Charlotte Royal-McMillan
I must say this up front: I am no big fan of Charlotte Royal so you need to factor that in as you read this chapter.
I led off this website in Chapter 1 with her because in my mind she symbolizes the entire attitude of 'Kent is gone and it is not my problem'. That kind of attitude makes my skin crawl. After learning from Belinda Hall that Charlotte was basically playing the role of 'air traffic controller' the day Kent vanished and now she no longer wants to be bothered? Well - that violates every form of decency there is. She is not the only one - but she sure is the poster child for all that is wrong with this case.
There are plenty of things about her that rub me the wrong way. Maybe outright stealing money from Kent is too strong a word. But she certainly outsmarted a mentally challenged adult out of his paycheck money and in some ways that is even worse.
Kent was not like you and I. He was mentally handicapped. Kent’s sister, Jackye tells me that it took several years for Kent to even learn how to successfully tie his shoes. He needed help shaving and would forever have had to rely on family and friends just deal successfully with everyday matters in life. Kent eyesight was horrible. He would never have a drivers license, get a college degree, own a home or have the skills to live on his own.
On the other hand, he was not an invalid either. Kent held a job, was overly friendly with the people he knew and overly suspicious of those he did not know.
Kent was the town walker. If you lived in Hope Mills, you saw Kent. He walked everywhere and he didn’t think twice about walking from one end of town to the other.
Many times he would refuse a ride. I am told he would never accept a ride from a stranger and many times, even his closest friends were rebuffed when they offered Kent a lift.
So, in no way was Kent an invalid, just the opposite. His challenge in life was that God did not equip him with the mental alertness too many of us take for granted
Fortunately, for people like Charlotte Royal, taking money from Kent was the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately, for Kent, he was an easy mark and on March 10th, 2002, Charlotte Royal pounced.
But that is not where my main issue with Charlotte stems from.
Hell, up to this point, just throw Charlotte into the same pot as Kim and Donnie Godwin, and the rest of the drug crowd. They knew Kent had a paycheck and a disability check and when they wanted drugs – the “Let’s find Kent” mantra was never far from their mind.
As disillusioned as I am over the lifestyle choices of the Godwin’s, Heather Thrash and the rest of them, I know in my heart that they genuinely cared about Kent.
I don’t get that feeling with Charlotte. Charlotte is all about Charlotte and to hell with Kent. He just is not her problem.
My issue with Charlotte is that in the first critical hours, when police, family and friends are all out looking for Kent, Charlotte is lying to police about the drug activity that took place at her trailer. Not only that, since I have been back in town, Charlotte knows that I want to speak with her but she refuses to come forward.
Now, I do not yet know if Kent’s circle of friends are telling us the truth, that remains to be seen. But I do know that Charlotte was lying and that just angers me to no end.
I first went to her last known address. It is now an abandoned trailer out on AB Carter Road off of Exit 59 on Interstate I-95. I actually spoke with Charlotte back in 2007 at her trailer, but to be honest, at the time I did not realize her importance in this case, I did not take notes and I honestly have very little recollection of our conversation.
I made a mistake then and now that I know much more, I wish I could have that day back.
Seeing that the trailer was abandoned, I called the phone number on the ‘For Rent” sign in the driveway. I now know that the number was to her parents’ home and as is practically always the case, phone calls just do not get returned. (Not just in Charlotte’s case – but when you are looking for a missing person, phone calls generally just never get returned).
I am used to that so I just stayed on it and a few days later, I did get a woman to answer the phone one evening and I could easily tell that as I was speaking to this woman, she was basically passing along everything I said to another woman in the room with her.
They basically would not admit to knowing the whereabouts of her daughter which I never believed but I had to play their game.
A few nights later I drove back to AB Carter road and located the property that a neighbor told me that a man named George Hatcher lived. The neighbor told me that Mr. Hatcher owned the trailer that was now abandoned. Mr. Hatcher, I soon learned was Charlotte’s step-father.
It wasn’t late but it was dark out, being that I was there in October. I knocked on the door about 7:30pm and I knew people were home as the living room alive with lights on and TV was on.
George had come to the door and he could not have been nicer. After identifying myself and letting him know I was at his door because of Charlotte, he immediately invited me into his home.
His home really is beautiful. I could tell by being there that this man was no dummy.
The place had all the trappings of a self-made man. George’s personality was very authoritative, but not in an arrogant way. He projected his aura with confidence and vitality.
“Come on in’ Dennis”, he said, and led me through the living room and into the kitchen. I sat at his kitchen table while George settled back to his computer station adjacent to the kitchen table.
He was actually in the middle of sending emails back and forth to Alaska where his step-granddaughter, Lucy, was just stationed after enlisting in the coast guard.
I think I now know why George so readily invited me into his home.
He hates Charlotte and he clearly came across as someone who had a lifetime of frustration built up inside of him and he needed to let it rip. “I hate that woman, Dennis!" “I hate her and I hope I never see her again."
It turns out that Charlotte had moved back in to live with her mom and George went along with it because although he wanted no part of his step-daughter, he did love his wife, and he allowed it because he wanted to make his wife happy.
So I got an education that night. For about an hour or so I heard story after story of all the trouble Charlotte has caused in his life. George says that Charlotte basically begged, borrowed and stole her way throughout her entire time at his home.
The frustration inside of him was almost funny. The more stories he told me the madder he got. I could tell my presence there caused him to reopen old wounds that clearly have never been dealt with. Then, George laid this on me:
“Dennis”, he said, “I just don’t understand it. To this day I just cannot figure it out and I have no idea how it happened." “She recently got married to this guy and I know him pretty well." “Dennis”, he said, “his name is Chris McMillan and he is just the greatest guy in the world." What he sees in her I will just never understand.”
It was killing George to admit this to himself. You should have seen the anguish on his face. His face was all contorted like inside his mind he was reliving a series of very bad memories.
“Oh man, let me tell you something, Dennis, George said.” His new in-laws, I know them and they are very good, honest upstanding people.” Dennis, Chris’ mother, oh man!, he said, "if she knew about Charlotte’s family there is no doubt about it – she would kick her out of the family in less then a day!"
“I want to tell her so bad, Dennis’, George said,’ I want to tell her so bad!"
He is now frothing in the mouth and he is literally squirming. I don’t have a dog in their personal family drama, but to me it started to become hilarious.
George Hatcher does not like his daughter-in-law. “Why don’t you just tell her then?",
I asked the obvious question. That made him squirm even more. “I want to Dennis, you don’t know how bad I want to but it would really upset my wife and I just can’t do that to her."
Don't worry George. You won't have to.
I just did.
George then tells me the following story:
Years ago, he used to work at a golf course and as you can imagine, his workday stated pretty early.
He says he gets to work around 5:00am one morning and is just settling in to his first cup of coffee and he reading the newspaper.
He cannot believe his eye because there in the local section is a crime story about his daughter-in-law and how the sheriff arrested her and her band of merryman for over 20 counts of breaking and entering after stealing neighbors personal property.
Here is the article that appeared in the Fayetteville Observer in October, 1997. This is what Charlotte was up to a good 5 years before Kent disappeared.
Note: I re-typed the article to make it easy for you to read.
3 Charged in burglary ring
Cumberland County Sheriff’s deputies found about $50,000.00 worth of stolen go-carts, four wheelers and riding lawn mowers hidden in pine thickets off N.C. 24 on Tuesday afternoon.
The deputies also seized two shotguns, a microwave oven, power tools, mechanics’ tools, a power washer and a chain saw from a mobile home parked in a nearby clearing.
Three men were arrested during the raid at the dead-end of Whitehead Road between Vander and Fayetteville.
Deputies said it was the second major burglary ring smashed in five days by a sheriff’s task force formed last month to combat area-ins and thefts in the eastern half of the county.
Sheriff Moose Butler said the people arrested Tuesday were not connected to three men charged by the task force during the weekend with breaking into many homes in the eastern part of the county.
Storage Sheds Targeted
The men arrested Tuesday were Tony Glenn Faircloth, 25, who lives in the mobile home that was searched, Jeffrey Tate Davis, 23, of Landfill Road, Hope Mills; and Gregory Charles Lewis, 25, of the 4500 block of Sterling Street. Each man was charged with 4 counts of possessing stolen property.
Butler said that about 100 break-ins have committed in the past several months in eastern Cumberland County, mostly in the Clinton Road and Dunn Road areas in Steadman and Beaver Dam.
He said storage sheds at homes, churches and private businesses have been the primary targets of burglers.
During the weekend, the task force arrested William Howard, 39, of the 100 block of Rock Hill Road, and Mark Leon Dishman and Charlotte Royal, 32, both of the 4000 block of Betsy Ross Road in Hope Mills.
I also learned from George that evening that his wife, Mildred, operated the Gift Shop at Cape Fear Hospital on Owen Drive in Fayetteville.
I will have more to say about Charlotte in the future. If anyone reading this knows her and she has confided in you about Kent..it goes without saying that we would love to hear from you.
I led off this website in Chapter 1 with her because in my mind she symbolizes the entire attitude of 'Kent is gone and it is not my problem'. That kind of attitude makes my skin crawl. After learning from Belinda Hall that Charlotte was basically playing the role of 'air traffic controller' the day Kent vanished and now she no longer wants to be bothered? Well - that violates every form of decency there is. She is not the only one - but she sure is the poster child for all that is wrong with this case.
There are plenty of things about her that rub me the wrong way. Maybe outright stealing money from Kent is too strong a word. But she certainly outsmarted a mentally challenged adult out of his paycheck money and in some ways that is even worse.
Kent was not like you and I. He was mentally handicapped. Kent’s sister, Jackye tells me that it took several years for Kent to even learn how to successfully tie his shoes. He needed help shaving and would forever have had to rely on family and friends just deal successfully with everyday matters in life. Kent eyesight was horrible. He would never have a drivers license, get a college degree, own a home or have the skills to live on his own.
On the other hand, he was not an invalid either. Kent held a job, was overly friendly with the people he knew and overly suspicious of those he did not know.
Kent was the town walker. If you lived in Hope Mills, you saw Kent. He walked everywhere and he didn’t think twice about walking from one end of town to the other.
Many times he would refuse a ride. I am told he would never accept a ride from a stranger and many times, even his closest friends were rebuffed when they offered Kent a lift.
So, in no way was Kent an invalid, just the opposite. His challenge in life was that God did not equip him with the mental alertness too many of us take for granted
Fortunately, for people like Charlotte Royal, taking money from Kent was the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately, for Kent, he was an easy mark and on March 10th, 2002, Charlotte Royal pounced.
But that is not where my main issue with Charlotte stems from.
Hell, up to this point, just throw Charlotte into the same pot as Kim and Donnie Godwin, and the rest of the drug crowd. They knew Kent had a paycheck and a disability check and when they wanted drugs – the “Let’s find Kent” mantra was never far from their mind.
As disillusioned as I am over the lifestyle choices of the Godwin’s, Heather Thrash and the rest of them, I know in my heart that they genuinely cared about Kent.
I don’t get that feeling with Charlotte. Charlotte is all about Charlotte and to hell with Kent. He just is not her problem.
My issue with Charlotte is that in the first critical hours, when police, family and friends are all out looking for Kent, Charlotte is lying to police about the drug activity that took place at her trailer. Not only that, since I have been back in town, Charlotte knows that I want to speak with her but she refuses to come forward.
Now, I do not yet know if Kent’s circle of friends are telling us the truth, that remains to be seen. But I do know that Charlotte was lying and that just angers me to no end.
I first went to her last known address. It is now an abandoned trailer out on AB Carter Road off of Exit 59 on Interstate I-95. I actually spoke with Charlotte back in 2007 at her trailer, but to be honest, at the time I did not realize her importance in this case, I did not take notes and I honestly have very little recollection of our conversation.
I made a mistake then and now that I know much more, I wish I could have that day back.
Seeing that the trailer was abandoned, I called the phone number on the ‘For Rent” sign in the driveway. I now know that the number was to her parents’ home and as is practically always the case, phone calls just do not get returned. (Not just in Charlotte’s case – but when you are looking for a missing person, phone calls generally just never get returned).
I am used to that so I just stayed on it and a few days later, I did get a woman to answer the phone one evening and I could easily tell that as I was speaking to this woman, she was basically passing along everything I said to another woman in the room with her.
They basically would not admit to knowing the whereabouts of her daughter which I never believed but I had to play their game.
A few nights later I drove back to AB Carter road and located the property that a neighbor told me that a man named George Hatcher lived. The neighbor told me that Mr. Hatcher owned the trailer that was now abandoned. Mr. Hatcher, I soon learned was Charlotte’s step-father.
It wasn’t late but it was dark out, being that I was there in October. I knocked on the door about 7:30pm and I knew people were home as the living room alive with lights on and TV was on.
George had come to the door and he could not have been nicer. After identifying myself and letting him know I was at his door because of Charlotte, he immediately invited me into his home.
His home really is beautiful. I could tell by being there that this man was no dummy.
The place had all the trappings of a self-made man. George’s personality was very authoritative, but not in an arrogant way. He projected his aura with confidence and vitality.
“Come on in’ Dennis”, he said, and led me through the living room and into the kitchen. I sat at his kitchen table while George settled back to his computer station adjacent to the kitchen table.
He was actually in the middle of sending emails back and forth to Alaska where his step-granddaughter, Lucy, was just stationed after enlisting in the coast guard.
I think I now know why George so readily invited me into his home.
He hates Charlotte and he clearly came across as someone who had a lifetime of frustration built up inside of him and he needed to let it rip. “I hate that woman, Dennis!" “I hate her and I hope I never see her again."
It turns out that Charlotte had moved back in to live with her mom and George went along with it because although he wanted no part of his step-daughter, he did love his wife, and he allowed it because he wanted to make his wife happy.
So I got an education that night. For about an hour or so I heard story after story of all the trouble Charlotte has caused in his life. George says that Charlotte basically begged, borrowed and stole her way throughout her entire time at his home.
The frustration inside of him was almost funny. The more stories he told me the madder he got. I could tell my presence there caused him to reopen old wounds that clearly have never been dealt with. Then, George laid this on me:
“Dennis”, he said, “I just don’t understand it. To this day I just cannot figure it out and I have no idea how it happened." “She recently got married to this guy and I know him pretty well." “Dennis”, he said, “his name is Chris McMillan and he is just the greatest guy in the world." What he sees in her I will just never understand.”
It was killing George to admit this to himself. You should have seen the anguish on his face. His face was all contorted like inside his mind he was reliving a series of very bad memories.
“Oh man, let me tell you something, Dennis, George said.” His new in-laws, I know them and they are very good, honest upstanding people.” Dennis, Chris’ mother, oh man!, he said, "if she knew about Charlotte’s family there is no doubt about it – she would kick her out of the family in less then a day!"
“I want to tell her so bad, Dennis’, George said,’ I want to tell her so bad!"
He is now frothing in the mouth and he is literally squirming. I don’t have a dog in their personal family drama, but to me it started to become hilarious.
George Hatcher does not like his daughter-in-law. “Why don’t you just tell her then?",
I asked the obvious question. That made him squirm even more. “I want to Dennis, you don’t know how bad I want to but it would really upset my wife and I just can’t do that to her."
Don't worry George. You won't have to.
I just did.
George then tells me the following story:
Years ago, he used to work at a golf course and as you can imagine, his workday stated pretty early.
He says he gets to work around 5:00am one morning and is just settling in to his first cup of coffee and he reading the newspaper.
He cannot believe his eye because there in the local section is a crime story about his daughter-in-law and how the sheriff arrested her and her band of merryman for over 20 counts of breaking and entering after stealing neighbors personal property.
Here is the article that appeared in the Fayetteville Observer in October, 1997. This is what Charlotte was up to a good 5 years before Kent disappeared.
Note: I re-typed the article to make it easy for you to read.
3 Charged in burglary ring
Cumberland County Sheriff’s deputies found about $50,000.00 worth of stolen go-carts, four wheelers and riding lawn mowers hidden in pine thickets off N.C. 24 on Tuesday afternoon.
The deputies also seized two shotguns, a microwave oven, power tools, mechanics’ tools, a power washer and a chain saw from a mobile home parked in a nearby clearing.
Three men were arrested during the raid at the dead-end of Whitehead Road between Vander and Fayetteville.
Deputies said it was the second major burglary ring smashed in five days by a sheriff’s task force formed last month to combat area-ins and thefts in the eastern half of the county.
Sheriff Moose Butler said the people arrested Tuesday were not connected to three men charged by the task force during the weekend with breaking into many homes in the eastern part of the county.
Storage Sheds Targeted
The men arrested Tuesday were Tony Glenn Faircloth, 25, who lives in the mobile home that was searched, Jeffrey Tate Davis, 23, of Landfill Road, Hope Mills; and Gregory Charles Lewis, 25, of the 4500 block of Sterling Street. Each man was charged with 4 counts of possessing stolen property.
Butler said that about 100 break-ins have committed in the past several months in eastern Cumberland County, mostly in the Clinton Road and Dunn Road areas in Steadman and Beaver Dam.
He said storage sheds at homes, churches and private businesses have been the primary targets of burglers.
During the weekend, the task force arrested William Howard, 39, of the 100 block of Rock Hill Road, and Mark Leon Dishman and Charlotte Royal, 32, both of the 4000 block of Betsy Ross Road in Hope Mills.
I also learned from George that evening that his wife, Mildred, operated the Gift Shop at Cape Fear Hospital on Owen Drive in Fayetteville.
I will have more to say about Charlotte in the future. If anyone reading this knows her and she has confided in you about Kent..it goes without saying that we would love to hear from you.