31, 1989.
The principal of Avery Sherrill Elementary School, Charles Hauser, made plans for twenty of Cora’s classmates from her class at school attended her funeral. They were transported by activity bus, along with the sixth-grade class of Elizabeth Hamby, Cora’s 12-year-old sister. Counselors with Statesville City Schools had spent a day with Avery Sherrill students after the discovery of Cora’s body, answering questions and helping them process the loss of their classmate.
The North Carolina Medical Examiner at the time stated Cora’s death was the result of foul play, the Statesville Police Chief Robert Warshaw declined to release any other information about the 10-year-old’s death. In June of 1989, The Charlotte Observer reported that Cora Hamby’s cause of death was listed as asphyxiation on her death certificate. The official autopsy at the time was still incomplete.
Roger Lee Brooks Falls Under Suspicion
The week prior, detectives from Statesville and the State Bureau of Investigation had searched two vehicles and the Statesville home of a 34-year-old man named Roger Lee Brooks. According to the search warrant, investigators were looking for carpet samples, fibers, and fingerprints. They searched a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon and a dark blue 1970s model Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Police questioned Roger, his girlfriend, 28-year-old Gloria Fowler Anderson, and Gloria’s two children. The children, a 9-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl, told police they went with the couple on May 27 to see Cora’s body at Lake Norman. The search warrant stated the children said, “We went there and saw her dead in the water. Momma, Daddy, and her brother were with me when we seen her.” The 9-year-old boy told investigators they choked Cora and did not use a gun or a knife. The warrant didn’t specify who “they” were. The children were then placed in custody of the Iredell County Department of Social Services.
Laboratory tests performed by the SBI found blue carpet fibers and pieces of zinc on Cora’s socks. The warrant stated that zinc can be found in an area where auto body work is performed, and Robert Brooks told police he works with automobiles in his backyard.
The couple’s home was about two blocks from where Cora lived with her family in South Statesville.
The Statesville community held a benefit for the Cora Lee Hamby Reward Fund held at Lakewood Park in late June of 1989. People were asked to donate whatever they could afford and in return received a half-chickens, beans, and slaw. But organizers soon realized the 500 half-chickens they’d purchased for the benefit wasn’t going to be enough. They began to divide up the chickens so they would be able to feed more people. The local Chamber of Commerce served approximately 700 box lunches and ran out of food by 1:30 p.m. People still showed up and donated without receiving anything in return, raising $4,306, an amount that was added to the $10,000 the Greater Statesville Crime Stoppers was offering for any tips leading to an arrest in Cora Hamby’s murder.
According to Cora Hamby’s finalized autopsy report, her official cause of death was asphyxiation. The medical examiner presumed the young girl had been choked to death. He also found evidence of external bruising on her genitalia, but not enough to conclude a sexual assault had taken place.
As could be expected, the residents of Cora’s neighborhood were fearful, and rumors swirled throughout the streets. Who had taken Cora? Was it someone she knew? Would they come back for another child? A senior resident told The Charlotte Observer that children had ceased playing on their front porches and riding their bicycles in the street after Cora was abducted and murdered.
“It’s lonesome time around here since Cora left,” she said. “There just aren’t any children.”
Agents with the Charlotte bureau of the FBI released a psychological profile on Cora’s killer to the Statesville Police Department, but they declined to say what the profile contained in order to “maintain the integrity of the investigation.”
Cora’s Behavior Had Changed
Cora’s parents, Uncie and James Hamby, sat for an interview with a reporter for The Statesville Record and Landmark in late September of 1989, three months after their daughter was found murdered. Her mother said in the year before she was abducted, Cora, normally a fearless and happy-go-lucky child, had begun experiencing night terrors. She began going into her parents’ bedroom at night and asking to sleep with them. She even did this on an evening when she had friends in the house for a sleepover, which her mother said was really out of character.
One sad note from this interview was that the family dog, a Chihuahua named Trixie, had gone into mourning after Cora never came home. The Hamby’s said Trixie had lost her appetite and seldom strayed from a spot beside the upright piano in the home, where Cora had taken lessons for a year.
Her parents also said Cora had been taught to be cautious of strangers, and they didn’t believe she would have gotten into a car willingly with someone she didn’t know. Because of that, Uncie said she thought Cora must have known the person who abducted her or at least was familiar with them as an acquaintance. Her mother said she’d had to tell Cora, “Not everybody is your friend. They’re not.”
Suspect Moves Away
A month after Cora’s murder, Roger Lee Brooks married his girlfriend Gloria Anderson. They had moved to Gaston County after police had searched their home looking for clues tying them to Cora. Gloria attended several court hearings after her children were taken away from Child Protective Services. Roger was eventually arrested and charged with taking indecent liberties with a child. The child was 6 years old when the incident occurred, and Roger was accused of touching the girl inappropriately while she was clothed. He was released on a $20,000 bond.
I had wondered how Roger Brooks and his then girlfriend Gloria attracted the attention of Statesville Police in the first place. I found my answer in an article that ran in The Charlotte Observer on January 10. Roger Brooks, who was an ordained minister, had gone to the police to tell them he saw Cora at the grocery store the night she disappeared.
In the months following Cora’s murder, Roger Brooks was arrested and indicted on the indecent liberties charges, the couple had the children taken away by the county, they relocated to Gastonia, and both had trouble holding down jobs due to the publicity surrounding the case.
Roger Brooks adamantly denied his involvement in Cora’s murder and accused the Statesville Police of harassment. In the months after police searched his home and vehicles, he told reporters he had trouble sleeping, holding down a job, and frequently visited the hospital for medicine to help calm his nerves. He claimed he and his wife were being railroaded by the police, who had no proof of their involvement in the abduction and murder.
Gloria Brooks told The Charlotte Observer that if she though Roger was capable of what happened to Cora, she wouldn’t be married to him. His mother said her son, who’d never had more than a speeding ticket, was innocent, and she had spent more than $6,000 to help him pay for court costs and attorney’s fees.
Brooks Found Guilty of Other Crimes
A jury found him guilty of the indecent liberties charge and he served two years in prison from 1993 to 1995. From what I can tell, Gloria’s children were eventually returned to their mother’s custody. Roger Lee Brooks was never officially charged in Cora Lee Hamby’s murder, and the case eventually went cold. Roger Brooks died of a heart attack in 2000.
A year after Cora’s death, the Statesville Police Chief Bob Warshaw said the case was still actively being investigated although the task force initially formed after Cora was found deceased had been disbanded. He said they believed from the very beginning that Cora’s case was an isolated incident but still urged parents to always be mindful of the whereabouts of their children.
One of the things that struck me most about Cora’s story was hearing how the Statesville community enveloped her family and took care of them any way they could after her death. Cora’s fifth grade teacher hand-delivered school portraits of Cora to her family. She wore a pink ribbon in her hair that day and had been proud of it. Delmar Studio, which had taken the photo, sent extra photographs as well as negatives to Cora’s parents.
The two elementary schools Cora had attended, Monticello and Avery Sherill, purchased a bronze marker for Cora’s grave. The Monticello PTA bought a set of World Book Encyclopedias for the school and dedicated the set in Cora’s memory. A teacher took Cora’s sister shopping for school clothes at the start of the next school year.
After reading about Cora’s disappearance, murder, and the subsequent investigation, I have a lot of questions, as I’m sure you do. It’s hard to find any information about Cora’s case after the late 1990s. It doesn’t look like it’s actively listed as a cold case with the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office. I only learned Roger Brooks had died after reading a post by a user named AbandonedNC on Websleuths.com. This user also posted an undated photo of then Statesville police Lt. Mike Grant at Cora’s grave that was featured Statesville Record and Landmark. In the caption of the photo, Lt. Grant said, “We know who did it. We just didn’t have the evidence.”
Here are a few of my questions:
Was there someone in Cora’s neighborhood that had been grooming or trying to get close to the 10-year-old? Would this explain why she had been having trouble sleeping and seeking comfort from her parents in the months before her abduction and murder? Her mother did say she was an outgoing and friendly child, and a perpetrator could have taken advantage of that.
Had Cora crossed paths with Roger Brooks, his then girlfriend and her children since they lived in the same neighborhood?
Who were the three people in the car witnesses saw in the Food Lion parking lot and did Cora get in the car with them? The description of the passengers does not match the photos I’ve been of Roger and Gloria Brooks.
When investigators learned Roger had died in 2000, did they unofficially close the investigation because they assumed the person responsible was deceased?
Was Roger Brooks, as he claimed to the local media, railroaded for this crime? I’m very interested in how Roger’s stepchildren were interrogated during the investigation. Were the police assisted by any child psychologists? Were there any leading questions offered up to the children, who were only 6 and 9 years old at the time? The statements police said they made that were shared in the search warrants seemed very odd to me.
Were there ever any other suspects in Cora’s murder, other than Roger Brooks? I have yet to learn about any, other than the three people witnessed in the Food Lion parking lot talking to Cora.
If anyone related to the investigation of Cora Hamby’s murder would like to speak on the record, or if any of her friends and family members have any memories of that time period and the subsequent investigation, you can reach out to me through my website at missinginthecarolinas.com.
Show Sources:
https://websleuths.com/threads/cora-lee-hamby-10-statesville-may-25th-1989.709557
Cora Hamby obituary
https://www.newspapers.com/image/992106193
Statesville Record and Landmark
Officials Suspect Abduction
May 28, 1989
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Statesville Record and Landmark
Probe Begins in Girl’s Death
May 29, 1989
Page 1
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Statesville Record and Landmark
May 31, 1989
Task Force Checking Leads in Girl’s Death
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The High Point Enterprise
May 31, 1989
Officers Say Girl’s Death a Criminal Act
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The Charlotte Observer
June 20, 1989
Asphyxiation Is Blamed in Cora Hamby’s Death
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The Charlotte Observer
June 28, 1989
SBI Runs Tests in Cora Hamby Case
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The Statesville Record and Landmark
June 29, 1989
Hamby Reward Aided By $4,306
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The Charlotte Observer
July 19, 1989
Autopsy Says Cora Hamby Was Choked
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Statesville Record and Landmark
July 25, 1989
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Statesville Record and Landmark
August 27, 1989
Warsaw: Investigation Focus Now on Analysis
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Statesville Record and Landmark
September 24, 1989
Cora Hamby’s Parents Talk About Her Life
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The Charlotte Observer
October 10, 1989
Children’s Custody Undecided
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The Charlotte Observer
October 17, 1989
Mother Awaits Word in Iredell Custody Hearings
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Statesville Record and Landmark
November 10, 1989
Brooks is Held in Felony Case
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The Charlotte Observer
November 11, 1989
Man in Sex Offense Case Released
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The Charlotte Observer
November 15, 1989
Sleepless Suspect: There’s Not One Bit of Proof
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Statesville Record and Landmark
May 20, 1990
Youngster’s Death Haunts Community
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The Charlotte Observer
January 10, 1990
Evidence Supports Trial on Charge of Indecent Liberties
