Connie Graham remains jailed without bond as prosecutors prepare to present evidence in the 18-year-old’s presumed death.

LUMBERTON, N.C. — A probable cause hearing has been postponed until Aug. 7 for a former Robeson County sheriff’s deputy accused of killing her 18-year-old stepdaughter in 2015 and conspiring with two sons to destroy evidence connected to the young woman’s disappearance.

The delay is the latest development in the prosecution of Connie Graham, 65, who was arrested June 25 and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of felony conspiracy and altering, stealing or destroying criminal evidence. Her stepdaughter, Sara Nicole Graham, disappeared more than 11 years before the arrests. Investigators have not recovered her remains or publicly described the evidence they believe proves how she died. Connie Graham has not been convicted, and the allegations against her and her sons have not been tested at trial.

A judge granted the state’s request to move the hearing from July 17 after prosecutors said the lead investigator, Robeson County sheriff’s Detective Brent Oxendine, was on approved leave and unavailable to testify. The prosecution described Oxendine as a material witness with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. Prosecutors also said a felony investigative report had not yet been submitted to the district attorney’s office. Such reports and most other investigative records generally remain confidential while a North Carolina criminal case is active.

Connie Graham’s attorney, Luther Johnson Britt III, has said he questions whether the state has enough evidence to support the charges. He has indicated that he plans to seek access to sealed records, including affidavits used to obtain search warrants. Those documents could provide the first detailed public account of what investigators learned during the years between Sara Graham’s disappearance and the arrests. Authorities have said only that the case remained active and that they cannot release every fact while the investigation and court proceedings continue.

The defense also sought a bond for Connie Graham, who has been held without bond since her arrest. A judge rejected that request, although the matter could be raised again at the rescheduled hearing. Britt told the court that Graham has heart and lung problems requiring treatment. He has argued that her law enforcement background and family ties show that she is not a flight risk or a danger to the community. A judge previously declined to release her after a July 2 bond hearing.

Connie Graham’s sons, Bobby Matthew McClellan and Luke Locklear, were arrested in the same investigation. Each was charged with felony conspiracy and altering, stealing or destroying criminal evidence. McClellan also faces an accessory-after-the-fact charge. Both men received secured bonds of $1 million. Their requests for lower bonds were also denied. Court records cited by local news organizations allege that the sons participated in efforts to remove or destroy evidence, but neither man has been convicted.

Arrest warrants allege that Connie Graham and Locklear conspired to destroy a bed, clothing and flooring from a home because the items could have been evidence in the case. A separate allegation says Connie Graham conspired with McClellan to dispose of human remains. McClellan is also accused of knowing about his mother’s alleged crimes, helping her avoid justice and disposing of evidence. Locklear is accused of assisting with the burning of evidence. Officials have not publicly identified where the remains were allegedly taken or what physical evidence supports the warrant claims.

Sara Graham was last seen on the morning of Feb. 4, 2015, at the Fairmont-area home where she lived with her father and stepmother. Authorities said she was expected to drive to her job at a Walmart in Pembroke and was believed to have left at about 6:30 a.m. She never arrived for work. Her white van was discovered at about 12:15 p.m. in a field along East McDonald Road, north of Fairmont. Investigators later said they found no evidence that Sara drove the van to that location herself.

The disappearance prompted searches, interviews and public appeals involving the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. Agents and deputies returned to the family’s property in 2023 after receiving new information. At the time, Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said investigators believed someone close to Sara was withholding information. Officials did not say what was recovered during that search, and no arrest followed immediately. The inquiry continued as a missing-person case for three more years.

A Robeson County Superior Court judge legally declared Sara dead on June 1, acting on a petition filed on behalf of her biological mother, Catherine Armenta. North Carolina law permits a court to presume that a person is dead after the person has been absent and unheard from continuously for at least seven years. The civil ruling did not determine who was responsible for Sara’s death, but Wilkins said it allowed investigators to expand the case formally from a missing-person investigation to a homicide investigation.

The arrests followed 24 days later. Sheriff’s deputies, FBI agents and members of the U.S. Marshals Service took Connie Graham, McClellan and Locklear into custody at about 9:30 a.m. June 25. Wilkins said investigators had worked behind the scenes since Sara vanished and that the criminal charges did not mark the end of their work. He said the department’s goal still included finding Sara and determining the full account of what happened to her.

After the arrests, the sheriff said his office received multiple new tips. He emphasized that an investigation does not end when suspects are taken into custody and said officials believed “there is much more to be told.” Authorities have not said whether any of those tips produced new searches or evidence. The FBI continues to seek information that could lead investigators to Sara’s remains and has publicized a reward for useful information.

Armenta has said the years since her daughter disappeared have been deeply painful for Sara’s mother and siblings. Through her attorney, Carlton Mansfield, she said the family thinks about Sara every day and continues to want answers about where she was taken. Mansfield has said the legal-death petition was emotionally difficult but necessary after more than a decade without confirmed contact. The petition was filed near the 11th anniversary of Sara’s disappearance and approved several months later.

Sara was a member of the Lumbee Tribe and had been raised by her mother in Texas before moving to Robeson County after high school. At the time of her disappearance, she had short dark brown hair, wore glasses and braces, and was described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and about 160 pounds. Those identifying details remained part of public missing-person notices for years as authorities asked anyone who had seen her or knew about the abandoned van to contact investigators.

Connie Graham worked for the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office when Sara disappeared. She was dismissed from the department soon afterward, although the sheriff at the time declined to say whether her firing was connected to the case. Sara’s father, Hubert Graham, was also a sheriff’s deputy at the time and later became chief of the Rowland Police Department. Authorities have not accused him of involvement, and he has not been charged in connection with his daughter’s disappearance or presumed death.

The Aug. 7 hearing is expected to address whether the state has established probable cause for the charges to continue and could include another request concerning Connie Graham’s bond. It may also provide a clearer view of the evidence, although some records could remain sealed. Until then, Connie Graham remains held without bond, McClellan and Locklear remain subject to their $1 million bonds, and the search for Sara’s remains continues.

Author note: Last updated July 23, 2026.