Cynthia Malloy still cannot believe her 17-year-old son strangled his ex-girlfriend, then dumped her body into a river last April.
"Who is this? This is not my child," she said Tuesday. "He's never been in a fight, he's never been a bully, never been out there robbing and stealing."
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Je'Michael Malloy told authorities he strangled 15-year-old Danielle Locklear to death before he and his friend, Dominic Lock, 18, tied her body to cinderblocks and dumped her in the South River near the Cumberland-Sampson county line.
Malloy said the killing hit very close to home because the Malloys and Locklears are related.
"It is a great pain because I know every day that I wake up in the morning and I'm faced with what has happened," she said. "I know the nightmare goes right up the street a mile away, and then a few more miles to Hope Mills to Danielle's grandmother and grandfather."
Malloy has reached out to apologize to some of the family members, but said closure is only going to come one way.
"Their hearts have been ripped out if their chest, as well as mine, without any anesthesia," she said. “It’s not going to get better until it gets to the end. Until he goes to serve his time."
Malloy is charged with second-degree murder in Locklear’s death. A trial date for Malloy has not been set for Malloy, who remains in the Cumberland County Detention Center.
Lock was released after posting a $100,000 bond.