On August 30, 2023, at about 12:25 a.m., a deputy in Ellerbe, North Carolina, found 59-year-old James Edward Catfish Pankey on a dirt path between High Street and Railroad Street suffering from a gunshot wound. Emergency Medical Services pronounced Pankey dead at the scene.

Investigators later identified 39-year-old Demario Antwan McDonald of Greensboro as a suspect. McDonald was arrested October 13, 2023, in Montgomery County on unrelated charges and taken into custody on a Richmond County warrant charging him with murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was held without bond on the murder charge and given a secured $6,000 bond for the firearm count; an initial court appearance was set for November 1, 2023. Records list several prior convictions for McDonald, including breaking and entering, child abuse, possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, and assault on a woman.

Pankey, known as Catfish, lived in Ellerbe and is survived by his children James Little, Kwame Little, and Sasha Little Grace of High Point, five granddaughters, six grandsons, his sister Angela Pankey Martin of Ellerbe, and his brother Robert Snap Pankey of Troy. A funeral service was held September 10, 2023, with burial at Sneed Grove AME Church cemetery. The investigation into the circumstances of his death remains ongoing.

If anyone has information about what happened that night, contact Richmond County Crime Stoppers.