McKenzie Sessoms has been dead now as many years as she lived, and the 11-year-old girl’s murderer remains free, likely unsuspected in the 2013 sexual assault and suffocation death of the Sampson fifth-grader.

Her murder, once believed solved, is now a cold case, still open but back-burnered because no new evidence has apparently surfaced, information difficult to obtain since a pending lawsuit has silenced those who initially investigated the case, including Sampson Sheriff Jimmy Thornton.

Thornton, on the advice of the county’s attorney, declined to be interviewed about the status of the case this week, leaving questions about what, if anything, is being done to find the person responsible for the Salemburg Elementary student’s death.

But District Attorney Ernie Lee, who represents the four-county Fifth Prosecutorial District which includes Sampson, said Tuesday morning that he believes Sessoms’ family deserves closure and the case, though years old now, is never far from his mind nor the minds of those in Sampson who first investigated the case.

“It may be a cold case,” Lee stressed, “but it’s not a forgotten case. It still bothers me a lot. This was an 11-year-old girl. Nothing should have happened to her, yet it did. And the fact that it is still outstanding bothers me a great deal. I want closure, but more importantly I want justice for her family, justice for McKenzie.”

Law enforcement thought justice had been found back in 2014 when they arrested Trey Jones, a Lakewood High School freshman at the time, charging him with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the case.

Jones spent over five years in confinement while charged in Sessoms’ death. He was just 14 years old at the time and, according to court documents, had an IQ of 55.

Those charges were voluntarily dismissed in March 2021.

In December 2023, Jones filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Thornton and other law enforcement officers he said are responsible for violating his civil rights while investigating the Sessoms murder.

DNA evidence, which the lawsuit alleges Thornton initially claimed linked Jones to the rape and murder, actually excluded the suspect, now in his mid-20s, in the crimes.

While the lawsuit continues, the murder case appears to be dormant.

Lee said the fact that a murderer still roams free bothers him beyond belief, and he stressed that just because the case was considered cold it was far from being closed.

“As the DA of four counties, I can tell you there are a lot of cold cases in my district, but all it takes is one person to come forward with new evidence, new information to get this moving again.

“I can tell you that the SBI agents and sheriff’s officers who worked this case worked very hard back then and still think about it now. I think law enforcement officers, like me, carry it with them. It never really leaves us,” Lee said Tuesday.

That’s why he encourages anyone who might read this latest news article to come forward if they know anything about the 12-year-old case.

“There is no statute of limitations on a murder case,” he said. “If new evidence surfaces, if someone comes forward, it can help.”

Lee said he had personally handled three cold cases since becoming district attorney, one of which, a 38-year-old Onslow case, was tried in 2010, with the defendant convicted.

“It’s never too late,” he attested.

Cold cases, he said, can be challenging but they aren’t impossible to solve nor get convictions. “Every day that goes by makes it more challenging, but not impossible.”

And the Sessoms’ case, Lee said, was one of those he hoped could be resolved.

“Me and Robbie Thigpen worked on this case for years. We met with the victim’s family many times, and while I didn’t know McKenzie, I read all about her, heard all about her. She was a sweet, sweet young girl and she did not deserve what happened to her.”

Sessoms was found unresponsive on a couch in her living room where she had been sleeping while renovations were being made to her bedroom. Her father found her in the Salemburg home back in September 2013.

An autopsy report showed that the victim had been sexually assaulted and suffocated. Medical examiner Dr. Carl Barr said at the time of the murder that she had likely been smothered.

“This was, and remains, a very tragic case,” Lee said Tuesday. “I encourage anyone who might know something about this case to come forward, call the Sheriff’s Department. It might be the piece of evidence we need.”

Anyone with information about the Sessoms case, or any other case, should call 910-592-4141.