The Lost Girls of Rocky Mount: A Victim Spotlight

Accuracy Disclaimer: Every detail below is drawn from public reporting and court records, cited at the end of this article. Antwan Maurice Pittman has been convicted of one death — that of Taraha Shenice Nicholson. He has not been charged in the other nine cases discussed here, and all individuals are presumed innocent of any uncharged conduct unless proven otherwise in a court of law.

Between 2005 and 2010, ten women connected to Rocky Mount, North Carolina disappeared under strikingly similar circumstances. Nine were later found; one remains missing to this day. Before they became case files, before they became a pattern investigators would spend over a decade untangling, they were daughters, sisters, and mothers. This is a space to say their names.

Melody Wiggins, 29

Reported missing on May 30, 2005, Melody was the first known victim in this pattern. Her body was found just three days later in rural Edgecombe County. [1]

Christine Mary Boone, 43

Christine's family reported her missing on January 16, 2007. It would take more than three years — until March 9, 2010 — before her skeletonized remains were identified. [2]

Jackie Nikelia Thorpe

Reported missing May 8, 2007, Jackie's remains were found that August near Seven Bridges Road — the first victim recovered at the location that would come to define this case. [3]

Joyce Renee Durham, 46

Joyce was last seen in Rocky Mount on the afternoon of June 17, 2007. As of this writing, she has never been found. Her family and this community continue to hope for answers. [4]

Ernestine Battle, 50

Ernestine went missing in February 2008. A farmer found her remains near Seven Bridges Road the following month, though the condition of her remains meant a cause of death could never be determined. [5]

Yolanda Rene Lancaster, 36

Reported missing February 5, 2009, Yolanda's remains weren't located until January 2011 — nearly two years later — when hunters found them in a wooded area off Seven Bridges Road. [6]

Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, 33

Elizabeth's body was found on a Rocky Mount soccer field in February 2009. Because she had lost contact with family, her exact date of disappearance was never established — only that she had likely been gone about six months. [7]

Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28

Reported missing February 22, 2009, Taraha's case would become the only one in this pattern to reach trial. Her death led investigators to Antwan Pittman through DNA evidence, resulting in his 2011 conviction. [8]

Jarniece Latonya Hargrove, 31

Jarniece's family reported her missing on April 25, 2009. Her remains were found that June, a few yards from Seven Bridges Road. [9]

Roberta Williams, 40

Roberta's body was found beside Seven Bridges Road in March 2010. Her family has said they reported her missing before her remains were found — a report law enforcement says it never received. [10]

Why We're Telling Their Stories

Only one of these ten cases has ever resulted in a conviction. The other nine remain officially unresolved. This spotlight exists because these women deserve to be remembered as more than a statistic in an unsolved pattern — and because public attention has, historically, been part of what moves cold cases forward.

🎧 Hear the full case breakdown on this week's episode of The Last Known Moment. Listen here

📰 Read the evidence and investigative analysis: The Evidence, the DNA Match, and the Nine Cases That Were Never Pursued

If you have information about any of these cases, or about Joyce Renee Durham's whereabouts, please contact the Rocky Mount Police Department or the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office.

Sources

1. WRAL-TV — "Victim's mother talks about renewed probe into daughter's death," July 1, 2009

2. WRAL-TV — "Funeral held for once-missing Rocky Mount woman," March 27, 2010

3. WRAL-TV — "Body of Thorpe found," August 17, 2007

4. The Charley Project — Joyce Renee Durham case file

5. NC Fighting Crime — "Coincidence or Victims of a Serial Killer? Seven Bridges Rd Killer," October 24, 2020

6. WITN — "New Info: Human Remains Found In Edgecombe County Woods," January 11, 2011; The News & Observer, January 12, 2011

7. WRAL-TV — "Rocky Mount body identified," October 12, 2009

8. WRAL-TV — "Taraha Nicholson's body found," March 7, 2009

9. ABC11/WRAL-TV — "Body of woman identified," July 8, 2009

10. WRAL-TV — "Remains identified as Rocky Mount woman," April 1, 2010

This article is based on publicly available information and is for educational purposes only. NaturalQueen77 TV strives for accuracy but cannot guarantee completeness. All individuals discussed are presumed innocent of any uncharged conduct.