Her family believed she had already been reported missing after she vanished in August 2024. They didn't learn until October that no one had filed a report.
By then, Annie Christine Lock, 27, had been gone nearly two months. The Fayetteville, North Carolina, mother was five weeks pregnant when she disappeared, according to her family, and shared a young daughter with her boyfriend, Tyrique Zavier Leroy Williams.
Nearly two years later, Williams admitted responsibility for Annie’s death. In August 2026, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and desecration of a body or remains to conceal an unnatural death. Court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show he was sentenced to 15 to 19 years in a North Carolina prison, with credit for 468 days already served.
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Her Family Thought She Had Already Been Reported Missing
The Fayetteville Police Department said Annie was last seen on August 17, 2024, in the area of Kiana Lane. A search warrant later cited by ABC11 said investigators believed she had argued with Williams before leaving the Cliffdale Road apartment where they lived.
Her family became concerned and asked officers to check the apartment. Williams reportedly told relatives that he would file a missing person report, leading them to believe police had already been formally notified.
Annie’s younger sister, Tanya Lock, eventually asked Williams about whether detectives had followed up.
“I found out in October because I questioned him,” Tanya later told ABC11. She said Williams acknowledged he hadn't filed the report.
Tanya reported her sister missing on October 10.
Before police found Annie, they had traced some activity connected to her disappearance. Phone records showed movement through Hoke County, Red Springs and Lumberton before returning to Fayetteville on August 18. Her phone was last active on August 29, while investigators found no activity in her bank accounts after August 15.
Tanya later said messages kept arriving from Annie’s phone after she vanished, but the spelling and writing didn't sound like her sister. She continued responding because she couldn’t be sure Annie wasn’t the person sending them.
Her Sister Said Annie “Means the World to Me”
As the search stretched into 2025, Tanya spoke publicly about her relationship with her sister.
“She actually was the one who cut my daughter’s umbilical cord,” she told ABC11 in March 2025. “So it’s just like, she kind of means the world to me.”
The disappearance landed during an already painful period for the family. One of Annie’s brothers died in October 2024, and their father, who had suffered a stroke several years earlier, sometimes forgot that Annie was missing.
Tanya said the family’s holidays and celebrations had changed without her sister. Annie’s birthday passed in January while relatives were still waiting for answers.
Those answers came in April, but not the ones they had hoped for.
On April 13, 2025, Robeson County sheriff’s deputies found human remains in a body of water near N.C. 72 West and Buie Philadelphus Road in the Red Springs area. The North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified them as Annie’s.
Investigators told ABC11 that her remains were in an advanced state of decomposition. Authorities did not publicly release a complete account of how Annie died.
Her mother, Tanya Whitehead, said her daughter had done nothing to deserve what happened to her. Annie’s longtime friend Katrice Baker also remembered how much motherhood meant to her.
“My friend had her dreams taken away,” Baker told the station. “She wanted to be a mom ever since I met her.”
Williams Pleaded Guilty in 2026
Three days after Annie’s remains were identified, Williams was arrested by U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division agents while undergoing basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Fayetteville police initially charged him with first-degree murder and concealment of death. He was returned to North Carolina to face prosecution in Cumberland County.
Williams ultimately pleaded guilty in August 2026 to the lesser homicide offense of second-degree murder, along with desecration of a body or remains to conceal an unnatural death. He received a sentence of 15 to 19 years.
Please share Annie Lock’s story and remember the mother, sister, daughter, and friend whose family spent months searching for her. She is our sister, and her life matters.
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