Death penalty sought in slaying of pregnant Southern Lee High student

Moore County prosecutors said Tuesday that they plan to seek the death penalty against a Rockingham teen charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend.

Posted 5:31 p.m. Jul 31, 2018 — Updated 10:12 p.m. Jul 31, 2018

Gilbert Baez

, WRAL reporter, & Matthew Burns, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor

CARTHAGE, N.C. — Moore County prosecutors said Tuesday that they plan to seek the death penalty against a Rockingham teen charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend.

Brian Lovon Little, 18, is charged with first-degree murder and murder of an unborn child in the April 8 shooting death of 18-year-old Aiyonna Clarice Barrett.

Barrett, who family members said was pregnant with Little's child, was found shot to death inside a car on a dirt road near South Gaines Street in Southern Pines.

Barrett's mother, Ebony Gomez, said Little didn't want the baby, so he shot Barrett in the back of the head.

Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger said there are "multiple aggravating factors" in the case that support her pursuit of the death penalty.

Gomez said seeing Little in court Tuesday brought back the hurt she felt after her daughter's death.

"I had to see my grandchild for the first time in a casket. Nobody should have to deal with that," Gomez said. "You plan birthday parties for your grandchildren and your children. You don't plan for, 'What tombstone am I going to get?'"

Barrett previously lived in Rockingham but transferred to Southern Lee High School in Sanford to finish her senior year. Gomez said she went to the school's graduation ceremony and saw an empty chair where Barrett would have sat.

Gomez said she can't sleep and has lost 30 pounds since her daughter was killed. She wore a T-shirt with Barrett's picture on it in court Tuesday so she could look Little in the eye.

"When he saw me, it was almost like he was shocked," she said. "[There was] shame at the same time, and he put his head down – but he would still look."

Before his arrest, Gomez said, Little went to her home and tried to comfort her.

"I want you to have to be able to look me in my face again," she said, describing her thoughts at seeing Little. "I want you to see the pain and the hurt that you have caused me, not just me, but family period."

While Gomez supports the decision to seek the death penalty, she said she doesn't think executing Little will bring her closure.

"As the Bible says, an eye for an eye, but it will never replace my baby," she said.

Little remains in the Moore County jail without bond.

The last time a Moore County jury sent a man to death row was 2007. Mario Phillips was convicted of murder in a quadruple homicide near Carthage in December 2003. Four people were stabbed and shot during a robbery, and a teenager who survived identified Phillips as the gunman.

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