Captains Landis Lee and Gerald Tadlock of the Sampson County Sheriff's Office helped in the failed searches, both then and now. The 1976 case file was put in storage when the leads dried up long ago.

The bells may soon be ringing again at two local churches. Someone stole a 1,500 pound bell from the Mitcheners Grove Baptist Church in Franklin County July 7.

Captains Landis Lee and Gerald Tadlock of the Sampson County Sheriff's Office helped in both searches. “It was believed that it was family connected with the child being missing,” Landis said.

The trail remains cold in the search for 4-year-old Buddy Myers, who disappeared from a Sampson County home in 2000. Thirty-nine years ago, investigators felt the same frustration in the search ...