Belinda Hall
'I swear to God on everything that I love that this is what I believe happened.'
Belinda is easily one of the most important people in this mystery.
This woman makes just crazy and insane life decisions, but when you spend time with her she is a nice gal to be around.
Part of my affinity to Belinda comes from the fact that in the very first hours of Kent’s disappearance, Belinda at least had the sense and decency to understand that this was a very serious matter and she told the cops what we believe to be the truth. She did this even though it meant that she had to come clean with some embarrassing and illegal conduct of her own.
No doubt about it, it was Belinda’s honesty that blew Charlotte Royal’s web of lies to smithereens.
So, forgive me if I have mixed feelings for Belinda. I am very disappointed in her for using a mentally retarded man's money for her drug sales, but I am also grateful to her for her honesty at a time when the truth really needed to be told.
I first met Belinda in April of 2007 in a house of prostitution in Massey Hill near uptown Fayetteville.
I had come to Fayetteville to be one of many volunteers in a search organized by Joan Petruski, who runs the Kristen Foundation out of Charlotte, NC. Kristen, is Kristen Modafferi, a beautiful young college co-ed from Charlotte who vanished on June 23rd. 1997 while taking summer classes in the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a matter of fact, I had moved to California to look for Kristen and she has sadly I never been found. It was through Kristen and the Modafferi family that I eventually met the Jacobs and moving to Hope Mills to look for Kent. More to the point, by far, the best thing I have ever done, or will ever do in my life, was to make the decision to go look for Kristen.
Anyway – my search effort for Kent in 2007 was greeted with a full blown rainstorm. I remember looking through the woods and the rain was just pouring. It was an exact metaphor – I thought to myself. We did not find anything that day but while I was here, I for the first time began learning the names of the key people: Harold Clark, Kim and Donnie Godwin, Roger Locklear, Pierre Scurlock, Robert Arnold, Cliff Jones and some others. I was told that meeting up with Belinda might be a good use of my time so I set out to look for her.
My friends, Amy Smith, LaDonna Meredith and I began passing flyers out in the Colonial Heights neighborhood and we eventually made our way to Hancock Street to where Belinda was living with her mom, Betty.
Betty was nice enough but she told us that Belinda no longer lived there and beyond that she just more or less said ‘I don’t know’ to every question we asked of her in our effort to find her daughter.
It was Jessica Kiser, granddaughter of Cliff Jones who suggested that I look in Massey Hill because Belinda was walking the streets over there. It turns out that Jessica was right because that is where I found her.
I drove over to Massey Hill, got out of my car and just started walking around. Being a new face in that neighborhood sure had people peering out from their curtains. I saw several people looking at me just checking me out.
I saw some black guys on a porch and let them know I wanted a woman and I heard that there was a nice looking tall Indian woman that might be available.
The black guy gave me the once over and then was rather polite to me. He told me to wait a few minutes and he would come back outside.
After a few minutes he came out and said that he got her on the phone and that she would be at the house in a few minutes. He then invited me inside and led me to a back bedroom.
I know what you are thinking. I know what everyone is thinking. “Dennis, are you crazy?” I will admit to feeling a little on edge but for the most part I felt safe enough to proceed. Still though, my antenna was way up at this point.
Also – you have to remember that not only was a human being killed, his body was laying in some unmarked grave, or far worse, and the Jacobs family are close friends of mine.
Being where I was at that specific moment in my life was important and I just always knew in my heart that Kent was worth it.
So this guy leads me to the back bedroom and the house is a complete mess. There is a man sleeping in the bed but I guess money was more important so he wakes the guy up and kicks him out of the room.
“She’ll be right here, Dennis”, the guy says to me and he closes the door. I am now alone in this back bedroom in some crack house in the prostitution area of Massey Hill near uptown Fayetteville.” I will admit, part of me was saying, “Geez, what have I gotten myself in to”.
So I am alone in this room for about ten minutes when all of a sudden I hear a woman’s voice and then the door opens. I remember being relieved that it wasn’t a few thugs with weapons about to rob me. I was also a bit surprised because I just assumed that Belinda would look like some skanky skull eyed street walker – but she wasn’t. She was actually a real normal and somewhat pretty very tall Indian woman with long dark brown hair.
She very politely says hello and sits down next to me. I am now thinking to myself, “Man, I hope this works”. I lean over and whisper to her, “Hi Belinda, my name is Dennis but I am not here for a sex”. I am a friend of the Kent Jacobs family.”
Now, in this town, when you mention the name of Kent Jacobs, you usually get either of two responses: First, "oh, it is so sad what happened to that man. I hope the family finds him." Or, you get this: "Man, I have nothing to do with that, I don’t know nothing." I wasn’t sure which way Belinda was going to respond. I actually thought she might just start screaming and then all hell would break loose.
Then, to my surprise, just the opposite happened. Belinda leaned over and whispered right back to me: “Oh, OK, how can I help you?" She quickly followed that with, “No, no. Lets talk, but not here. Lets get out of here and go for a ride.”
She then led me out of the bedroom, back through the living room, past a bunch of guys sitting around watching TV not knowing what to think about me. We got out of the house and into my car. We ended up driving a few blocks and went through the “Cook Out” drive thru on Owen Drive near 301. We got our order and parked the car. For the next 30 minutes or so Belinda and I just got to know each other and this is what she told me:
The conversation took place in April of 2007 around 7:30pm. I am paraphrasing here but Charlotte told me the following:
Belinda admits to selling drugs to Charlotte Royal and that the money came from Kent.
“Charlotte Royal called my house saying that she wanted to buy ‘two for thirty’ but I told her that the drugs were in my mom’s car and she had taken the car to go to church out on old 301."
“When my mom returned from church I got the car and drove over to Charlotte and Donnie Godwin’s trailer.”
“When I pulled into the driveway, Charlotte came out to meet me and the window to my car was jammed so I opened the door and handed her two rocks and Charlotte gave me the money."
“I saw Kent standing in the doorway and we each called out to each other and said ‘hello’. Actually, Kent just waved and called out to me ‘Aw right’ like he always did”.
"I saw Donnie Godwin there as well and he was holding a cup in his hand."
"When I heard Kent was missing, the first thing that came to my mind was that Donnie and Charlotte broke that dope down and shot Kent up."
"I bet he Od’d right there in that trailer."
She then said to me, “I swear to God on everything I love that that is what I believe happened.”
As I said earlier, Belinda is important because initially, the crackhead Charlotte Royal was lying to police by saying that she had no dealings with Belinda that day. In our conversation, Belinda says:
"Charlotte lied to the cops when they first went down there. She told the cops "I never went to Belinda’s home and that Belinda never came to her house that day to buy drugs."
“I went in the police car to Charlotte’s house and confronted Charlotte with the police right there."
I told her, “Yes the fuck I did come down here and sell you all some dope. And Kent was still fucking standing in the door and he was still alive. I am not going to jail for something I didn’t do. I don’t give a fuck. Uh, uh."
She then said to me, “Donnie and Charlotte were on heroin real bad but I didn’t sell heroin. I just sold crack.”
I asked Charlotte, “Knowing what you know about Donnie and Charlotte the way you do, do you have any idea where they may have hid Kent’s body?”
“I have no fucking idea, she said. ‘If I did I would tell and not for no reward. I would tell just to keep them out of my face because they were blaming me for it.” I passed three lie detector tests”.
Belinda also said that she suspects Kent Od’d in Charlotte and Donnie’s trailer because soon after all of this happened, Charlotte moved out of that trailer and she had been living there a long time.
I then asked her about Pierre Scurlock because I had been hearing his name but Belinda told me that Pierre was her cousin but that he wasn’t there that day.
Two and a Half Years Later…
Shortly after moving to Hope Mills in 2009, I drove over to Hancock Street and was glad to see Belinda there. In 2007, it was quite an ordeal just to find her, in 2009, finding Belinda was the easiest thing in the world.
Once again, she was her same polite and patient self with me. This time she got into the car with me and we drove over to the exact spot where she traded rock cocaine for $20. We were in the driveway where Charlotte and Donnie lived and the last place Belinda says she saw Kent.
I have already told you that Belinda has been kind and patient with me and once again she told me in detail exactly what happened on March 10th, 2002. Her story was pretty much right down the line - exactly the same as it was back in 2007. There was, however, one thing that she said that did not match up.
And it was not a small point either.
In 2007, she said that Pierre Scurlock was her cousin but that he was not there that day.
In 2009 she told me that she was getting ready to take Pierre to the store when the phone rang and it was Charlotte calling because she wanted to buy more drugs.
So this time Belinda and Pierre (Scurlock) drove over to Charlotte’s trailer to sell her the rock cocaine.
This is really important because (1) it places another suspect, Scurlock, at the trailer that day and 2) that likely would have meant that Pierre knew Kent had money on him.
Pierre is on our radar because of Heather Thrash Monroe. Heather claims that she was at the trailer on Muscat Road when Pierre shot Kent to steal his money. Heather even was interviewed Feb 11th, 2008 on WTVD and had her face electronically disguised. On TV, she never mentioned Pierre, but in private conversations with myself, the Jacobs family and other people, she told us that Scurlock was the one who shot Kent.
Now – law enforcement knows all of this but they are certainly under no obligation to share with me what their feelings are. I am just sharing with you the information that is coming in to the Jacobs family and myself.
In any case, in 2007, Belinda says that Pierre wasn’t there and in October, 2009, she says she was getting ready to drive Pierre to the store when Charlotte called looking for cocaine, So…something is not adding up.
.Belinda’s final thoughts to me on this day was that her gut is telling her that Charlotte is lying about telling Kent to leave. At first I wanted to believe that but then I remembered that there were three other sightings of Kent that afternoon-early evening – so, for what it is worth, I think that Kent did in fact leave Charlotte’s trailer.
Something else happened. I just do not know what.
Belinda is easily one of the most important people in this mystery.
This woman makes just crazy and insane life decisions, but when you spend time with her she is a nice gal to be around.
Part of my affinity to Belinda comes from the fact that in the very first hours of Kent’s disappearance, Belinda at least had the sense and decency to understand that this was a very serious matter and she told the cops what we believe to be the truth. She did this even though it meant that she had to come clean with some embarrassing and illegal conduct of her own.
No doubt about it, it was Belinda’s honesty that blew Charlotte Royal’s web of lies to smithereens.
So, forgive me if I have mixed feelings for Belinda. I am very disappointed in her for using a mentally retarded man's money for her drug sales, but I am also grateful to her for her honesty at a time when the truth really needed to be told.
I first met Belinda in April of 2007 in a house of prostitution in Massey Hill near uptown Fayetteville.
I had come to Fayetteville to be one of many volunteers in a search organized by Joan Petruski, who runs the Kristen Foundation out of Charlotte, NC. Kristen, is Kristen Modafferi, a beautiful young college co-ed from Charlotte who vanished on June 23rd. 1997 while taking summer classes in the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a matter of fact, I had moved to California to look for Kristen and she has sadly I never been found. It was through Kristen and the Modafferi family that I eventually met the Jacobs and moving to Hope Mills to look for Kent. More to the point, by far, the best thing I have ever done, or will ever do in my life, was to make the decision to go look for Kristen.
Anyway – my search effort for Kent in 2007 was greeted with a full blown rainstorm. I remember looking through the woods and the rain was just pouring. It was an exact metaphor – I thought to myself. We did not find anything that day but while I was here, I for the first time began learning the names of the key people: Harold Clark, Kim and Donnie Godwin, Roger Locklear, Pierre Scurlock, Robert Arnold, Cliff Jones and some others. I was told that meeting up with Belinda might be a good use of my time so I set out to look for her.
My friends, Amy Smith, LaDonna Meredith and I began passing flyers out in the Colonial Heights neighborhood and we eventually made our way to Hancock Street to where Belinda was living with her mom, Betty.
Betty was nice enough but she told us that Belinda no longer lived there and beyond that she just more or less said ‘I don’t know’ to every question we asked of her in our effort to find her daughter.
It was Jessica Kiser, granddaughter of Cliff Jones who suggested that I look in Massey Hill because Belinda was walking the streets over there. It turns out that Jessica was right because that is where I found her.
I drove over to Massey Hill, got out of my car and just started walking around. Being a new face in that neighborhood sure had people peering out from their curtains. I saw several people looking at me just checking me out.
I saw some black guys on a porch and let them know I wanted a woman and I heard that there was a nice looking tall Indian woman that might be available.
The black guy gave me the once over and then was rather polite to me. He told me to wait a few minutes and he would come back outside.
After a few minutes he came out and said that he got her on the phone and that she would be at the house in a few minutes. He then invited me inside and led me to a back bedroom.
I know what you are thinking. I know what everyone is thinking. “Dennis, are you crazy?” I will admit to feeling a little on edge but for the most part I felt safe enough to proceed. Still though, my antenna was way up at this point.
Also – you have to remember that not only was a human being killed, his body was laying in some unmarked grave, or far worse, and the Jacobs family are close friends of mine.
Being where I was at that specific moment in my life was important and I just always knew in my heart that Kent was worth it.
So this guy leads me to the back bedroom and the house is a complete mess. There is a man sleeping in the bed but I guess money was more important so he wakes the guy up and kicks him out of the room.
“She’ll be right here, Dennis”, the guy says to me and he closes the door. I am now alone in this back bedroom in some crack house in the prostitution area of Massey Hill near uptown Fayetteville.” I will admit, part of me was saying, “Geez, what have I gotten myself in to”.
So I am alone in this room for about ten minutes when all of a sudden I hear a woman’s voice and then the door opens. I remember being relieved that it wasn’t a few thugs with weapons about to rob me. I was also a bit surprised because I just assumed that Belinda would look like some skanky skull eyed street walker – but she wasn’t. She was actually a real normal and somewhat pretty very tall Indian woman with long dark brown hair.
She very politely says hello and sits down next to me. I am now thinking to myself, “Man, I hope this works”. I lean over and whisper to her, “Hi Belinda, my name is Dennis but I am not here for a sex”. I am a friend of the Kent Jacobs family.”
Now, in this town, when you mention the name of Kent Jacobs, you usually get either of two responses: First, "oh, it is so sad what happened to that man. I hope the family finds him." Or, you get this: "Man, I have nothing to do with that, I don’t know nothing." I wasn’t sure which way Belinda was going to respond. I actually thought she might just start screaming and then all hell would break loose.
Then, to my surprise, just the opposite happened. Belinda leaned over and whispered right back to me: “Oh, OK, how can I help you?" She quickly followed that with, “No, no. Lets talk, but not here. Lets get out of here and go for a ride.”
She then led me out of the bedroom, back through the living room, past a bunch of guys sitting around watching TV not knowing what to think about me. We got out of the house and into my car. We ended up driving a few blocks and went through the “Cook Out” drive thru on Owen Drive near 301. We got our order and parked the car. For the next 30 minutes or so Belinda and I just got to know each other and this is what she told me:
The conversation took place in April of 2007 around 7:30pm. I am paraphrasing here but Charlotte told me the following:
Belinda admits to selling drugs to Charlotte Royal and that the money came from Kent.
“Charlotte Royal called my house saying that she wanted to buy ‘two for thirty’ but I told her that the drugs were in my mom’s car and she had taken the car to go to church out on old 301."
“When my mom returned from church I got the car and drove over to Charlotte and Donnie Godwin’s trailer.”
“When I pulled into the driveway, Charlotte came out to meet me and the window to my car was jammed so I opened the door and handed her two rocks and Charlotte gave me the money."
“I saw Kent standing in the doorway and we each called out to each other and said ‘hello’. Actually, Kent just waved and called out to me ‘Aw right’ like he always did”.
"I saw Donnie Godwin there as well and he was holding a cup in his hand."
"When I heard Kent was missing, the first thing that came to my mind was that Donnie and Charlotte broke that dope down and shot Kent up."
"I bet he Od’d right there in that trailer."
She then said to me, “I swear to God on everything I love that that is what I believe happened.”
As I said earlier, Belinda is important because initially, the crackhead Charlotte Royal was lying to police by saying that she had no dealings with Belinda that day. In our conversation, Belinda says:
"Charlotte lied to the cops when they first went down there. She told the cops "I never went to Belinda’s home and that Belinda never came to her house that day to buy drugs."
“I went in the police car to Charlotte’s house and confronted Charlotte with the police right there."
I told her, “Yes the fuck I did come down here and sell you all some dope. And Kent was still fucking standing in the door and he was still alive. I am not going to jail for something I didn’t do. I don’t give a fuck. Uh, uh."
She then said to me, “Donnie and Charlotte were on heroin real bad but I didn’t sell heroin. I just sold crack.”
I asked Charlotte, “Knowing what you know about Donnie and Charlotte the way you do, do you have any idea where they may have hid Kent’s body?”
“I have no fucking idea, she said. ‘If I did I would tell and not for no reward. I would tell just to keep them out of my face because they were blaming me for it.” I passed three lie detector tests”.
Belinda also said that she suspects Kent Od’d in Charlotte and Donnie’s trailer because soon after all of this happened, Charlotte moved out of that trailer and she had been living there a long time.
I then asked her about Pierre Scurlock because I had been hearing his name but Belinda told me that Pierre was her cousin but that he wasn’t there that day.
Two and a Half Years Later…
Shortly after moving to Hope Mills in 2009, I drove over to Hancock Street and was glad to see Belinda there. In 2007, it was quite an ordeal just to find her, in 2009, finding Belinda was the easiest thing in the world.
Once again, she was her same polite and patient self with me. This time she got into the car with me and we drove over to the exact spot where she traded rock cocaine for $20. We were in the driveway where Charlotte and Donnie lived and the last place Belinda says she saw Kent.
I have already told you that Belinda has been kind and patient with me and once again she told me in detail exactly what happened on March 10th, 2002. Her story was pretty much right down the line - exactly the same as it was back in 2007. There was, however, one thing that she said that did not match up.
And it was not a small point either.
In 2007, she said that Pierre Scurlock was her cousin but that he was not there that day.
In 2009 she told me that she was getting ready to take Pierre to the store when the phone rang and it was Charlotte calling because she wanted to buy more drugs.
So this time Belinda and Pierre (Scurlock) drove over to Charlotte’s trailer to sell her the rock cocaine.
This is really important because (1) it places another suspect, Scurlock, at the trailer that day and 2) that likely would have meant that Pierre knew Kent had money on him.
Pierre is on our radar because of Heather Thrash Monroe. Heather claims that she was at the trailer on Muscat Road when Pierre shot Kent to steal his money. Heather even was interviewed Feb 11th, 2008 on WTVD and had her face electronically disguised. On TV, she never mentioned Pierre, but in private conversations with myself, the Jacobs family and other people, she told us that Scurlock was the one who shot Kent.
Now – law enforcement knows all of this but they are certainly under no obligation to share with me what their feelings are. I am just sharing with you the information that is coming in to the Jacobs family and myself.
In any case, in 2007, Belinda says that Pierre wasn’t there and in October, 2009, she says she was getting ready to drive Pierre to the store when Charlotte called looking for cocaine, So…something is not adding up.
.Belinda’s final thoughts to me on this day was that her gut is telling her that Charlotte is lying about telling Kent to leave. At first I wanted to believe that but then I remembered that there were three other sightings of Kent that afternoon-early evening – so, for what it is worth, I think that Kent did in fact leave Charlotte’s trailer.
Something else happened. I just do not know what.