Hoke County Murders Triple in 2024
Good riddance 2024, a year in which the area’s murder rate jumped, and the county commission increased the jeopardy by ignoring a volunteer fireman's warning about life-threatening water pressure.
Annual crime figures posted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI)—sorted by county—indicate there were two murders in Hoke County during 2023. The number includes the area within Raeford city limits. It was low for a region the SBI rates as having one of the state’s highest violent crime rates.
News reports during 2024, however, indicate the total number of murders in Hoke County this year currently stands at least at six—and a few angry hours remain. Here are the incidents we can confirm and links to the stories from reputable news outlets.
December—Axe attack on two victims leaves one dead (WRAL report here)
October—The Nov. 27 issue of the News-Journal reported the Sheriff’s Office recovered an unidentified woman’s decomposing body on Phillipi Church Road (The case remains open and if confirmed as another Hoke County murder it would bring the total up to six for the year.)
August—Shooting leaves one dead (WRAL news report here)
June—Shooting with victim pronounced dead at the scene
March—Domestic violence incident with one victim dead
March—Two shot and one pronounced dead at the hospital
January—Shooting victim dies from the injury while hospitalized
The trend has many residents concerned. It also, no doubt, stresses the limited resources and officers at the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office.
Another Safety Concern
In August 2024 volunteer firefighter and U.S. military veteran Ken Gregory explained to the Hoke County Commission that chronically low water pressure, steadily dropping as unbridled development outpaces infrastructure, was endangering lives and property. Hoke County Commission Chairman James A. Leach’s outburst that, “You have no relationship with the truth at all” stopped the first responder—a man with years of dedicated experience as a first responder—mid-sentence. The subject was dropped unceremoniously during the commission meeting.
Elected officials ignored the warning. Then on Nov. 30 multiple fire stations responded to a house in Hoke County. One person was treated for smoke inhalation at a nearby hospital afterward, and the family home was deemed a complete loss. According to the Dec. 4 News-Journal, “The first responders were able to shuttle water in to fight the fire, after encountering lower water pressure at the nearby fire hydrant.”
You may not agree with everything, or anything, I’ve written this year, but that’s the awesome thing about our democracy. We can still be—and should be—neighbors, friends and respectful to one another, regardless of our race, age, sex, appearance, political affiliation or any other worthless label some people apply here on earth.
I wish you and your loved ones the kind of happy and healthy 2025 we all so richly deserve and sincerely look forward to the day I have the honor of meeting each of you.
Editor’s Note: Hat tip to reader Debbie Malone, who correctly noticed our story originally omitted the Hoke County murder in June.