The search continues for a Lenoir County teen who disappeared 23 years ago, and investigators say the believe they know who took the then-16-year-old from her mother’s home.
Retired Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill, who stepped down from the top job in 2014, has been working cold cases for the county and he said Timika Pidgen’s is one of those cases.
Timika disappeared from her South Street home in La Grange on May 12, 2001.
Hill said Eric Moore, the then-boyfriend of Timika’s mother Cosondra Best, had long criminal history, was convicted of multiple sex offenses, including child sex charges, as well as kidnapping, and served time in prison.
Although he denied it many times, investigators believe Moore was behind the teen’s abduction. Moore had long been a suspect in Timeka’s disappearance, including suspicions by Best, and the pair split shortly after the kidnapping. He died last October.
Hills described it as more of a circumstantial case against Moore rather than DNA or physical evidence, and said they may not ever know what his motive was beyond the match with his previous crimes.
Search efforts have continued, and Hill says they will keep searching for her or her body. They believe she may be found somewhere between LaGrange and Goldsboro.
They are asking anyone that may have spoken to Moore about the disappearance before his death to contact investigators.
