LAURINBURG — Their words were measured, but the anger was evident.

For 16 years, the three children of Lorraine McMillan Broady have had to relive the anniversary of her murder — except this year it’s very different. In October 2019, the lead Laurinburg detective on the case, Kimothy Monroe, published a book titled “Monster Eyes” based on the Jan. 24, 2003, murder of Broady and another woman in 2001.

The murders were committed by John Antonio Singletary, who lived on the same street as both victims and was charged with murder, larceny, kidnapping and more. He was given a life sentence and remains in prison to this day.

But for Broady’s children — Danielle, Dawn and Desmond — the book has caused them to relive the pain all over again in graphic detail, some of which even they didn’t know.

“He took my mother’s character and turned her into just a victim,” said Dawn McMillan. “He made her to be just a victim and included details that I don’t want my own siblings to read because they aren’t things you want your last thought about your mother.”

The family has been quiet about the case since it happened and now feel the option to stay quiet has been taken from them, especially since anyone who was in Laurinburg at the time will know exactly what the book is about. The book gives Lorraine a slight name change to Loretta, but Dawn added several times in the book she’s referred to as Lorraine and added it shows photos of the homes of the victims on the front cover.

“It’s like he wanted the people in the situation to know, OK you did that for legal purposes,” Desmond said. “But you wanted people who knew the situation who you were talking about, because that’s not hiding anything.”

Another thing the family took issue with was the lack of communication before the book was published.

“The family of his other victim had been the one to reach out, telling me he wanted to speak to me,” Danielle Broady said. “I was in shock when he told me he had written a book on my mother’s case … he said he changed the names and location so it was his legal right to not consult with us. I had asked if there were things in there we didn’t know and he said yes — when I asked him what, he told me to read the book.”

Danielle added she asked if they could get a copy ahead of time to brace themselves, but when he send it to them it was the same day it went public.

“Laurinburg isn’t that big of a place and that was probably one of the biggest events in town,” Danielle said. “The people who were around then are still here, they still remember it. But he didn’t have a care or concern about how it would effect us … he saw firsthand what it did to us and this is like reliving it all over again.”

Now the family is hoping to take back the voice of their mother and turn her back into the woman they knew, rather than a murder victim, even if it means promoting the book.

“We’ve been silent since my mother was taken from us, but now it’s a risk we’re willing to take,” Danielle said. “We just want to put our voice out there … I’ve had people come to me and ask if it’s OK if they read it and I just tell them brace yourself, because it’s going to affect you.”

Who was Lorraine Broady?

The siblings told The Laurinburg Exchange their mother had worked at North Laurinburg Elementary School as the receptionist and was the best grandmother to seven grandchildren. She was the oldest of six, a woman of God and had a heart of gold.

“She was my best friend, as cliche as that is, she was,” Desmond said. “She always had to remind me that, ‘I’m your mother, I don’t want to know everything,’ but I felt comfortable enough to tell her everything. I was never embarrassed or bashful because she didn’t make you feel that way.”

They added she made them want to self-reflect and knew what was right and what was wrong, and wasn’t afraid to tell her children just that.

“She was unbiased with everything and it’s hard to find people like that,” Danielle said. “Didn’t matter if it was her children, she’d tell you that you were in the wrong. She told it like it was.”

Despite none of the three living in Laurinburg now, each year on her birthday, death anniversary and Mother’s Day, the trio make their way down to hold a memorial at a tree planted at North Laurinburg Elementary School by the students there in her memory. After meeting with The Exchange this week, a balloon release was held in the parking lot in memory of Lorraine. The anniversary of her death will be on Friday.

And the pain of the book will overwhelm the children.

Monroe, who now works for the Red Springs Police Department, did not return calls from The Exchange, but stated in a story with The Robesonian in November that he “didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings in the book.” The story also stated he didn’t want to shatter anybody’s life more than they had been and was “as careful as he could.”

But the family was clear this week that it’s not so much a question about how the book was written, but that it was written at all.

“It doesn’t matter who writes it, it’s still the detailed information in there that you’re going to share or not share with the world,” Dawn said. “It should have been a choice for us to make, not somebody who thought this case weighed on his heart … if the case weighed on your heart and it’s not even your mother, what do you think it did to our hearts?”

Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at [email protected]

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Children pained by newbook about the 2003murder of their mother

Katelin Gandee

Staff writer