The neighborhood, which years ago was a trouble spot in Seaboard, is a now quiet residential section. Damon's father, Tyrone Moody, is a different man than he was some 20 years ago when the man who is now his private detective, a former Northampton County narcotics agent, was investigating him for possible drug violations that never surfaced.

Moody, who owns a thriving lawn service with some 30 clients, is now a father looking for justice in his son's death and also looking to make it clear his son was a young man looking at a career as a mechanic who died in his brother's arms and not a street thug involved in the drug trade.

(Anyone with information is encouraged to go through Private Intel's website, the Seaboard Police Department at 252-589-5061 or Northampton County Crime Stoppers at 252-534-1110)

Damon's murder was one of two the weekend that started October 26 and ended that Sunday with the death of a man private investigator Norman Smith believes was a person of interest in his murder, a man named Kelvin Wilson Branch.

Home invasion

Damon, says Smith, was visiting his father that weekend, and primarily stayed with his mother in Raleigh. “It appears his father was targeted for a home invasion.”

Sometime around 7 p.m., three people entered the rear of the house. “They shot the first person they came in contact with,” who was Damon, “and tried to kill the other brother.”

Damon's brother, Darius, managed to escape and hid in the attic where he returned fire on the intruders.

Moody shows the attic panel that was struck during the shootout.

The home invasion probably lasted two minutes and the intruders left empty-handed but with blood on their hands in the death of Damon.

Police, says Smith, who runs Private Intel out of Sampson County, have tried to paint a different picture of Damon than what his investigation has shown. “They're trying to say he was a bad kid.”

Smith's investigation shows Damon, “Was a bright kid who was meek and mild-mannered and not the intended target. He was a special needs kid who had risen above the stigma and could fix anything mechanical. He had a talent for being able to fix things at an early age. He was not a troublemaker, not a drug dealer.”

What Smith believes is that Damon's father, who went to the store after giving Darius and Damon money for a rollerskating trip to Rocky Mount, was possibly the target because of the success of his business, his luck hitting winning lottery tickets and that many customers chose to pay him in cash.

While Damon's mother, Vicky Riddick, actually hired Smith, the private eye and Moody have become close during the course of the investigation. “She feels her son's death has mistakenly been treated as drug-related and wants people to learn who the real Damon is. She feels that the Seaboard Police Department is incapable of investigating this kind of case.”

The four-wheeler Damon repaired.

Smith says the State Bureau of Investigation, which is assisting Seaboard in the investigation, should be taking the lead in the case.

No drug ties

Smith's investigation has shown no ties to Damon and the drug business, only that three men who may or may not have been linked to two home invasions in Roanoke Rapids the same weekend, crashed into the house looking for money.

The death of Kelvin Branch, Smith said, could possibly be related to Damon's death, because Branch fit witness descriptions of who the intruders could be.

Whether Kelvin Branch's death was retaliation to Damon's death, is speculation, Smith said, but people not happy with police response may have decided to act on his behalf. “If the police showed up and it appeared it was window dressing, people can tell that than when they show up with a sense of urgency.”

Many, Smith said, believe the police department showed up and cast the murder off as drug-related.

Damon's funeral service program.

Moody

It hadn't been long since Moody went to the store that news of a shooting at 307 Faison Street, his own house, got to him.

He abandoned his own vehicle and got a ride. When he arrived there was a multitude of people outside. “There were probably a hundred people at the house. The police wouldn't let me come in the house,” he said.

He wouldn't go inside the house until the next morning as police and the SBI conducted their investigation throughout the evening.

Moody had given his sons money, a Friday tradition, and then left to go pick some things up at the store. Both boys were getting ready for their skating trip when three men, their faces covered, entered the house armed through the backdoor.

Moody put his children's names in concrete before Damon was killed.

One of the men pointed a gun at Damon's face and it is believed a scuffle ensued before Damon was shot.

Darius, who was in the living room, managed to get to his father's bedroom and then into the attic where gunfire was exchanged. The men exited through the front door.

Moody doesn't know why his house was targeted. “If they wanted to rob me I would have been on the deck between 11 and 12. If they wanted to rob me they could have.”

Moody describes the four people of interest — Kelvin Branch, who was killed two days later; Robert Branch, who is believed to be the getaway driver; Thomas Milton, who was injured in the Sunday shooting, and a man only known as Amos — as small-time wannabe gangsters who may have been involved in the Roanoke Rapids home invasions.

Damon, Moody said, was a quiet child who was growing out of some behavioral issues, and learned from his grandfather the ins and outs of mechanics. “We had a four-wheeler that hadn't run in 10 years that he fixed in one day.”

Investigators follow-up over the deadly weekend in this Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald photo.

Damon would have graduated from Independent Hill School this summer, his father said. Instead, one of his best friends at the Prince William County, Virginia, school planted a tree in his honor. “He wanted to be a mechanic. We were going to send him to mechanic school. That's all he talked about, going to mechanic school.”

Moody hasn't heard from law enforcement since December and believes they are concentrating more Kelvin Branch's death than his son's.

Kelvin Branch's death is not Moody's concern. “I don't know if he had something to do with my son. I could care less who killed him (Branch). I want justice for Damon.”

Smith has contacted Robert Branch, who agreed to take a polygraph, but as of yet has not met Smith to do it. “We're trying to locate them,” he said of the people of interest.