Local

Hamlet police open cold case of man beaten to death in 2006

HAMLET, N.C. — Hamlet Police are seeking the public's help to solve a cold case murder where a man was beaten to death.

Michael McLean's body was found on Oak Avenue on Jan. 20, 2006, by a city sanitation worker.

Police said his injuries were so traumatic they at first thought he had been struck by a car.

"A homicide is never solved until it's closed. Nobody deserve to be treated the way he was treated that night," said Hamlet Police Chief Rodney Tucker.

Investigators said McLean was last seen leaving a friend's home and walking toward his apartment, which was just a short distance away.

Police said there were few clues at the crime scene and the police tip line never yielded enough information to obtain a warrant on a possible suspect.

"We are hoping that somebody out there, and we know they are out there, will come forward and give some information, so we can give this family some closure," Tucker said.

McLean's sister, Barbara Lockey, told Channel 9 she thought her brother's murder case had been forgotten after eight years of waiting for answers.

"When a case is so old, it goes cold. It's torment, you think about him constantly," Lockey said.

Lockey described McLean as a kind soul who loved to fish and play with his nieces and nephews on Sunday at his mother's home.

"We torment, you think about him constantly. They took something I really did love," Lockey said.

McLean's nephew Josh Medlin said he hopes someone will feel their grief and do the right thing.

"They've run free from it for eight years. It's their time. They can run from it, we can't. It's here every day," Medlin said.

Anyone with information should call Hamlet Police at 910-58-2551.