FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – Ten years after a Franklin County woman was reported missing, her boyfriend has been indicted in her death.
Heather Hodges, who was 22-year-old at the time, was reported missing from her home on Shady Lane in Rocky Mount in April 2012. Saturday marked the ten-year anniversary of her being reported missing.
In 2012, she was living with her boyfriend, Paul “Scooter” Jordan II, who police said reported her missing two days after Hodges was seen alive. According to court documents, he said that Hodges left their home and never came back.
Hodges had a two-year-old daughter, who is now 11. According to Crystal Songer, Hodges’ sister, she lives with family.
[Hear what Hodges’ family had to say about her case on the anniversary of her disappearance]
Authorities said that over the past decade there have been searches involving helicopters and canines and countless interviews with friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances. Several other law enforcement agencies also assisted the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
Jordan was arrested on unrelated charges in 2017 and was eventually identified as the primary person of interest in the disappearance. In 2018, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office switched its efforts to a homicide investigation. Hodge’s body has still not been found.
Authorities said that since Jordan’s arrest, their investigation continued and turned up significant evidence of Jordan’s involvement in Hodge’s disappearance and death.
On Thursday, a decade after Hodges was reported missing, the Franklin County Circuit Court Special Grand Jury issued indictments for Jordan for second-degree murder and concealing a body.
“Heather’s disappearance has always been an active investigation and has never been considered a cold case,” the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement sent out Thursday.
Jordan is currently at Green Rock Correctional Center on unrelated chargers, including seven years on an abduction by force conviction.