By Hank Lee for WCNC
CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — Brookford Police Chief Willie Armstrong has been reinstated despite facing felony charges, officials say.
The chief was indicted on charges in connection with the decades-old Dee Dee Dawkins case. According to a search warrant, a person of interest in the case claims Armstrong purposely left his phone in their house to record them. Armstrong denies that claim, saying it was an accident.
Brookford is a town of about 400 people in Catawba County, located just south of Hickory.
“All I was trying to do was get answers for a family and a 13-year-old child that matters,” Armstrong told WCNC Charlotte’s Tradesha Woodard in an interview conducted before an indictment was handed down earlier this month.
Dawkins was lost to violence in 1992. Her case faded from headlines but never from the hearts of those who loved her.
“She was raped and murdered and thrown into a river like she was a piece of trash,” Kessiah Young, who is one of Dawkins’ cousins, said. “No one ever figured out what happened, it’s trauma our family has had to go through for 33 years.”
Armstrong reopened the case in August 2023, aiming to provide justice, something he says is long overdue.