On Tuesday, January 8th, 1985, members of the Kinston Police Department responded to the residence of Ms. Hokie Shepherd, 61, which was located at 1100 E. Caswell St. Kinston, N.C. Ms. Shepherd had been located inside her residence by a friend and was deceased from an apparent gunshot wound and assault. Investigators were called to the scene and eventually solicited the help of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. As the years went by, detectives continued to work countless hours, leaving no stone unturned, and although the effort seemed endless, the case eventually grew cold. 

In March 2023, members of the Kinston Police Department contacted the NCSBI, the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office, the Baltimore Field Office, their Investigative Genetic Genealogy Team, and Othram for assistance in the case. Othram is a company that specializes in creating genealogy profiles using known and unknown DNA profiles to aid law enforcement in developing new leads. The DNA from the 1985 homicide suspect was submitted, and with the assistance of the FBI and NCSBI, a suspect was found. 

On September 30th, 2024, members of the Kinston Police Department presented the evidence from the genealogy profile to the Lenoir County District Attorney’s Office. The results identified the suspect as Thomas Williams Wade Jr., who was 28 at the time of the offense and was initially interviewed as a potential suspect. Soon after the crime, Thomas Wade moved from the Kinston area and spent the remainder of his life in Granville County, where he died in 2007. 

As with any crime, the members of the Kinston Police Department are dedicated to investigating all cases committed within our jurisdiction. We continue to encourage anyone with information regarding any incident to reach out to the Kinston Police Department’s Tips Line at 252-939-4020, contact Lenoir County Crime Stoppers at 252-523-4444, or use the Tip411 App, available on both Apple and Android devices. For more information on a list of Cold Cases, please check out our website at https://www.ci.kinston.nc.us/754/Cold-Cases .