Timeka Donyale Pridgen, known as Meka, was 16 when she disappeared from her family home on South Street in La Grange, North Carolina, on May 12, 2001. She was last seen in the living room about 10:15 p.m.; when her mother, Cosandra Best, woke around midnight Timeka was gone. She left behind personal items including her purse, money, and shoes, and the night was cool and rainy.

Suspicion focused on Best’s then-boyfriend Eric Earl Mercer Moore Sr. although he denied being at the house that night. Cell phone records placed his phone near the Pridgen residence, witnesses recalled hearing a car they believed was his, and two women who were with Moore the next day said he talked about Timeka before Best had told him she was missing. Moore had a prior criminal record including kidnapping, assault, theft and a sex crime, and was later convicted in 2006 of a sexual assault on a minor and imprisoned. He was released in 2015 and died of natural causes in October 2023. The Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office has publicly named Moore as the person they believe responsible, but he was never charged in Timeka’s disappearance.

Multiple searches have yielded no clues to Timeka’s whereabouts and the case remains open. If anyone knew Timeka, her movements that night, or has information that could help locate her, please come forward.