Family wants justice in unsolved murder case

FAIR BLUFF, NC (WECT) - More than a year after his sister's murder, Curtis Nealy said his family has no closure.

Connie Simmons, 60, was shot three times during a home invasion April 3, 2016. The shooting happened in the middle of the night at the house Simmons shared with her boyfriend, James Royals, in Fair Bluff.

"She was a good person. She would've given you the shirt off of her back. She didn't bother anybody," Nealy said. "It's just a life gone."

Nealy is asking anyone with information to come forward, and whoever did it to step up and take their consequences.

"I don't know how that's supposed to make you feel. It's been almost two years and no suspects," Nealy said. "Somebody knows something. It will eat you like cancer. The not knowing why or who, it will eat you."

Nealy added that he could forgive his sister's killer because that is what Simmons would have wanted.

"Think about if it was their family," he said. "Because our family needs some closure, and if it was their family, how would they feel about it?"

Police Chief Chris Chafin said the department has no new leads in the case. Simmons' death is the only unsolved murder case in Fair Bluff.

"We are still looking. We're not giving up," Chafin said. "Any new lead, we're going to follow to the end. We have not forgotten Ms. Connie Simmons and we won't forget Ms. Connie Simmons until we solve this case."

In September, former Governor Pat McCrory announced the state was offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Fair Bluff Police Department.

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