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bbb822e5-3500-4d65-9e6f-d7a26e9ad201 < Back WOMEN DIES AFTER BEING STABBED; INVESTIGATORS LOOK FOR ASSAILANT March 6, 2026 Hillsborough, NC (March 6, 2026) – Investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office obtained a first-degree murder charge for Matthew Jared Vukmer, 53, after he allegedly stabbed Paula Floyd, 54, to death this morning at his home. Deputies are looking for Vukmer, a white male, five foot, eleven inches tall with no facial hair. When last seen, he was wearing a dark T-shirt and green shorts. He left his residence in the Wyngate community, which is southeast of the Hillsborough city limits, driving a dark-colored Ford Super Duty truck with North Carolina license tag JL-6012. “I offer my deepest condolences to Ms. Floyd’s family and friends,” said Sheriff Charles Blackwood. “We are eager to get Vukmer into custody as soon as possible, and we ask people to be on the lookout for him or his truck.” Vukmer should be considered dangerous, and he may still be in possession of a knife or other weapon. If you see him, please call 911 immediately and do not approach. Investigator T. Hall is the contact person for this case. If you have any relevant information, please call him at (919) 245-2905. Previous Next Vukmer's truck.JPG Vukmer.jpg Vukmer's truck.JPG 1/2

e2f28924-3ccb-4052-8a8a-e9bd92f80181 < Back DEPUTIES INVESTIGATING MAN’S DEATH September 19, 2025 Hillsborough, NC (September 19, 2025) - Investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the death of a man located at the edge of a parking lot at the Brumley North Nature Preserve just before 7:30 am today. The deceased is Calvin Demond Smith-Taylor, 36, of Durham. Medical examiners are working to determine the time and cause of his death. Loved ones reported Mr. Smith-Taylor missing to the Durham Police Department yesterday. Please call Investigator E. Campbell at (919) 245-2907 with any information related to Mr. Smith-Taylor’s death. ### Previous Next 1/0

2b1d6479-c37f-4831-a881-7b6e987664f6 #63, OC Alerts, and an escaped convict August 28, 2024 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood Two weeks ago, we were actively searching for convicted murderer Ramone Alston who jumped from a North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (DAC) transport vehicle upon arriving at UNC Hospital in Hillsborough. On foot, he headed north across Waterstone Drive and through a residential area. A witness saw him running past a neighborhood swimming pool, still wearing a belly chain and handcuffs. Shortly thereafter, he vanished into the woods. As an agency, our primary responsibility is to keep Orange County residents and visitors safe and able to move freely about their lives. Therefore, our top goals were to protect our community from Alston while assisting DAC with their efforts to capture him. Alston evaded capture for 67 hours before law enforcement officers removed him from a hotel room in Kannapolis 110 miles away and returned him to DAC custody. I want to share what we were doing in the interim and tell you about a critical service that can keep you informed in a variety of crisis situations. A search for an escaped prisoner requires resources and organization. After establishing a law-enforcement perimeter around the hospital campus, initiating K-9 searches, and deploying drone units to watch for Alston from the sky, I contacted Emergency Services Director Kirby Saunders and requested his help. Orange County Emergency Management (OCEM) is responsible for the preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery from all hazards in Orange County. As such, OCEM arranged for the Orange County Campus of Durham Technical Community College to be our command center and began organizing hundreds of law enforcement officers arriving to help with the manhunt. Almost immediately, the OCEM team pushed out a message using a reverse 911 process and the OC Alerts notification system to many of the people living within a three-mile radius of the hospital campus. The message provided a description of Alston and told residents what to do if they saw him. Unfortunately, such “push messages” do not reach as many people as would be ideal. When most people had landline telephones, reverse 911 systems could blanket residents within defined geographical areas. Now, almost 75% of people in the US only use wireless phones. Therefore, it is critical for people without a landline to register their cell phones with OC Alerts. Currently, this valuable system is vastly underutilized. Although the Orange County population is approximately 150,000, only 12,853 people are registered. That is only 8.5 percent! Many people believe they will receive all relevant messages because they have received an AMBER alert or other safety message that “blew up” their phone. That belief is incorrect. Emergency management personnel can blanket all phones in an area in only two types of emergencies. The situation must either meet very specific and regulated qualifiers such as in the case of an AMBER or Blue alert, or the danger must pose a critical threat to everyone in the area. A critical threat might require evacuation or cause near-certain death if residents do not take immediate action. Examples include dam failures, airborne toxic chemicals, or raging and fast-moving wildfires. Please go to www.ReadyOrange.org for information about disaster and emergency preparedness. The link to sign up for OC alerts is prominent in the middle of this page. Create an account, provide your phone number or email, and select the type of alerts you want to receive. The system allows you to identify special needs you or your family may have. Additionally, you can indicate whether you have specialized training or are willing to volunteer your skills or equipment during a crisis. You can also go directly to the sign-up page at www.ocalertsnc.com . Returning to the events of two weeks ago, about two hours after issuing the first OC Alert, OCEM sent a second, similar message. This time they hit all landlines and registered cell phones within a five-mile radius. Obviously, the longer Alston was on the move, the farther away he could be, so they targeted a wider area. We continued the ground search for two days: 335 members from 19 law enforcement agencies thoroughly covered 1335 acres. When finished, we could say with confidence that Alston was no longer in Orange County. Meanwhile, investigators continued their intelligence operation, gathering and analyzing the information that ultimately led to locating Alston. He is now in a maximum-security prison, and we arrested two people for aiding and abetting his escape. We are extremely grateful to our OCEM partners – they are unsung heroes. Please thank them by creating or updating your existing OC Alert account. ### Previous Next

aba8a3c2-3ea9-4186-b208-ef508124f734 < Back THREE DEPUTIES INJURED; MAN FACES HOST OF CHARGES March 27, 2025 Hillsborough, NC (March 27, 2025) – Three deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office are receiving treatment at a local hospital after sustaining serious injuries while taking a man into custody. Deputies responded to the Timbers Manufactured Home Community after residents reported the man was throwing rocks and bricks at trailers, pulling on air conditioning units, and exhibiting concerning behaviors. Upon the deputies’ arrival, witnesses and residents provided them with a physical description of the suspect and told them the man had stolen items from another residence. Deputies saw a man standing inside a residence with an open door who matched that description. As they entered the home to apprehend him, a fight ensued. With the help of officers from the Hillsborough Police Department and additional personnel from the Sheriff’s Office, units took Jorge Luis Lopez Duran, 53, into custody. Lopez is facing three felony counts of assault on a law enforcement officer inflicting serious bodily injury. Other charges, including larceny and damage to property are expected. Consistent with detention center practices that a detainee should not be held in the custody of an agency whose personnel he has allegedly assaulted, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood arranged for a neighboring county to house Mr. Lopez. Sheriff Blackwood said, “Law enforcement officers intellectually know their job comes with risk, but the reality of the sacrifice they are willing to make for the public remains somewhat abstract until it is not. Today, their sacrifice was very real, and it was painful. That said, I am grateful all three deputies are expected to make a full recovery. I appreciate the help we received from Hillsborough Police and deputies from other divisions of our agency. Finally, I would like to extend special thanks to the Emergency Services telecommunicators at the 911 center who guided us into and out of that call.” More information will be released as it becomes available. ### Previous Next 1/0

feb74fa9-dea4-485f-9382-4a8cc6d318e8 < Back CASE UPDATE: DEPUTIES SERVE WARNKE WITH OUTSTANDING WARRANTS July 3, 2025 Hillsborough, NC (July 3, 2025) – Last night, deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office served Zacharia Nathaniel Warnke, 32, with warrants for breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, and conspiracy. The charges stemmed from the theft of more than $10,000 worth of household goods, appliances, and building materials from a residential property undergoing renovation just outside the city limits of Hillsborough. In June, deputies arrested William Cox, 34, in connection with the same case. Both men are from Rougemont. Warnke did not receive a bond; under the provisions of the Pretrial Integrity Act, he will remain in the detention center until his first court appearance. ### Previous Next 1/0

d16eebe3-e952-45c5-b4d0-d22342dbac41 #56, Retirements Shape Future January 31, 2024 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. It is simultaneously a uniting and a dividing force. For many, it provides entertainment, engagement with other people, information about businesses, and an important source of community news. For others, it can increase a sense of isolation, become a source of misinformation, or provide a forum to bully or troll others. In less than 30 years, social media has emerged, adapted, grown, and transformed communication here in Orange County and around the globe. As I recently reflected on the prior year, I scrolled back through more than 330 posts on the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page, our primary social media platform. As I did so, I marveled at the historical record such posts now provide. They bear witness to the crime and law enforcement activity in Orange County. They remind us of the useful education we can provide to residents about crime and injury prevention, road closures, threatening weather, and community events. Facebook also serves as an ideal forum to showcase the good work of our employees, celebrate their accomplishments, and mark important transitions such as swearing-in ceremonies, promotions, and retirements. During my stroll down memory lane, I came across a June 13, 2023 post about the retirements of seven members of this office. As I often say, “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected,” and that post is proof. At the time, we were celebrating great careers and wishing beloved colleagues well. But when I saw that post again, I realized with new clarity how those retirements changed this agency and continue to affect us. We promoted several people to fill the vacated leadership spots; those individuals continue to grow into their positions while others adjust to different responsibilities. We have new personnel in every division with more opportunities on the horizon - five more people plan to retire this year. Before I move on, let me say that contrary to what you may have heard, most law enforcement officers leave the profession at retirement, not before. Thirty years ago, a federal grant program known as “Cops Fast” hired, trained, and put thousands of new law enforcement officers on the street within a remarkably short period of time. The fact that those officers are retiring three decades later is not a surprise, and it does not represent an unusual rate of attrition. I find myself in much the same position as a coach who is rebuilding a team after a large graduating class or the loss of personnel because of injury or movement through the transfer portal. As experienced players assume leadership roles and others move to new positions, a coach assesses incoming recruits, builds upon fundamental skills, and shapes them to the needs of the team and the realities of the schedule. Added twist for me: my team works out of two facilities - our main office and the Detention Center across town! A mid-2023 analysis of detention center staffing conducted by the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association revealed that some detention centers in the state face large staffing shortages – as much as 60%. We are doing much better than that, but we still have quite a few open positions. We are always looking to hire the right people to help us maintain our reputation for providing highly trained supervision by compassionate detention officers within an appropriately equipped facility. It is critically important work, and severe staff shortages are known to lead to corruption, inmate behavior problems, and increased rates of assault or self-harm. I frequently tell family members of the people in our custody that their loved one is in one of the safest places on the planet, and I make sure my staff knows how critical their efforts are toward maintaining that distinction. Some detention officers build a rewarding, challenging career in our jail, progressing through the ranks into leadership roles. Others use the position as a steppingstone to additional training and a career as a deputy. Either path provides ample opportunity for advancement, competitive pay and benefits, excellent training and support, and a desirable retirement package. If you are hungry to feel challenged by your career, proud of your coworkers, excited about the opportunities ahead of you, and confident that your efforts are making a difference in our community, we would like to talk to you. Please call Sergeant Glenn Powell, our recruiting coordinator, at (919) 245-2908. I’m actively rebuilding my team and looking to add talent to the depth chart. Previous Next

445713af-7362-4fc8-a99f-ba66e3a46c3b #19, Year in Review, 2020 December 30, 2020 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood If you enjoy a good understatement, how’s this one? This year has been difficult. However, despite the pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism, and in many ways because of them, there have been upsides. For example, we are working with other components of the justice system and involved stakeholders in new ways. These efforts have resulted in innovative approaches and initiatives that are both efficient and economical. We can see this in bond reform and other efforts to lower the population in the Detention Center. These new procedures allow for the effective and safe pre-trial management of alleged offenders in the community. I will write more about this subject in a future column. For this year-end-review edition of The Lowdown, I asked my staff to reflect on other 2020 upsides. Captain Nate Fearrington related how much he enjoyed our annual Shop with a Sheriff event. He said, “Even though we couldn’t actually shop with the kids due to COVID-19, we were still able to purchase wish list items and bundle them into Santa sacks for special delivery. It made me feel good to hear employees and other shoppers say how proud they were that we ‘made a way out of no way’ and continued our tradition.” Tom Parker, one of our IT Specialists, mentioned several highlights. We converted many desktop computers to notebooks, allowing staff to work remotely. He is really excited about SmartForce, a new work management system used to communicate more efficiently across divisions. Additionally, a new database streamlined our training records, and we are preparing to launch a new app, giving the public tools to interface with us directly from their Smartphones. Watch for that in 2021. Captain Tina Sykes, who directs our School Resource Officer Program as well as the Training Division, noted, “We donated more than 6,200 items of food to the Orange County Schools Holiday Food Drive. We pitted the nine divisions in the office against each other, and the competition was ferocious. It tickled me to see them try to outdo each other, driving up the value of the matching donation promised by the Command Staff.” Tim Jones, Captain of the Detention Division, answered my query with a personal anecdote. “I had a very unfortunate tib/fib break to my leg, which kind of summed up the year 2020. I was out of work for over a month. I quickly learned the friendships made at the Office extend way past quitting time. From calls, to visits, and of course, food, I was astonished with the amount of caring I received from folks at the Sheriff’s Office and from the wider community. Ashley Woodlief, a sergeant with the Criminal Investigations Division, noted the year began with the sentencing of John Russell Whit – the long awaited conclusion to a 1998 case in which a lawn mowing crew found the skeletonized remains of a 10-year-old boy. Closing that cold case helped another agency solve his mother’s related murder. Woodlief and her colleagues are pleased that for the fifth year in a row, they solved all new homicide cases, and she is relieved there were only two! Deputy David Funk is one of our three K9 handlers. He reports the dogs assisted with over 300 calls, located 23 people, found 117 items of evidence, and sniffed out 10.25 pounds of narcotics. Individual highlights included K9 Tres running a successful track following a hit and run, despite the track being almost five hours old. Callie located a suspect from a different wreck who had buried himself and a large amount of narcotics, while Zar helped the Highway Patrol locate a firearm thrown from a vehicle during a traffic stop. Community Services Division Major Kevin Jones is most proud of the way his division and the Department on Aging collaborated to take the place of the volunteers who usually deliver meals to seniors in the community. “Due to COVID-19, our deputies, in partnership with the municipal police departments, delivered more than 2,000 hot lunches, emphasizing the ‘serve’ part of our duties. We also coordinated the distribution of more than 2,200 food boxes, and we delivered more than 2,000 meal kits donated by Food Lion.” My Chief Deputy Jamison Sykes summed it up well. He said, “This was a hard year, and a strange year. We are ending it tired. But it’s the good kind of tired; the kind where you know you worked hard and you will sleep well, and you are excited to see what tomorrow will bring.” Previous Next

32449d41-5a0d-407c-b13d-38d5f5c3e4ee #78, Anatomy of a Death Investigation November 19, 2025 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood On May 17, 2025, a person walking a dog in a wooded area off Hawk Ridge Road found human remains. Six months later, little is yet known about the decedent. However, that does not mean little has been done. I am writing to provide an update about the case and peek behind the curtain into the complexity and challenge presented by this type of case. When investigators and deputies arrived at the scene that Saturday afternoon, they found the scattered bones of a mostly skeletonized person. As is standard practice, we asked the on-call medical examiner (ME) to respond. We then conducted a joint investigation, both seeking to learn the decedent’s identity and what happened. In such cases, we look for evidence to determine what, if any, crimes occurred, and who committed them, while the medical examiner focuses on when the person died, by what cause, and in what manner. Although cause and manner may sound the same, they are not. Cause refers to the specific medical reason for the death, while manner goes to whether the death occurred by homicide, suicide, accident, natural causes, or if the reason is undetermined. For example, if the ME found a “penetrating cerebral wound from gunshot injury to the head” as the cause of death, the manner could be homicide, suicide, or accidental. Nothing at the scene provided clues to suggest the cause of the decedent’s death. Further, it remains unclear if the person died in those woods or if someone transported the body there after death. After investigators photographed and measured the scene, collected evidence, and the ME examined the remains, officials transported the body to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in Raleigh. The OCME also found no obvious cause of death, not surprising given the pronounced decomposition of the body. Staff there estimated the person died sometime in the latter part of 2024. After studying the bones, a medical examiner specialist opined to our investigators that the decedent was likely a female adult, probably between 18 and 35 years old, with braces on only her bottom teeth. Although we hoped this specific detail might help identify the person, investigators searched the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) without success. This repository contains information about missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases. Specifically, it includes 650 missing persons and 158 unidentified bodies from North Carolina. When the OCME is unable to identify a person, the case passes to a forensic anthropologist for a more detailed examination of the bones. Such work can reveal important biological details, such as age, sex, stature, and perhaps ancestry. Skeletal abnormalities sometimes point to cause of death or reveal details about the decedent’s medical history or prior trauma. It may be several more months before the forensic pathologist issues a report. We are hopeful it will provide new direction for the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, genealogists will attempt to identify the person using an analysis of DNA from the body. An original DNA lab report includes tremendously long strings of letters representing clusters of genes. A genealogist’s work can take several years as he or she slowly narrows the pool of possibility, using databases to compare these strings with millions of other profiles. Eventually, the genealogist might find a DNA match to a probable distant relative. The genealogist will then continue inching forward, seeking a first-degree relative such as a parent, child, or sibling. Our experience teaches us the importance of remaining patient despite the painstaking and delicate nature of these investigations. Two years ago, a genealogist matched the DNA profile from an unidentified murder victim found more than 30 years ago in Orange County to some paternal cousins. Through a series of interviews, we eventually located a maternal aunt who reported that the family lost contact with her niece more than three decades prior. A subsequent analysis of the woman’s DNA confirmed the relationship and solved the mystery of the victim’s identity. Patience also proved critical for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. Earlier this month, they announced the identity of a woman killed in 1968 – probably setting the North Carolina record as the oldest cold case solved with the assistance forensic genealogy. Sheriff Willie Rowe said, “Law enforcement never gives up…and we embrace technology and partnerships to solve crimes.” Returning to the Hawk Ridge Road case, investigators have no reason to think there is any danger to residents in the area. Quite possibly, someone may have dumped the body in the woods after the death occurred elsewhere. But undoubtedly, neighbors remain disconcerted by the tragedy, and somewhere, a family longs for information about their loved one. If you have any information, please call Sergeant K. Goodwin, the lead investigator, at (919) 245-2918. ### Previous Next

8e4019b6-cb86-4af6-a0a1-3466c305123d < Back ADDITIONAL MAN FACES CHARGES FOR NOVEMBER BREAK-INS January 7, 2026 Hillsborough, NC (January 7, 2026) – Investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office charged an additional man, Keshaun Christopher Byrd, 24, with multiple offenses related to a series of November crimes committed in neighboring communities on Red Hill Lane and Seven Springs Road. Byrd is in the Durham County Detention Center under an $847,000.00 bond as he awaits trial on similar charges from multiple agencies. Officials served Byrd yesterday at the jail with the following felony warrants from the Orange County crimes: 22 counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle. Larceny of a motor vehicle. Larceny of a firearm. First-degree burglary to a residence. Attempted first-degree residential burglary. Three counts of breaking and entering sheds and other outbuildings. Sergeant K. Goodwin, the lead Orange County investigator, started considering Byrd as a suspect after collaborating with colleagues at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office. Goodwin determined that Byrd was with Jostin Josue Ramirez-Duarte, 18, and a 17-year-old person at the time of the November crimes. Officials charged them in December. [See previously issued news release below for more information.] Byrd, a Durham resident, remains in the Durham County jail under the Pretrial Integrity Act. This statute allows for preventative detention for people charged with certain additional offenses while awaiting trial on other crimes. For the new crimes, a judge, not a magistrate, must set or deny conditions of pretrial release at the defendant’s first appearance. That court hearing is scheduled for Thursday, January 8, 2026. Previous Next 1/0

e9abe951-9a30-4cd6-938c-06b9670c7300 #62, Alerts July 31, 2024 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood When someone is in grave danger, law enforcement officials in North Carolina can request an emergency alert from the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons (NCCMP), a division of the Department of Public Safety. Officials designed these alerts to share information rapidly about a person who is missing, kidnapped, or poses a danger to law enforcement officers or the community at large. Because these alerts are a plea for community assistance, the NCCMP requires detailed and relevant information. A vague alert is simply not useful. Once the NCCMP approves the request, broadcasters interrupt regular programming to announce it, transportation officials post the information on emergency highway signs, the Wireless Emergency Alerts program distributes the news to cell phones, and the NC Education Lottery places the message on gaming terminals. Each alert has a unique purpose. AMBER Alerts, an acronym for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, is the most widely known. It is named in memory of Amber Hagerman, a Texas nine-year-old, who was kidnapped and murdered. After her death, broadcasters in her state partnered with local police departments to design an early warning system to aid in the search for abducted children. Versions of the resulting program soon spread to other states. AMBER Alerts are used for children under 18 years of age who are believed to have been abducted by someone other than a parent. If an alert is issued for a child taken by a parent, authorities must believe the child is in danger of injury or death, not merely a pawn in a custody dispute. Likewise, children who run away from home or are missing voluntarily do not qualify for an alert. The Ashanti Alert Act is named after Ashanti Billie, a woman killed by her abductor in 2017. Law enforcement officers request Ashanti alerts when adults are missing under circumstances that indicate their physical safety is in peril, perhaps from domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking. President Barack Obama signed Blue Alerts into law in 2015 after the murder of two New York City detectives while sitting in a patrol car. Prior to the attack, their killer posted threats on social media to the law enforcement community. Blue Alerts provide advance warning of credible threats, aid in the apprehension of violent criminals who killed or seriously injured an officer, and hinder an offender’s ability to flee the state. North Carolina authorities no longer issue Silver Alerts. This reality surprises many people. In July 2023, the North Carolina Legislature replaced Silver Alerts with the Missing Endangered designation, but this change received little publicity. Used in cases where a missing person had dementia or another cognitive impairment, Silver Alerts were effective. In fact, approximately 70% of people with dementia go missing at least once, and Silver Alerts have proven critical in many of the over 100,000 search and rescue missions conducted nationwide each year. However, Silver Alerts applied only to people 50 years of age and older, and that limitation proved problematic. In recent years, my deputies also have searched for multiple people younger than 50 who went missing and were vulnerable to exploitation, physical vulnerability, or death. In these cases, we had no mechanism to notify the broader community quickly. When officials removed the age restriction and renamed Silver Alerts to Missing Endangered Alerts, they vastly increased the number of adults who might benefit from this tool. If you receive an alert, we need your help! AMBER, Ashanti, and Blue alerts all operate on the premise that someone may avoid a handful of law enforcement officers yet find it quite difficult to hide from thousands of people. Pay close attention to details in an alert. Watch for the missing person and keep an eye out for the suspect and vehicle described. Report any sightings immediately to 911. Do not engage directly with an abductor, but if feasible and safe, follow from a distance while reporting the person’s location and direction of travel. With a Missing and Endangered alert, the dynamics are different. These situations generally involve a lost, scared, or vulnerable person. Though urgent, they rarely involve a perpetrator. Remain calm if you think you see the missing person. Call 911 and describe the situation and location. If you have a safe opportunity to interact, call the person by name, introduce yourself, and try to keep the person engaged until help arrives. Above all, please do not ignore emergency alerts. We do not request them lightly, and the NCCMP considers them carefully. We appreciate your assistance. ### Previous Next

6f6a24ef-8b0c-4654-92f1-ad4ef6cc300d #44, Crisis Unit January 25, 2023 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood Amber Keith-Drowns has been assisting people experiencing domestic violence or intimate-partner abuse for over 21 years; most practitioners in her field burn out within four years. Unfortunately, Amber’s tenacity has its genesis in family tragedy - her grandmother died as the result of interpersonal-family violence. I frequently say that most people in the law enforcement profession have their “WHY,” and Amber is no exception. She keeps her grandmother’s photo on her desk as a visible symbol of her motivation. Every day, Amber reads deputy reports and follows up on domestic disturbances, sexual assaults, child abuse situations, and anything a patrol deputy indicates might benefit from her expertise. She then processes any paperwork related to domestic violence protective orders (DVPO), and she communicates with clerks, judges, and involved advocates. She also provides services to people who call or walk into the office requesting assistance, information, or advice related to domestic violence. Some people are surprised that domestic violence and intimate-partner abuse affect both men and women and occur across all demographic categories, professions, and socioeconomic levels. Violence, of course, includes physical assaults of some sort, whereas abuse involves intimidation or the manipulation of power and control through mental, emotional, financial, or other means. Many people know something is unhealthy about their relationship, but because they have not been physically assaulted, they aren’t sure how to characterize their situation. Such people have what Amber calls “lightbulb moments” in her office when they recognize an abusive relationship can exist even in the absence of bruising or broken bones. In other words, domestic violence is one form of an abusive relationship, but it is not the only one. A DVPO is also known as a 50B, a term which refers to the chapter in the North Carolina General Statutes governing civil actions related to domestic violence. Although it has limitations, a 50B is a powerful tool in the fight against domestic violence. These restraining orders can require an abuser to stay away and have no contact with the victim. The defendant might be ordered to leave the shared residence, and the victim may receive temporary custody of children, at least until a safety plan can be established. In 2022, our Crisis Unit filed 254 DVPOs, assisted with 110 filed by others, and provided consultation, enforcement, or ancillary service related to 108 DVPOs from other counties and states. Of course, not everyone we help needs, wants, or qualifies for a 50B. Therefore, the Crisis Unit provided information and referral, advocacy, assistance with criminal warrants, emergency response, and other forms of supportive services to 1,272 additional people last year. Two full-time law enforcement officers assist Amber. Deputy C. Faircloth has primary responsibility for serving and enforcing DVPOs and/or release conditions established by a judge in a criminal matter. Faircloth also monitors the communications of detention center residents who have been ordered not to contact their victims. Often, newly arrested people make a phone call to the victim in their case almost immediately upon entering the facility. Many continue to do so, despite judicial orders prohibiting such contact and multiple phone system warnings advising that all calls are monitored and recorded! Deputy C. Miller provides supplementary services through the EASE program, an acronym for Empowerment, Advocacy, Safety, and Enforcement. A Governor’s Crime Commission grant supports this program. Who wrote the grant application? Why, Amber, of course! Functioning as a liaison with the District Attorney’s Office and the District Court Judges who hear these cases, Deputy Miller communicates with victims and collaborating agencies, addresses safety and lethality concerns, and facilitates supervised custody exchanges. The National Advocate Credentialing Program recently certified Amber as an Advanced Comprehensive Victim Intervention Specialist in domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking. Beth Posner, Clinical Associate Professor at the UNC School of Law, wrote a letter in support of Amber’s application for this credential. She said, “Amber creates the docket and sits next to the clerk and the judge, demonstrating the profound role advocacy can play in a courtroom when an advocate has earned the respect and admiration she has within our civil and criminal justice system.” Moreover, the Hillsborough Exchange Club, an organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse, paid the fee for Amber’s credentialing application and provides emergency supplies for victims. This robust community support speaks volumes. In any emergency, call 911. If you are not in immediate danger, but experience violence or abuse within your relationship, contact our Crisis Unit at (919) 644-3050 or by clicking the Crisis Unit tab on our homepage (www.ocsonc.com ) and selecting “Request Crisis Unit Contact.” Walk-in service is also available Monday through Friday. Amber and her team are ready to help. Previous Next

c3efb734-29c9-4e23-8030-45df90bb28fc #68, Missing Teens January 29, 2025 Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood Earlier this month, just after posting a news release about a missing teenager, we received four media inquiries asking if we thought the child were in danger. Shortly thereafter, a social media follower expressed a desire for us to provide at least minimal context for missing teen news releases and requested we include whether we believed the child was voluntarily missing. These inquiries concern me because they may signal the first step in a dismissive process. I understand that people want to know into which mental box they should file the situation: might this be something that affects everyone in the community such as a kidnapper, serial killer, sexual predator or the like? Or is this perhaps an unhappy or headstrong teen and therefore of no pressing concern to anyone other than the child’s immediate family and friends? The possibility that readers might reach this latter conclusion bothers me a great deal. No one should be comfortable when adults cannot locate a 15-year-old, no matter the reason. Rest assured, if we issue a news release that begins with the sentence, “The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help,” it is because we are concerned for someone’s safety. We want people to rally around that fact, keep their eyes open for the missing person, and maybe even ask their own children if they know anything that might be useful. We do not want, and cannot afford, for anyone to dismiss the situation. A child missing for any reason is endangered. Regardless of whether a teen ran away, or perhaps just snuck out of the house, if that child stays gone several hours or even days, the outcomes all too often are not good. The situation is therefore an urgent one, and as a community that cares about its youth, we need to treat it accordingly. If someone is missing, it means we don’t know where he or she is or if he or she is safe, and therefore the context does not matter. We simply cannot declare that such a person is not in danger. Let’s talk about teenagers for a minute. I would wager that almost everyone (except people older than 12 and younger than 20!) would agree that adolescents, in general, are not known for their careful consideration before acting. Many would also remember some of the decisions they made at that age and cringe, maybe with horror, at how impulsive or ill-advised some of their choices were. My mother used to say, “Nothing good ever happens after 11 o’clock.” Although I used to hate that expression, as a parent and grandparent, I understand now what she meant. Too many kids die in crashes, commit stupid pranks that turn out to be criminal acts, become victims of sexual assault, flop in unsafe residential spaces, ingest questionable substances, or trust the wrong person who offers to buy them a hamburger. My communications manager reports that others have accused her (apparently more than once!) of getting lost in the weeds. But she repeatedly tells me she will not say that a missing child or teenager is not in any danger as a code for “this kid is a runaway.” She firmly believes that if no adult knows - at least vaguely - the whereabouts of an adolescent, there might be a problem. She also understands that sometimes, the teen leaves home because the very adult(s) who should be protecting that child are doing anything but. However, she is not insensitive to the human tendency to seek additional information to contextualize the situation. She therefore includes information to help readers frame their understanding of the circumstances surrounding the child’s disappearance. If she writes that a teen “left his residence” she is not-too-subtly hinting that the child did not suffer a kidnapping. If she adds information about where the child might be (“possibly in the White Cross area”), there is a strong possibility that deputies have some inkling about where - or in whose company- the missing person might be. Likewise, if my communication manager does not include suspect details, recommendations for increased vigilance, or information about a ransom note, she is probably telegraphing that the community at large has nothing to fear. Instead, we simply need help finding a vulnerable person. I support her approach, and we will continue to report the facts as we know them. To sum it up in one sentence, a missing child is an endangered child, and we are not going to tell you otherwise. ### Previous Next