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The Unsolved Murder of Tera Tracy: A Christmas Eve Tragedy
In the early morning hours of December 24, 1999, a festive season turned into a nightmare at a Pantry convenience store on Castle Hayne Road in New Hanover County, North Carolina. Tera Tracy, a 25-year-old mother of four, was working the overnight shift to earn extra money for Christmas presents when she was brutally beaten and stabbed to death in what investigators believe was a robbery gone horribly wrong. Found by a bread delivery man around 4:00 a.m., Tera’s bloodied body lay behind the counter, a stark contrast to the holiday cheer she’d embodied just hours earlier. As of March 16, 2025, nearly 25 years later, no one has been charged, and her case remains a haunting fixture on the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Unsolved Homicides list—a chilling reminder of a killer who slipped away into the night.
A Mother’s Last Shift
Tera Tracy was a woman who wore many hats: wife to Paul Tracy, mother to four young children, and a friend whose infectious love for Christmas was known to all. “She always put her Christmas tree up in October,” her aunt Ethel Greimann told WWAYTV3 in 2017, recalling how Tera’s enthusiasm for the season set her apart. Living just across Holly Shelter Road from The Pantry at 5800 Castle Hayne Road—a site now occupied by a BP gas station—Tera took the third-shift job so she could care for her kids during the day while Paul worked. It was a practical arrangement for a family determined to make ends meet, especially around the holidays.
That Christmas Eve, Tera had celebrated her son Paul’s seventh birthday before heading to work, a detail that underscores her devotion to her children. A family friend saw her alive and well at the store around 3:15 a.m., chatting behind the counter. But by 4:20 a.m., when the bread delivery man arrived, the scene had turned gruesome. Tera lay unconscious, the cash register open and emptied on the floor, her body bearing the marks of a savage attack—beaten with a blunt object and stabbed multiple times with a serrated knife. She was rushed to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, never making it home to see her children open their gifts.
A Fierce Fight and a Cold Trail
The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office responded swiftly, piecing together a robbery that spiraled into murder. Detective Justin Varella, reflecting on the case in 2017, noted Tera’s tenacity: “She definitely defended herself. She had defensive wounds where more than likely she had a shot on the killer as well.” Her struggle was evident—blood and signs of a fight marked the store—but the killer left little behind to identify them. “She was a fighter,” Varella said, a sentiment echoed by her family, who described her as a hard worker who always put her children first.
In 1999, forensic technology was limited, and The Pantry lacked security cameras—a decision relatives criticized as a fatal oversight for a lone night clerk. Investigators collected what they could—blood, possible fingerprints, the murder weapon’s imprint—but no clear suspect emerged. The cash register’s theft suggested robbery as the motive, yet the ferocity of the attack hinted at something more personal or unhinged. “The bread delivery man walked into the store only to find Tera’s body and there was a lot of blood,” Varella told WWAYTV3, underscoring the violence that ended her life.
The Sheriff’s Office pursued leads tirelessly in those early days. The Pantry offered a $30,000 reward—still active today—while Crime Stoppers added $5,000, but the tips dried up. “Just one person with a phone call could help solve this case,” Sergeant John Leonard pleaded in a 2007 WECT interview. Despite the initial flurry, the investigation stalled, joining the ranks of New Hanover County’s cold cases, a binder-heavy burden for detectives over the decades.
A Family’s Endless Wait
Tera’s death shattered her family. Paul and their four children—aged just babies to seven years old—moved away from their Castle Hayne home shortly after, unable to bear its proximity to the crime scene. “I’m leaving this house. I can’t stay here,” Paul told a reporter in 1999, his voice raw with grief. Ethel Greimann, Tera’s aunt, became a relentless advocate, calling the Sheriff’s Office nearly daily for eight years, as noted in a 2008 StarNews article. “I’ve never gave up on Tera,” she said, her hope unwavering even as her sister Janice, Tera’s mother, battled stage-four lung cancer in 2017, yearning for closure before her own time ran out.
“This is a tough time of year for her mom,” Ethel told WWAYTV3 in 2017, the Christmas season now a bitter milestone. “It’s been an absolute nightmare.” The family’s faith in justice persists, bolstered by moments of progress—like Ethel’s belief in 2008 that they were “closer than we’ve ever been” to identifying a person of interest. Yet, the identity of that figure, if it exists, remains locked away, a secret the Sheriff’s Office guards to protect the case.
A Fresh Look in a Cold Case
Over the years, Tera’s case has seen renewed attention. In 2024, Sergeant Nick Lee and Detective Steve Blissett of the Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit took up the files—several binders thick—determined to unravel the past. “This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint,” Lee told WECT in a November 2024 feature, emphasizing their meticulous approach: reviewing every interview, every scrap of evidence, searching for overlooked threads. Blissett, a patrol deputy in 1999 who frequented The Pantry on his rounds, brings a personal connection to the effort, a quiet resolve to solve a case that hit close to home.
Advances in forensic science offer hope—DNA retesting, blood spatter analysis—but the key may lie with the public. “Someone out there does know something,” Ethel said in 2007, a plea echoed by detectives across decades. The Sheriff’s Office Detective Division (910-798-4260) and Crime Stoppers (910-798-4280) still seek tips, the combined $35,000 reward a beacon for anyone willing to break the silence.
A Christmas Shadow
Tera Tracy’s murder is a poignant chapter in North Carolina’s true crime saga—a young mother’s life stolen on a night meant for joy, her killer vanishing into the holiday haze. The Pantry is gone, replaced by a gas station; her home now a CVS pharmacy. Yet, her story endures, a testament to her fight and her family’s resilience. Was it a robbery turned deadly, or a planned act cloaked as theft? Who wielded that serrated knife, and why?
As of March 16, 2025, Tera’s case remains unsolved, a wound unhealed for her children—now adults—and a community that remembers her name. For true crime readers, it’s a call to ponder the shadows of Christmas Eve 1999: a fighter’s last stand, a family’s unending quest, and a killer who walked away. Until that phone call comes, Tera Tracy’s legacy is one of love, loss, and a justice yet to be served.