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The Unsolved Murder of Erika Lavon McNatt: A Triple Shooting’s Lingering Mystery
In the predawn hours of June 21, 2020, a violent outburst shattered the rural stillness of Gatlin Farm Road in Hoke County, North Carolina, leaving one woman dead and two men wounded. Erika Lavon McNatt, a 30-year-old mother and beloved family member, was shot at 364 Gatlin Farm Road, a quiet stretch just four miles northeast of Raeford. Rushed to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, she succumbed to her injuries, while Anthony Rayshon McLean and Jadelreontae Jamarquis Lamont Hobson, also shot in the chaos, survived after treatment at First Health Hoke. Nearly five years later, as of March 16, 2025, no suspects have been identified, and the case remains a stubborn enigma on the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office Unsolved Cases list—a triple shooting that stole a life and left a community grasping for answers.
A Father’s Day Marred by Violence
The incident unfolded in the early morning of Father’s Day, a time typically reserved for celebration. At 3:54 a.m., Hoke County deputies responded to a shooting call at the Gatlin Farm Road address, arriving to a scene of panic and bloodshed. Erika, Anthony, and Jadelreontae—known as “Jade” to some—were found with gunshot wounds, their fates diverging in the hours that followed. EMS transported Erika to Cape Fear Valley, roughly 20 miles away, where despite efforts, she was pronounced dead. Meanwhile, Anthony and Jade, dropped off at First Health Hoke by unknown persons at separate times, received treatment for injuries that spared their lives.
Details of the night are sparse, shrouded by the reticence of witnesses and the rural isolation of the location. Gatlin Farm Road, a winding lane flanked by fields and scattered homes, offered little in the way of immediate clues—no security cameras, no bustling neighbors to recount the chaos. What’s known is that multiple shots were fired, suggesting either a sudden eruption of violence or a targeted attack. For Erika, a single mother to a young daughter, it was a tragic end to a life defined by resilience and love.
A Woman Remembered
Erika Lavon McNatt was more than a statistic in Hoke County’s crime ledger. At 30, she was a vibrant presence—a mother, sister, and friend whose loss reverberated through her tight-knit family. “She was a sweet person, always smiling,” a relative told The Fayetteville Observer in a 2020 obituary tribute, though public details of her life remain limited. Her daughter, then just a child, became the heart of her legacy, a little girl left to grow up without her mom. Erika’s death on Father’s Day added a cruel irony, stripping her child of a parent on a day meant to honor familial bonds.
The Sheriff’s Office has kept her personal story minimal, focusing instead on the call for justice. Yet, her name—etched on the Unsolved Cases page—carries the weight of a life cut short, a reminder of the human cost behind the headlines.
An Investigation Stalled
The Hoke County Sheriff’s Office, under then-Sheriff Hubert Peterkin, launched a probe with urgency, but the case quickly hit familiar hurdles. Three victims, yet no clear narrative emerged. Anthony and Jade, both in their 20s, survived—Anthony with wounds serious enough to require immediate care, Jade dropped off later under mysterious circumstances—but neither their accounts nor those of potential witnesses have publicly pointed to a suspect. “Please contact the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office at (910)875-5111 if you have any information,” the Unsolved Cases listing pleads, a refrain echoed in every update since.
The rural setting complicated matters. Gatlin Farm Road, with its sparse population and lack of surveillance, offered no easy leads. Evidence—perhaps shell casings, blood spatter, or tire tracks—was collected and sent to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) lab, but no breakthroughs have been announced. The involvement of two drop-offs at First Health Hoke suggests others were present, yet their identities and roles remain shadows. “Unknown persons” delivered the injured men, then vanished, leaving deputies to wonder: Were they accomplices, bystanders, or the shooters themselves?
In 2023, the Sheriff’s Office established its Unsolved Homicides Division, a renewed push under Sheriff Roderick Virgil to tackle cases like Erika’s. Detectives have reexamined evidence, hoping modern forensics—DNA, ballistics—might unlock the past, but the silence of those who know persists. A tip line (910-878-1100) offers anonymity, yet the case remains as cold as the June morning it began.
Theories in the Dark
Speculation fills the void left by scant facts. Was this a domestic dispute spiraling out of control, a drug deal gone wrong, or a random act of violence? The presence of three victims suggests either multiple shooters or a single gunman with intent, but the lack of other injuries in a reportedly occupied area hints at precision—or luck. Hoke County, though rural, sits near Fayetteville, a hub where crime can spill over; could this have been an outsider’s doing?
The separate drop-offs of Anthony and Jade raise eyebrows. Did factions split after the shooting, each rushing their wounded to safety? Or did a single party abandon them to avoid scrutiny? Peterkin, before his 2022 passing, often spoke of community silence as a barrier—“People change their story,” he’d said of another case—and Erika’s murder fits that mold. Fear, loyalty, or distrust may seal lips, a pattern seen in Hoke’s unsolved roster, from Brittany Locklear in 1998 to Deandre Ricketts in 2013.
A Mother’s Legacy, A Call Unheeded
For Erika’s family, the pain is a daily companion. Her daughter, now nearing her teens, grows up with memories shaped by absence, her mother’s smile a fading echo. The $20,000 reward offered in similar Hoke cases might extend here, though it’s unconfirmed—yet even that sum hasn’t loosened tongues. “Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem,” the Sheriff’s Office urges, a plea that falls on a community either unwilling or unable to respond.
Gatlin Farm Road remains a quiet artery, its fields indifferent to the violence they once framed. For true crime readers, Erika’s story is a stark riddle: three shot, one dead, no answers. Was it a grudge, a robbery, or a moment of madness? The two survivors know something—perhaps everything—but their silence, intentional or coerced, keeps the truth buried.
As of March 16, 2025, Erika Lavon McNatt’s murder endures as a cold case, a file in the Unsolved Homicides Division’s marathon quest. The Sheriff’s Office persists, but without a witness breaking rank or a forensic miracle, her killer walks free—a shadow from that Father’s Day dawn, uncaught and unrepentant.