diff --git a/src/locate.c b/src/locate.c
index 8ad61fa02..96acb3a39 100644
--- a/src/locate.c
+++ b/src/locate.c
@@ -64,19 +64,6 @@ locate_item_init(struct locate_item *item,
 	return true;
 }
 
-struct locate_item *
-locate_item_new(const char *type_string, const char *needle)
-{
-	struct locate_item *ret = g_new(struct locate_item, 1);
-
-	if (!locate_item_init(ret, type_string, needle)) {
-		g_free(ret);
-		ret = NULL;
-	}
-
-	return ret;
-}
-
 void
 locate_item_list_free(struct locate_item_list *list)
 {
diff --git a/src/locate.h b/src/locate.h
index d5c6f9f56..6b544f243 100644
--- a/src/locate.h
+++ b/src/locate.h
@@ -49,10 +49,6 @@ struct locate_item_list {
 int
 locate_parse_type(const char *str);
 
-/* returns NULL if not a known type */
-struct locate_item *
-locate_item_new(const char *type_string, const char *needle);
-
 /**
  * Allocates a new struct locate_item_list, and initializes all
  * members with zero bytes.