#UNSOLVED: Tip on missing person turns case into homicide investigation

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — For nearly 8 years, a woman’s disappearance in Wilmington in 2000 was a missing person’s case until investigators received a tip that changed everything.

However, that tip wasn’t quite enough, because what happened to Pamela Bradshaw remains unsolved. 

“She was just the life of every party you know, just happy and friendly,” Bradshaw’s daughter Nicky Allder said. “She was the best person. If she had one dollar, and I’ve told plenty of people this… If she had one dollar, she’s gonna give you 99 cents of that. I mean great energy, bubbly, you know… you wouldn’t think with someone you know using drugs, but that if you ask people about her, that’s what they remember is just always happy and friendly and would do anything for anybody.”

Nicky Allder says her mom Pamela Bradshaw would do anything for anyone.

“We had a great relationship,” Allder said. “I mean there was nothing in the world that she wouldn’t do for me you know given her circumstances.”

Those circumstances created many struggles, but Allder says Bradshaw was always a good mom.

“Pam has been, been involved with drugs since a teenager,” Allder said. “That was one of the reasons why she got sent here to try to get clean and better herself.”

In September of 2000, everything changed.

“She had watched our daughter for us,” Allder said. “We went to dinner, came back and she was supposed to spend the night, but I took her back home.”

When Allder dropped her mom off where she was living at the time near Red Cross and 5th Street in Wilmington, it was the last time she ever saw her.

When asked about the moment she got a weird feeling about not hearing from Bradshaw, Allder said, “That night, because she was on a routine where everyday she had to call me every hour on the hour, so I knew that she was fine.”

Allder says she called her over and over again.

“She didn’t have like a cell phone or anything like that, but she did live with a man… Mr. Williams, so I would call his residence,” Allder said.

She said Williams saw Bradshaw that night.

“All he stated was that when I left, she went back out and he seen a white car with a blue soft top,” Allder said. “She got in and that was that.”

Detective Kevin Whitley with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office says Bradshaw was reported missing to Wilmington Police on May 31st, 2001. However, the case became a homicide in 2008.

“A tip came in from anonymous caller that provided information that they believe Pamela Bradshaw was actually taken by individuals to a house in the county in the Murrayville area and that she was killed and her body was disposed of,” Whitley said.

Allder reflects on the moment saying, “It was like being hit with a sledge hammer. It really changed everything.”

Whitley says detectives searched that house on Murrayville Road in 2010.

“Looking for any signs of a murder that happened, looking for Pamela’s body,” Whitley said. “There was some evidence collected. Ultimately, Pamela’s body was not recovered during that search, so there were still questions left unanswered.”

Whitley and Allder do believe Bradshaw was killed the night she went missing. They just need help finding those last few answers that would bring the justice Bradshaw deserves.

“They need to be prosecuted,” Allder said. “If I committed a crime, I would be prosecuted, you know? They took away my mother, my kid’s grandmother. You know she’s got brothers and sisters and stuff like that, so you took somebody that meant a lot to us.”

And the closure the family deserves.

“Come forth. If it was your mother or your sister or your brother you know any family member that was taken away from you and you have information or someone else has information, you know she has grandkids… she has a mom that’s going on 90 and I’ve always wanted closure before she left this world,” Allder said.

Allder said she just wants to know what happened.

“If they personally want to contact me,” Allder said. However you need to look me up, find me, I would just be willing to talk to someone that has that information and you know we can go from there because it is a scary time out there and people are afraid that someone might retaliate or soemthing like that so if you want to contact me personally I would definitely be happy to discuss what they know.

If you have any information regarding this case, please contact the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.