Families who have loved ones missing in Robeson County will soon be able to get some closure, thanks to the cold case and missing persons unit. “This is a true effort to try and bring closure to some of these families in this county,” said Sheriff Burnis Wilkins.
The newly elected Sheriff of Robeson County has formed a team of retired law enforcement officers from various cities, counties, and state agencies. The experienced team will be looking over cases that might have fallen through the cracks.
“Retired investigators that are seasoned in working on homicide cases are going back to start looking over all the cold cases and missing persons because its become a major focus here in the county. I want to bring closure to some families, if I can,” said Wilkins.
Wilkins was the former Chief of detectives of the Sheriff’s office back in the early 90’s and saw a problem even then with unsolved cases. Wilkins has spoken to several family members in the community who have missing loved ones and said this new unit is long overdue in Robeson County.
“They’re just glad to know the case files is not just sitting in a file cabinet but that we actually have a group of people dedicated to looking over that,” said Wilkins.
With the amount of missing person cases in Robeson County, Sheriff Wilkins says there’s no particular order. “I do know some of them are really close to being solved, they just need more hands and eyes. We’re going to look over the cases that we think would be solved the quickest regardless of their timelines and go to those first,” said Wilkins.
If you have any information on any missing persons case, you’re urged to call the Robeson County Sheriff’s office at (910) 671-3100.
