A pair of bloody sewing scissors, a ransacked home on Chambers Road, and two decades of silence — that's what Durham County investigators are still working with in the murder of 68-year-old Rosa Lee Crabtree, and this week the state is putting real money behind a new push for answers. Governor Josh Stein announced Monday that he is raising the state reward in the case from $5,000 to $25,000, a fivefold increase aimed at shaking loose information that has eluded detectives since 2005.
Crabtree was found fatally stabbed inside her Rougemont home on November 7, 2005, according to an autopsy report from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner cited by the News & Observer. The medical examiner determined she died from five stab wounds to the chest that pierced her left lung and heart, and a pair of bloody sewing scissors was recovered near her body, according to reporting cited on Websleuths. Crabtree's son was the one who discovered her body at the Chambers Road home, per the News & Observer's account.
Crabtree had returned home from church shortly before she was attacked, and responding deputies found a Bible lying on the living room floor near her body, according to crime scene reporting cited by Websleuths. She was widely known in her local church and community as “Miss Rosa Lee,” the same reporting notes. Some of her jewelry was later found scattered in the carport and grass along Chambers Road, per the News & Observer, and a television was also missing from the home.
A Break-In Gone Fatal in a Community Unused to Murder
Investigators have long suspected robbery as the motive behind the killing. Evidence gathered from the ransacked crime scene led Durham County Sheriff's Office detectives to conclude that more than one person was involved in the burglary, though investigators believed a single individual inflicted the fatal wounds, according to the Websleuths account of the case. At the time of the killing, local law enforcement authorities reported that Crabtree's death marked the first homicide recorded in the rural Rougemont community in more than 40 years, the same report states.
The case has not gone untouched in the years since. Durham County detectives revisited the case in 2015, according to the News & Observer, and the sheriff's office has continued to push for new leads more recently. On June 2, 2026, the agency dedicated an episode of its official podcast, “Star Talk,” to Crabtree's murder, detailing how investigators are leveraging modern DNA tools and advanced forensic science to re-examine physical evidence, according to the Durham County Sheriff's Office. The office, led by Sheriff Clarence F. Birkhead since 2018, operates with roughly 500 sworn and civilian personnel and is reviewing the case.
Two Decades, One Number, Now Five Times Higher
Former Governor Michael Easley originally issued a $5,000 state reward proclamation in the case on December 22, 2005, an amount that remained unchanged for over two decades, according to a statement from the Office of Governor Josh Stein. Stein's decision to raise it to $25,000 falls well within his legal authority — North Carolina General Statute § 15-53.1 allows the governor to offer rewards of up to $100,000 for information leading to an arrest in felony cases.
“North Carolina must use every available tool to pursue justice for victims,” Stein said, according to the News & Observer. He urged North Carolinians with information to contact local law enforcement. Physical evidence re-submitted by Durham County detectives is now being processed by the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory, the state agency that performs specialized forensic analysis — including DNA extraction and trace evidence testing — for law enforcement agencies statewide, per the governor's office.
Part of a Broader Statewide Push on Cold Cases
Crabtree's case was not the only one addressed Monday. Stein issued simultaneous $25,000 reward proclamations in four other unsolved murders across Rowan, New Hanover, and Mecklenburg counties, including the December 2024 shooting death of 31-year-old Don'Tae De'Charles Nixon in New Hanover County, according to Port City Daily. State officials framed the coordinated announcement as an effort to generate new leads across multiple long-stalled investigations at once.
For Rougemont, the unresolved question remains whether someone who knows what happened on Chambers Road two decades ago will finally come forward. With investigators believing more than one person took part in the break-in but only one delivered the fatal blows, the new $25,000 incentive leaves open the possibility that an accomplice — someone who did not wield the scissors — could still be the one who breaks the case.
