North Carolina

30,101 murders reported in North Carolina from 1976 to 2025; police reports named an offender in about 80%. Explore the statistics →

Cases that span several states show only their locations in North Carolina. Open on the big map

Cases

Jeffrey MacDonald
1970 · Fort Bragg, North Carolina
SingleConvicted3 victims
Early on February 17, 1970, Colette MacDonald, who was pregnant, and her daughters Kimberley, 5, and Kristen, 2, were killed in the family's apartment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Charleston church shooting
2015 · Charleston, South Carolina
MassConvicted9 victims
On the evening of June 17, 2015, a 21-year-old white supremacist, Dylann Roof, joined a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and then opened fire, killing nine Black…
Gary Hilton
2007–2008 · North Georgia, western North Carolina and the Florida Panhandle
SerialPleaded guilty4 victims
On New Year's Day 2008, Meredith Emerson, 24, went hiking with her dog on Blood Mountain in north Georgia and was abducted by Gary Hilton, a drifter then 61.
Michael Peterson
2001 · Durham, North Carolina
SinglePleaded guilty1 victim
Kathleen Peterson, 48, a Nortel executive, was found dead at the foot of a staircase in her Durham home on December 9, 2001.
Velma Barfield
1974–1978 · Robeson and Cumberland counties, North Carolina
SerialExecuted5 victims
Velma Barfield poisoned people close to her with arsenic in southeastern North Carolina in the 1970s, including her mother, elderly people she was caring for in Lumberton, and her boyfriend, Stuart Taylor.