'He killed my kid over grits and eggs': Family mourns loss of teen killed at Waffle House

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A man wanted in the killing of a North Carolina teenager at a Waffle House has been extradited from Virginia to North Carolina after a four-month manhunt and was denied bond on Wednesday, officials have confirmed.

Florwer Carlin Lizano Jr., 39, was extradited on Tuesday, the Laurinburg Police Department in North Carolina told Paste BN.

The extradition came after North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein issued a warrant to have Lizano brought back to the state.

Lizano has been charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 13 killing of 18-year-old Waffle House employee Burlie Dawson Locklear III in Scotland County, North Carolina, about 45 miles southwest of Fayetteville.

Lizano's attorney, Chas Post III, told Paste BN on Wednesday that his client "is cloaked in the presumption of innocence."

He said that during Wednesday's court appearance, the district attorney argued that Lizano poses a flight risk. According to Post, his client only left North Carolina because he and his family were getting death threats.

"He didn't even know he was charged with a crime until the threats came and until he was posted all over the local news," Post said. "Just because law enforcement said he did it, doesn't mean he did it."

Read more: Customer fatally shoots teenage Waffle House employee inside North Carolina store

Police describe what happened to Burlie Dawson Locklear III

Laurinburg police said that Lizano went into the Waffle House on Sept. 13, ordered food and got agitated soon after, becoming “verbally abusive toward the employees."

Both Burlie Dawson Locklear III, who went by Dawson, and his girlfriend were working that day, according to Dawson's aunt, Elizabeth Locklear.

Lizano said something to Dawson's girlfriend, prompting Dawson to intervene and give Lizano his food so that Lizano could leave, Locklear said. Lizano started to leave, then turned around and shot Dawson, she said.

“He killed my kid over grits and eggs,” his aunt said. “How do you get so upset over grits and eggs to where you want to take somebody's life?”

Lizano fled the scene and was on the run for four months, according to Laurinburg police and Virginia State Police. He was captured on Jan. 24 in Portsmouth, Virginia, nearly 300 miles away from where the killing occurred.

His capture came after someone called in a tip to a nonprofit called Scotland Crimestoppers. 

Lizano was denied bond at a court hearing Wednesday. His next hearing is on April 23, District Attorney Jamie Adams told Paste BN.

Slain teen called his aunt Mama, she said

Locklear said that she cared for Dawson most of his life and that the teen called her Mama.

Dawson lived with his grandmother until he was about 13, then moved in with Locklear. He grew up alongside his cousin, as well as his grandmother’s godson, and the trio were “three peas in a pod," Locklear said.

Dawson loved video games, hunting, and swimming in a local river, Locklear said. He liked the beach and was a great kid, she said. He got his heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) certificate in high school and often went to work with his grandfather, who owned an electrical company.

He got a job at Waffle House after meeting his girlfriend, Jaylen, who also worked there.

“He was trying to save up his money so he could start school,” Locklear said. 

‘He was still a teenager’

Locklear said that the day Dawson was killed, he had been hanging out in the family’s yard and took a nap because he knew he had to work the night shift at Waffle House.

When Dawson and his girlfriend left for work, Locklear remembers being distracted by her dog, who was barking.

“I didn't even get to tell him 'Bye' or I love him like I normally do every day when he leaves,” Locklear said. 

Later that night, his girlfriend called her in a panic and told her about the shooting. She and her family members rushed to the restaurant to find out what was happening, she recalled. First responders were at the scene trying to save him and eventually, they all went to the hospital. 

She beat the ambulance to the hospital and when it arrived, she could see first responders trying to save his life.

“I could see the EMS worker, she was on top of him, doing CPR,” she said. “I already knew right then that it was going to be bad.”

Their family has spent the past few years suffering one loss after the other, Locklear said. Her father died in 2021, her mother died in 2023, and now they’ve lost Dawson, she said.

“He was still a teenager,” Locklear said. “He had just graduated high school. He hadn't even been working at Waffle House for two months.”

‘He's got to pay the price’

Before Lizano’s hearing Wednesday afternoon, Locklear shared her thoughts on his capture.

“There's no more running," she said. "There's no more trying to fight to get out or not being able to come back to this county to get charged for what he has done. He's done the crime, now he's got to pay the price.”

She said Lizano shouldn’t have had access to weapons due to his previous convictions. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of South Carolina.

Post, Lizano's lawyer, said he agrees that someone who is convicted of a felony should not possess a firearm. That doesn't apply to his client, though, he said.

"He did not have a firearm and he did not commit a crime," Post said.

Dawson's family has started a GoFundMe to get the teenager a gravestone with a $10,000 goal.

Locklear said things just aren’t the same without the teenager she loved and raised.

“He brought life to this house,” she said. “For him not to be here, it’s quiet. It’s just so sad. It’s devastating, what our family has had to endure.”

This story was updated to include video, a photo, and additional information.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.