Pregnant Mom Shot Dead Hours Before Giving Birth

Just hours from welcoming a new life, 41-year-old Brandi Deal was shot and killed in her North Carolina trailer. The quiet road where she lived, Clark Loop in Morganton, became the center of a tragic and senseless act that shocked an entire community.

A Violent Dispute Turns Fatal

On Feb. 10, 2023, Deal was home, lying on her bed, when a shotgun blast tore through the walls of her mobile home. The shooter was Dylan James Rogers, 32, a man with a personal grudge not against Deal but her boyfriend, Richard Buff. Buff, Deal's partner and father of her unborn child, wasn't home at the time.

Investigators later said the motive was a personal dispute between the two men.

But the result was the death of a mother of three and the baby girl she was about to deliver.

How Police Caught the Killers

At first, the call to 911 described a cardiac arrest. When deputies arrived, they found Deal had been shot multiple times.

It didn't take long for detectives to determine this was no accident.

Authorities collected surveillance video from homes in the area and conducted multiple interviews. The footage showed a vehicle circling Deal's home around the time of the shooting. That led them to two suspects — Dylan Rogers and Tammy Duckworth Boone, 52, who drove the car.

Both were arrested within five days of the shooting. At the time, Rogers denied his involvement, telling reporters he had been asleep.

Boone didn't answer questions.

The Trial and Convictions

In April 2025, over two years after the murder, Rogers was convicted of second-degree murder and the murder of an unborn child. A Burke County jury returned the verdict after a two-week trial, where prosecutors revealed that Rogers had confessed during a jail phone call recorded after his arrest.

He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Boone's role — though less direct — was still serious. A judge dismissed the murder charge against her, but she pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and obstruction of justice. Boone admitted to driving the vehicle used in the shooting and is now serving a minimum of 55 months in prison.

The Aftermath

The tragedy didn't just end two lives — Brandi Deal's and her unborn daughter's — it also left a deep scar in the local community. District Attorney Scott Reilly, in a statement reported by WCNC, said, "This tragic case has weighed heavily on our community since the day it occurred more than two years ago. The defendant fired a shotgun into a home, showing complete disregard for human life, all because he was angry over a personal dispute."

As Rogers begins his life sentence and Boone serves her time, those who knew Brandi Deal are left with questions — not only about justice, but about how a grudge could spiral into such an unthinkable act.

References: Woman Convicted in Murder of Pregnant Mom Shot Dead Hours Before She Was Set to Give Birth | A Morganton Man Was Found Guilty of Shooting and Killing a Woman and Her Unborn Baby in 2023. He'll Spend the Rest of His Life in Prison | Burke County Man Found Guilty of Shooting, Killing Pregnant Woman Days Before Her Due Date | Two Charged in Pregnant Woman's Murder in Burke County