Sheremy Dillard spent years teaching, coaching and encouraging young people in North Carolina, building relationships that extended well beyond the basketball court.

Now two school communities are mourning the loss of the 57-year-old girls basketball coach and teacher, who was found dead Thursday at her Raleigh home.

Dillard was the girls basketball coach and a recovery teacher at Felton Grove High School in Apex after previously spending years as a teacher and girls basketball coach at Carrboro High School.

Those who knew Dillard have described a coach with an infectious smile, a strong but comforting coaching style and a willingness to advocate for the students and athletes she served.

“Coach Dillard left Carrboro with a profound legacy of class, grace, wisdom and dedicated service,” a Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools spokesperson said in a statement reported by ABC 11 News. “She treated Jaguar players, coaches and colleagues like family, while never hesitating to engage in the hard conversations needed to advocate for equity and do what was best for our students and community.”

Dillard Was a Conference Coach of the Year at Carrboro

Dillard built much of her coaching legacy at Carrboro, where CBS 17 News reported she was named the Northern Lakes Athletic Conference girls basketball Coach of the Year in 2023.

Her impact, however, extended beyond wins, losses and basketball.

According to ABC11, Dillard graduated from North Carolina Central University and dedicated herself to coaching and mentoring young people. She was also a member of Tau Gamma Delta Sorority, Incorporated.

Ticca Harris, a fellow sorority member and longtime friend, told ABC11 that Dillard invested not only in her athletes but in the lives of people around her.

“She was also invested in my kids, my kids playing sports,” Harris told ABC11. “And so she was always one of their biggest cheerleaders and not only that, she was one of my biggest cheerleaders.”

Harris said Dillard “spread joy” and hoped those who knew her would continue living with the same spirit.

Dillard Helped Launch Felton Grove High School

Dillard joined Felton Grove High School when the Apex school opened in 2025, according to CBS 17.

In addition to coaching girls basketball, she worked as a recovery teacher, helping students catch up on skills or credits they needed.

Felton Grove principal Robert Morrison informed families of Dillard’s death in a message to the school community.

“Our condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends,” Morrison wrote, according to WRAL News. “Please keep them and all of those that have been impacted by this loss in your hearts.”

Morrison said the school would provide support as students and staff process Dillard’s death.

“We will work together as a unified school community and we will support one another as we process this loss and navigate this challenging time together,” he wrote.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools also planned to provide resources to Carrboro staff and students as that community mourns its former coach, according to ABC11.

Police Charge Dillard’s Boyfriend With First-Degree Murder

Dillard was found at her Raleigh home shortly after noon Thursday after family members became concerned because they had not heard from her, according to WRAL.

Raleigh police said Dillard suffered multiple stab wounds.

Police identified Dillard’s boyfriend, Rickey Harper, as a suspect and said surveillance technology helped investigators determine that he had left North Carolina. Harper was taken into custody Friday afternoon in Pennsylvania.

The Wake County District Attorney’s Office charged Harper with first-degree murder in connection with Dillard’s death, WRAL reported.

The charge is an allegation, and the case remains subject to the criminal justice process.

‘She Treated Jaguar Players, Coaches and Colleagues Like Family’

For the athletes, students and colleagues Dillard encountered during her career, her death leaves a loss that reaches across school district lines.

“Many of our current Jaguar staff and students had strong relationships with Coach Dillard,” Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said in its statement, “and as our community begins to process this loss, we will rely on each other for the needed support at this sad time.”

Harris offered a more personal description of the coach she knew.

“She spread joy,” Harris told ABC11. “I loved her just like everybody else did.”

For Dillard’s former players and students, those memories now form part of a legacy built over years of teaching, coaching, advocating and encouraging young people — one that stretched far beyond the basketball court.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — This week, a couple was sentenced to prison on drug trafficking charges, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson announced.

Jason Mills, 47, of Hendersonville, N.C., pled guilty to distribution of fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. Stephanie Hope Lindsey, 40, of East Flat Rock, N.C., also pled guilty to distribution of fentanyl.

Mills was sentenced to 135 months, or about 11 years, in prison followed by five years of supervised release. The U.S. Department of Justice adds that when he reoffended, Mills was on federal probation for a federal trafficking conviction in Florida. Therefore, his 10-year sentence will run when his federal violating probation sentence expires.

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Lindsey was sentenced to 46 months, or nearly four years, in prison and three years of supervised release, the DOJ said.

According to court documents and testimony at sentencing, law enforcement investigated Mills for supplying fentanyl and methamphetamine in Henderson and Buncombe counties. Between January and February 2024, Mills and his girlfriend, Lindsey, were involved in multiple drug transactions with a person cooperating with law enforcement, with Lindsey sometimes carrying out sales coordinated by Mills and other times driving him to meetups. Mills also conducted some transactions on his own.

ASHEVILLE FELON SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR FENTANYL DISTRIBUTION: DOJ

On Feb. 12, 2024, the DOJ said investigators searched Mills’ Asheville residence and seized 86.38 grams of fentanyl, 87 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale and $2,000 in cash. A search of his vehicle the same day also uncovered 69 methamphetamine-containing pills and bags containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

While searching for some memorabilia recently I stumbled across a large 15 x 22-inch envelope which was labeled North Carolina Documents 1584-1868. It was so intriguing that I consumed most of an afternoon reading its contents.

Inside the package were 13 historical documents published in 1985 by The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources’ Division of Archives and History. The fascinating contents included both facsimiles of the original documents, as well as typewritten translations of the hard-to-real Olde English penmanship.

The first was the 1584 charter given by Queen Elizabeth I to Walter Raleigh to explore our lands. Next was a 1660 deedfrom King Charles II to Nathaniel Batts for property along the Pasquotank River, given when the Lords Proprietors had title to the southeastern areas of North and South Carolina. The 1669 Fundamental (first) Constitution of the Carolinas spelled out the government guidelines from the Lords Proprietors.

Further documents included the minutes from the Tryon County (now Gaston) Committee of Safety in 1775, detailing colonists’ protestations over taxes and edicts from England, as well as a copy of the 1776 Halifax Resolves, in which North Carolina delegates to the Continental Congress were instructed to vote for independence from the “Mother Country.”

The packet continued with the 1776 Constitution, supposedly written by Englishman John Locke; the Secession Ordinance of 1861; the Constitutional Revision of 1835; and the revised Constitution of 1868, in the Reconstruction era following the Civil War.

As I read these 13 documents, I was constantly reminded how our North Carolina ancestors pursued freedom by risking their own fortunes and found myself constantly astounded by their incomparable courage in risking all to attain it.

My thoughts shifted to today and considered some of the things currently experienced. It prompted me to wonder why we don’t see similar levels of courage evidenced now. Let’s cite a few examples.

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The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is usually an event where the press corps and the president are jocular, poking fun at each other, but there was nothing playful at the recent event. The American President insulted and attacked the press, singling out individuals with demeaning name-calling. It was distasteful, mean-spirited and offensive. Where was the courage of those correspondents present? Why did they just sit silently and take this churlish behavior? Why didn’t they arise en masse and walk out? That would have been the courageous thing to do. Yes, the President is due respect, but there was nothing respectful in his behavior. It did not deserve homage, and a mass exodus would have emphatically told him so.

Turning to North Carolina, where is the courageous outrage over the wholesale disenfranchisement of voters wreaked by blatant gerrymandering and obvious disregard of the rights of voters we’ve seen in recent legislation? After fighting so long and hard to gain the right to vote, what would our founders say about those obviously tampering with election laws? Why are so many silent?

What would these patriot founders, who back in 1789 recognized the value of education by founding The University of North Carolina, say about the deliberate and destructive dismantling of our state’s k-12 public education system? They would likely be outraged by such tepid response.

Further, our founders deliberately and with careful forethought constructed our system of government to include three separate branches. It is noted they wanted our legislature (Assembly) to have more powers than either the executive (Governor) or judicial branches, but they never envisioned the Assembly would attempt to take virtually absolute powers from the executive branch or ignore rulings of the courts. We are witnessing a massive power grab by a small minority of our populous. Why aren’t patriotic North Carolinians revolting over these actions?

Many of those perpetrating these policies profess to being Christians. They want to publish The Ten Commandments in every schoolhouse. They want to tell women how to treat their own bodies, tell folks how to dress, how to refer to themselves and want to enforce their version of Christianity. But they seem to ignore the teachings of Jesus about feeding the poor, giving to those with less, tending the sick and loving our neighbors. And where are courageous souls when our legislature wants to cut taxes to the bone, ignoring infrastructure, healthcare and many other needs?

We are a great state, the “goodliest soile under the cope of heaven,” discoverer Ralph Lane proclaimed. And we enjoy a strong economy, good jobs, a wonderful climate and many natural advantages. What has brought us this point in our evolution is the dedication and courage of people who stood up for right, for justice and for the common good.

But has courage skipped this generation?

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965. Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com