A family attorney connected to a high-profile North Carolina cold case is speaking on the emotional toll the decade-long investigation has brought to the family of Sara Graham, an 18-year-old who disappeared from Robeson County in 2015. 

Connie Graham, 65, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her stepdaughter. Robeson County Sheriff's deputies arrested her at a Fairmont home, signaling a major breakthrough in a cold case that had gone unsolved for 11 years. 

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Graham is also charged with conspiring to destroy evidence along with her two biological sons, Bobby McClellan and Luke Locklear, to hide the murder. The sons are accused of destroying evidence related to the case and even helping dispose of Sara's body. 

Attorney Carlton Mansfield filed the motion on behalf of Sara Graham's biological mother Catherine Armenta to have a judge declare Sara deceased this February. 

“Some days it was just difficult for her to even talk about it," Lumberton based attorney Carlton Mansfield said.

WRAL previously reported how the filing, submitted on the 11 year mark of Sara Graham's disappearance, was signed off by a judge several months later and several weeks before her stepmother's arrest.

“I think in ways it brings up feelings that had maybe been under the surface for a while. A lot of emotions that maybe she and her other children haven’t had to deal with as much. Even the filing of the action was a pretty heavy topic," he said. 

The filing is centered on North Carolina state law, which when cited in the filing said "A missing person may be presumed dead if they have been absent from their last known residence and unheard from for a continuous period of seven (7) years." 

Emotional toll of decade-long cold case

Mansfield, a Lumberton-based attorney, told WRAL Catherine Armenta still has questions about her daughter's disappearance even after Connie Graham's arrest. 

Mainly, what exactly happened to Sara's body?

“Given the murky circumstances around her disappearance, it weighs heavily on Catherine daily. Something she’ll never get over. I think the main thing is, she’d like to know as close to possible what happened," he says. 

Nearly four months passed between when Catherine Armenta filed her petition through Mansfield, and when the judge actually signed it on June 1. That time is considered standard procedure for civil matters, according to Mansfield.

When asked if Armenta was surprised by the fact that members of Sara’s own family were arrested in connection with her death, Mansfield said, "I don’t know if she had always thought that, but she’s felt that for a number of years."

“I think the involvement of those people charged, has been the subject of discussion in that community [Robeson County] and with Catherine and her family for years now.”

One week later, where do investigators turn next?

According to Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins, "multiple" new tips have been submitted since Connie Graham's arrest. 

Below is the full statement he sent to WRAL:

We are continuing to follow up on multiple new tips being submitted since the arrest and ask for anyone who has information that would be helpful to the ongoing investigation, to contact our office. In cases such as this, the investigation doesn’t stop because of an arrest. We feel there is much more to be told.