New Evidence Leads To Murder Indictment In 28-Year-Old Cold Case

CHARLOTTE, NC — Nearly three decades after Yolanda Yvette Hoey’s bullet riddled body was found in the backseat of a car in north Charlotte, the man police say is responsible for her murder has been indicted, police announced Wednesday.

In February 1991, Hoey, who was a mother of a 6-year-old boy, was reported missing by her sister. One week later, her body was discovered in her car in the Hidden Valley neighborhood. She had been shot several times, police said.

Last week, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s cold case unit presented evidence to the Mecklenburg County Grand Jury that led to an indictment of Louis Samuels for her murder.

At the time, police identified Samuels as a suspect in the case, but didn’t have sufficient evidence.

“Louis Samuels was very quickly identified as a suspect in the case but before detectives were able to pull together enough evidence to arrest him, Mr. Samuels was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison on unrelated weapons charges,” CMPD said Wednesday.

His sentence was cut short, however, and he was released from prison in 2017.

“He was extremely notorious in the downtown area. He ran drugs and sex crimes, and he was always known to have weapons,” said CMPD Cold Case Sgt. Darrell Price, who leads the unit. “Everyone downtown was scared of him at the time.”

Price credits “a lot of leg work,” and new technology for the break in the case. “Science played a major role in us being able to solve this case,” Price said.

CMPD’s 11-member cold case unit has reviewed 178 homicides that date back to 1979, and have cleared 48 cases. It has also review 2,900 rape cases, clearing 270 of them. The cold case unit still has more than 700 open homicides, and reviews a new one each month, Price said.

CMPD asks that anyone with information about this case contact Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

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