Authorities arrested a US Army soldier from North Carolina during basic training after he allegedly murdered his pregnant girlfriend, disposed of her body in a pond, and married another woman two months later.
Private First Class Tyrique Zavier Leroy Williams, 26, is accused of first-degree murder and concealment of death in the death of 24-year-old Annie Lock, who was last seen in August and discovered dead on Sunday in a pond near the intersection of State Road 72 West and Buie Philadelphus Road in Red Springs, a town about 115 miles southeast of Charlotte.
Lock was last seen on Kiana Lane in Fayetteville on August 17, but was not reported missing until October 10, according to a press release from the Fayetteville Police Department.
Local NBC affiliate WRAL spoke with Lock’s family, who said Williams informed them in August that he would file a missing person report. Her family also had cops stop by Williams and Lock’s apartment, but he said she was not there.
But two months later, Williams allegedly failed to file that report and married another woman.
“I found out in October after I questioned him. I asked, “Have detectives contacted you regarding anything?” “He said, ‘I didn’t file a report,'” her sister Tanya Lock told local ABC affiliate WTVD.
Her family has reported her missing. Family members told WTVD that she was five weeks pregnant when she vanished.
On Sunday, Robeson County Sheriff’s Office deputies recovered Lock’s badly decomposed body from a pond in Red Springs, about 30 miles from his last known location.
Williams was arrested on Wednesday by the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was finishing his basic training with the 35th Engineer Battalion, according to an email from a spokesperson to Law&Crime.
He was then transported to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, where he is currently being held awaiting extradition to North Carolina. WTVD reports that Williams arrived at the Army base on March 12.
Lock’s family has endured excruciating pain in recent months.
“I found out on my birthday that my child was gone,” Lock’s mother, Tanya Whitehead, told the television station, fighting back tears. “You removed someone from her family. She has never done anything wrong.”
Police have not released a cause of death or motive for the slaying. The couple’s neighbors said they didn’t get along well.
“They would be outside pushing each other and stuff like that,” a neighbour told WTVD.
