Police search Cumberland County home for evidence in Locklear disappearance

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C.

Hope Mills police told ABC11 that they were looking for evidence in connection with the Danielle Locklear disappearance.

Officers worked well into the evening searching a home and lot along N.C. Highway 210 south, not far from where a body was found Wednesday.

Chopper 11 HD was over the home as nearly a dozen Cumberland County Sheriff's deputies, Hope Mills police, and a police tracking dog made an extensive search of the home, an outbuilding, and a lot. Officers would not say specifically what evidence they were looking for in the search, nor have they said who lives in the mobile home.

Meanwhile, authorities are still awaiting the positive ID of the body. They believe it could be the missing 15-year-old.

Friday, authorities released a call made by a sheriff's deputy, who along with another man, was fishing in the South River when he spotted what appeared to be a body floating in the water.

"I'm down here on Hollow Bridge Road just outside Autryville on the Cumberland County side," said the deputy to a dispatcher. "Is there a deputy close by with a pair of binoculars so I can make sure this isn't a body in the water?"

It turned out the object was the body of a young woman found floating in the river.

The sheriff says his deputy reported it and followed exact procedures.

Locklear's family told ABC11 that Hope Mills police suspect the body may be Danielle. She disappeared March 11 after telling her grandfather she was walking to a friend's home, and never made it there.

Police say they've had 500 tips and leads called in since her disappearance. The police chief says officers are checking out each one.

The body is at the Medical Examiner's office. Police say they could have a positive ID by Monday.

Police have not said if any more searches for Locklear are planned for the weekend.

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