Lockport native found dead in N.Carolina

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WIVB) - 2012 was going to be a joyous year in Danielle Watson's life; she was about to get married, and expecting her first child.

Now, there's no joy, only sorrow.

Police in North Carolina are searching for the man who they believe murdered 25-year-old Lockport native, Danielle Watson.

Early Saturday morning, a garbage truck driver found Watson's lifeless body, discarded next to a dumpster at this shopping center in Charlotte.

Watson worked as a manager at the nearby Flying Biscuit Cafe, according to her parents.

Detectives suspect 22-year-old Mark Anthony Cox, a cook at the cafe, of robbing Watson, killing her, and stealing her car.

The victim's parents, David and Denise Watson said over the phone, "After he left my daughter, he took her car. I guess he got maybe $2,600, at the most, out of the safe. I guess he went home, where he lives with his parents, across the street, and his sister. What I hear is that he told his sister what happened. He just said he did something really bad."

The Watsons tell WBTV in Charlotte that police found blood in Cox's house.

But he and their daughter's 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier have vanished.

David Watson said, "They're now looking for him. And the latest I heard is that he left town."

Danielle Watson was born in Lockport, and still has a large family here in Western New York.

When Watson and her then-boyfriend, Keith Smith, visited here last year, Smith won everyone's hearts.

Just a few days ago, Watson called her relatives in Lockport to share some news about she and Smith's future together.

"She has a fiance. She was pregnant for about two months. And they were looking to get married next month," added Watson.

Cox had only been working with Watson at the cafe for a couple of months; he just finished serving a three-year prison sentence for robbery with a dangerous weapon in November.