Roger Locklear
Kent had made many friends while living in Hope Mills. I quickly learned soon after arriving in town in September of 2009 that everybody loved him. With his handicap and all, people took him under their wing and more or less always accepted him in their presence, even when they were up to no good.
And therein lays the irony.
The one person that everyone cared about, that everyone accepted, ended up losing his life because, bottom line, at the end of the day, Kent wound up trusting the wrong person.
It is for exactly this reason that the Jacobs family are convinced that neither Kim or Donnie Godwin personally had any direct role in Kent's tragedy.
'It has to be someone who did not know Kent', Keith Jacobs has always said." " No way would any of Kent's friends hurt him. No way'
The two people Kent was closest to in Hope Mills were Earl Jones and Roger Locklear.
I had met Roger a few years ago when I was in town after meeting the Jacobs family for the first time.
I had come to Hope Mills in April 2005 to join in a search attended by many people but sadly ended up with no more answers than when we started. While here I just went around and introduced myself to people close to Kent hoping that I would learn something, anything, that would point me in the right direction.
At the time, Roger was living with his parents at their trailer on Franklin Street where it meets Betsy Ross Rd off of Hwy 59.
Roger basically told me exactly what I had already heard: that he and Kent went to Winn-Dixie (now Carlie C's) to buy some beer and then headed back to the trailer to watch the race. This was just before noon on March 10th, 2002.
“I meant to kick back and watch the race, Dennis”, he said, “but no sooner did I lie down on the couch I started to doze off.” “I never got to watch the race and when I woke up, Kent was gone.”
Roger’s father backed up his sons’ recalling of events. “I saw Kent walk right out the back door”, his dad told me.
And I believe him.
That was back in 2005. When I moved to the area in 2009, contacting Roger right out of the gate was high on my list. The very first day I was back in town I went back to his trailer. He still lived there but he was not home at the time. I left my name and number with another man there and asked Roger to call me.
That was the beginning of several weeks of trying to contact Roger but getting no response. No matter how many times I called, nor how many times I drove by, Roger was just never around or for some reason just too busy to return my calls.
One day, finally, I got lucky because Roger was home and he and I spoke on his front porch.
The thing is, once we finally met up, he seemed to have all the time in the world for me, politely answered all of my questions and told me many times over how much he loved Kent.
I kept wondering to myself “why, if he loved Kent so much, was he being so distant with me”? Even as of this writing, I still do not know.
Roger used to date Charlotte Royal. This was long before she hooked up with Donnie Godwin and stole money from Kent on that fateful March day on 2002.
“We never got along and that woman is crazy”, Roger told me. He hadn’t spoken with her in years and had no interest in having anything to do with her ever again.”
Roger told me that he had heard somewhere that she was dating the manager of Batteries Plus franchise on Sycamore Dairy Road and it was that piece of information that I used that ultimately led me to find her.
I asked Roger the same question I ask everyone in this town: “What does your gut tell you? I know you don’t know – but what do you think happened to Kent?”
“I have no idea, Dennis”, he said, “but it wouldn’t surprise me if Kent Od’d right in Charlotte and Donnie’s trailer”.
“Donnie is a real hardcore heroin addict and Charlotte was buying crack cocaine and it would not surprise me in the least if they shot Kent up with a speedball and he overdosed.” “I don’t know, Dennis, I just don’t know”.
I have to say this because it is somewhat important. Sometimes something stares you right in the face and for whatever reason, you refuse to see it. That happens a lot to me and so I just want to put this out there.
Roger Locklear is a very nice guy.
When I am around him I get the sense that in a million years he would never hurt a fly. He just comes across as an everyday normal and nice man. If you met him your would like him.
So what the heck is he doing messing around with drugs and hanging around with the real hardcore drug addicts in Hope Mills?
It makes no sense to me and I am damn sure it never really registered with Kent.
I guess I am having trouble dealing with the fact that people who are doing really horrible things are in fact everyday nice people. I guess we all have ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in us.
Remember that this was 8 years ago. People who know Roger have told me that these days he looks 1000 times better. "I have never seen him look so good", a woman told me after a chance encounter with Roger at the Hope Mills WalMart.
That can only be taken as a good sign so hopefully his drug days are behind him.
If you know Roger and you think there is more to Kent’s story than he is telling me, please let us know. As I have pointed out here, Roger is a nice guy, but he was running with the drug culture back in 2002.
With that said - my guess is that Roger has already told me everything he knows about what happened to Kent that day.
He did not harm Kent. No way.
In a global population of about 6 billion people, Roger Locklear was one of the last 12 or so people that saw Kent before he vanished.
And therein lays the irony.
The one person that everyone cared about, that everyone accepted, ended up losing his life because, bottom line, at the end of the day, Kent wound up trusting the wrong person.
It is for exactly this reason that the Jacobs family are convinced that neither Kim or Donnie Godwin personally had any direct role in Kent's tragedy.
'It has to be someone who did not know Kent', Keith Jacobs has always said." " No way would any of Kent's friends hurt him. No way'
The two people Kent was closest to in Hope Mills were Earl Jones and Roger Locklear.
I had met Roger a few years ago when I was in town after meeting the Jacobs family for the first time.
I had come to Hope Mills in April 2005 to join in a search attended by many people but sadly ended up with no more answers than when we started. While here I just went around and introduced myself to people close to Kent hoping that I would learn something, anything, that would point me in the right direction.
At the time, Roger was living with his parents at their trailer on Franklin Street where it meets Betsy Ross Rd off of Hwy 59.
Roger basically told me exactly what I had already heard: that he and Kent went to Winn-Dixie (now Carlie C's) to buy some beer and then headed back to the trailer to watch the race. This was just before noon on March 10th, 2002.
“I meant to kick back and watch the race, Dennis”, he said, “but no sooner did I lie down on the couch I started to doze off.” “I never got to watch the race and when I woke up, Kent was gone.”
Roger’s father backed up his sons’ recalling of events. “I saw Kent walk right out the back door”, his dad told me.
And I believe him.
That was back in 2005. When I moved to the area in 2009, contacting Roger right out of the gate was high on my list. The very first day I was back in town I went back to his trailer. He still lived there but he was not home at the time. I left my name and number with another man there and asked Roger to call me.
That was the beginning of several weeks of trying to contact Roger but getting no response. No matter how many times I called, nor how many times I drove by, Roger was just never around or for some reason just too busy to return my calls.
One day, finally, I got lucky because Roger was home and he and I spoke on his front porch.
The thing is, once we finally met up, he seemed to have all the time in the world for me, politely answered all of my questions and told me many times over how much he loved Kent.
I kept wondering to myself “why, if he loved Kent so much, was he being so distant with me”? Even as of this writing, I still do not know.
Roger used to date Charlotte Royal. This was long before she hooked up with Donnie Godwin and stole money from Kent on that fateful March day on 2002.
“We never got along and that woman is crazy”, Roger told me. He hadn’t spoken with her in years and had no interest in having anything to do with her ever again.”
Roger told me that he had heard somewhere that she was dating the manager of Batteries Plus franchise on Sycamore Dairy Road and it was that piece of information that I used that ultimately led me to find her.
I asked Roger the same question I ask everyone in this town: “What does your gut tell you? I know you don’t know – but what do you think happened to Kent?”
“I have no idea, Dennis”, he said, “but it wouldn’t surprise me if Kent Od’d right in Charlotte and Donnie’s trailer”.
“Donnie is a real hardcore heroin addict and Charlotte was buying crack cocaine and it would not surprise me in the least if they shot Kent up with a speedball and he overdosed.” “I don’t know, Dennis, I just don’t know”.
I have to say this because it is somewhat important. Sometimes something stares you right in the face and for whatever reason, you refuse to see it. That happens a lot to me and so I just want to put this out there.
Roger Locklear is a very nice guy.
When I am around him I get the sense that in a million years he would never hurt a fly. He just comes across as an everyday normal and nice man. If you met him your would like him.
So what the heck is he doing messing around with drugs and hanging around with the real hardcore drug addicts in Hope Mills?
It makes no sense to me and I am damn sure it never really registered with Kent.
I guess I am having trouble dealing with the fact that people who are doing really horrible things are in fact everyday nice people. I guess we all have ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in us.
Remember that this was 8 years ago. People who know Roger have told me that these days he looks 1000 times better. "I have never seen him look so good", a woman told me after a chance encounter with Roger at the Hope Mills WalMart.
That can only be taken as a good sign so hopefully his drug days are behind him.
If you know Roger and you think there is more to Kent’s story than he is telling me, please let us know. As I have pointed out here, Roger is a nice guy, but he was running with the drug culture back in 2002.
With that said - my guess is that Roger has already told me everything he knows about what happened to Kent that day.
He did not harm Kent. No way.
In a global population of about 6 billion people, Roger Locklear was one of the last 12 or so people that saw Kent before he vanished.