Family struggles with loss of Robeson woman killed weeks after son's death

Modies Jones said when her granddaughter Evelina Dial came over Friday evening, she was excited about planning for an upcoming event.

“She was telling how she was going to come back and decorate the place up for when my birthday comes up. She said ‘now, we’re going to have a lot of fun because you’re going to be 94 years old’,” Jones said.

Friday was the last time Jones would see or talk to the granddaughter she adopted and raised as her own.

“It breaks my heart to think about [how] she had to go through all [of] what she went through,” Jones said.

Robeson County authorities said the 23-year-old mother was found in a wooded area Sunday behind a home on Nina Road in Maxton. Timothy Locklear, 27, was charged with murder, attempted first-degree rape, burning personal property and altering and destroying evidence.

Authorities said that Dial and Locklear knew each other, but did not release any further details.

“I was shocked and hurt. She’s the mother of my children,” said Manal Abdelaziz.

Abdelaziz has custody of the children he shares with Dial. He said losing one of their sons was bad enough, but now he has to explain to his remaining three young children that their mother isn’t coming back either.

“I told [my daughter], I said ‘baby, your mommy is with God’,” Abdelaziz said.

Locklear was being held without bond at the Robeson County jail.