Death at Bibb Graves: Accident or Suicide?

 

The Crime:

On the morning of November 19th, 1962, the Florence Police Department received a call from what was then Florence State College. At approximately 6:30 a.m., a custodian had found the door to the treasurer's office jimmied open, along with other signs of a forced entry. Further inspection inside the office found both an outer vault and an inner safe displaying the same signs of tampering. Missing from the inner safe was $6,000.00 that included the gate from the football game held two days prior at Thomas Braly Jr. Stadium, plus various academic and club fees that had been paid in cash. In terms of today, the take from the theft would equal well over $59,000.00.

When notified, Treasurer Robert C. Fuller rushed to his ground floor office where he met with authorities and commented on the damage. The college treasurer stated he had been in his office on the previous day and had found nothing amiss. A security guard reported he had last checked the three-story building at 3:30 a.m., presumably leaving a three hour window for the crime to have taken place.

The previous March, there had been at least seven burglaries of safes in Lauderdale County that detectives called "rip jobs," but no arrests had been made. All doors to Bibb Graves Hall remained locked when the custodian entered, as did the windows. Investigators remained baffled as to how the theft had occurred, and wild rumors flooded the campus.

Treasurer Robert C. Fuller:

Robert Fuller, known as "Bob" to his friends, was originally from the Alexander City area and started his career as a teacher and principal in the towns of New Hope and Gadsden, coming to work in administration at Florence State in 1944. He had received both a bachelor's and a master's degree in English literature from Auburn, having done his master's thesis on Thomas S. Stribling. During his research of Pulitzer Prize winning author Stribling, Fuller forged a life-long friendship with the Gravelly Springs native. It had been said that if you wanted Stribling to speak at any local event, the best way to secure his presence was first to contact Bob Fuller. 

Fuller's wife, Eva Ellen Aldridge Slaton Fuller, was six years her husband's junior and a science teacher at Appleby Junior High School. Both were active members of the First Christian Church whose building adjoined the college campus. In short, Robert C. Fuller was what anyone would have called a pillar of the community. It was obviously distressing to the college administrator to hear remarks that some malfeasance on his part had led to the theft.

The Bibb Graves Tower:

The Bibb Graves administration building had been built in 1930. It consisted of basement classrooms, administrative offices on the ground floor, two additional floors of classrooms, and a tower that housed a set of Deagan tubular chimes connected to clockwork. 

By 1964, the chimes were 34 years old and required the touch of someone familiar with their components to keep them in working order. That person was Bob Fuller who was often seen ascending the Bibb Graves staircases to the small tower. 

The Fall:

On February 17, 1964, Leatrice Timmons was teaching a freshman Engish composition class in the basement of Bibb Graves Hall. Students who sat by the classroom windows outlined by a brick well usually had little to look at. That day was different. 

Later in her career, Timmons often told the story of hearing a loud thud followed by the screams of her students sitting nearest the window. Robert C. Fuller's body lay just outside.

Aftermath:

There were no known witnesses to the events in the tower leading up to Fuller's plunge. An autopsy concluded simply that the 62 year-old college treasurer had died as a result of trauma from the fall. 

Eva Fuller died two years later. Both she and her husband are buried in Tri-Cities Memorial Gardens, their graves marked by only modest bronze plaques. Today, the Bibb Graves tower is home to almost maintenance-free electronic chimes which can be programmed to play seasonal music. One has to wonder if Bob Fuller finds the sound lacking? 

Who Killed Andrea Susan Forbes?

 

Andrea Susan Forbes was born in Tennessee on October 9, 1983. Her official date of death is listed as January 21, 2017, the day her body was discovered, but it had been days since her neighbors had seen her - neighbors who didn't even know her name.

While living in the Johnson City area of Tennessee, Andrea gave birth to two daughters. The older child was given a home by the girl's biological father, while the second child was adopted. Not long after this second failed romance, Andrea met Matthew Troy Lindsey, whom friends said moved to Alabama to make a fresh start around the middle of 2013. 

Early in 2015, Andrea followed Matthew to Florence. Andrea had been abandoned by her parents, and family described her as being too trusting. While she was a certified welder, Andrea ostensibly never worked after arriving in the Shoals, and things did not always go smoothly with the couple.

By late 2015, Andrea and Matthew were residing at the Sherrod Apartments on the corner of Simpson Street and Florida Avenue. The complex was mid-sized, with the couple living on one end in #25. Other residents easily knew when the duo argued.

Matthew found himself in the Lauderdale County Detention Center in January 2017, charged with domestic abuse. His incarceration may have been the luckiest thing to have happened to him, since it cleared him of being directly involved in Andrea's death.

When police were called on January 21st to the ground floor apartment for a welfare check, officers looked through a window and saw what appeared to be a female body. Initially termed a death investigation, inquiries into Andrea's death quickly morphed into a homicide case when the initial autopsy results were released on January 25th.

Ten months soon passed without any progress being reported in the homicide investigation. Then Matthew Lindsay contacted the Shoalanda Speaks Blog stating that, at the time of her death, Andrea was pregnant with his child and he was offering a $6K reward for information leading to her killer.

Was any of that true? No. After the birth of her second child, Andrea had a tubal ligation and was unable to conceive. As for the 6K, Lindsey probably had less than $60.00 to his name. To fund the reward, he established a GoFundMe account which garnered only $25.00. He has since been in and out of jail numerous times; as of this publication, his last arrest was November 4th of this year when he was charged with a work release violation.

Florence CID has stated many details of Andrea's death have been held back in an effort to secure an arrest and conviction of her murderer. If you have any information concerning Andrea Susan Forbes' death, call 256-760-6500.

Kim VanPelt: Trolling the Internet for a Wife to Kill - 2023 Update

 

By 2004, the Internet was established enough that many felt comfortable meeting romantic partners...or victims...via cyberspace. Sandra Marie Ozment was a 40 year-old native of Southgate, Michigan, the unmarried mother of three daughters, and seeking a life partner when she entered a chatroom. What she found was a diabolic killer looking for an easy mark.

Kim VanPelt was a 45 year-old construction worker living in Tuscumbia who was looking for a better life. He encouraged Ozment to leave a job at Shoney's in Phenix City to move to Muscle Shoals. After a short courtship, Ozment and VanPelt married on November 8, 2004, and set up housekeeping in a mobile home on Elledge Lane. On November 22nd, VanPelt called authorities to report his wife was missing. Two days later, her Pontiac Grand Am was found abandoned in a Muscle Shoals Winn-Dixie parking lot. The same day, Marion County hunter Jerry Evans found the nude body of a white female in a wooded area eight miles south of Hackleburg - it was Sandra VanPelt.

Preliminary findings indicated that Sandra VanPelt had died from suffocation; however, the final autopsy report stated the newlywed had probably died from blunt force trauma after a beating. Kim VanPelt was Colbert County's prime suspect in the heinous crime. On November 9th, just two days after his marriage, Kim VanPelt had taken out a $300,000.00 life insurance policy on his new wife. He was the sole beneficiary. 

VanPelt initially told police that Sandra had left their home on the morning to November 22nd to run errands and had not returned. Discarded receipts at the mobile home and CCTV images obtained from the Muscle Shoals Walmart indicated VanPelt purchased cleaning supplies, including one specifically formulated to remove blood stains, later that afternoon.

After detectives, using luminol, found significant traces of Sandra's blood in the bedroom she shared with her husband, authorities were ready to make an arrest. VanPelt was placed in the Colbert County Jail in Tuscumbia to await legal proceedings.

In December 2006, VanPelt's case reached trial in a Colbert County circuit court. Bryce Graham prosecuted the case, in which he called a witness who saw VanPelt loading a rolled "carpet" into his truck on the morning of November 22, 2004. He also produced a witness whom the defendant had asked to marry him just days before he entered into his doomed union with Ozment. Two other witnesses testified that, while incarcerated, VanPelt has asked them either to concoct a fake confession to forward to authorities or testify that the victim had attempted to hire a hit man to kill him for some unknown reason.

Defense attorney Ben T. Gardner Jr. countered that VanPelt had not had a pleasant childhood and showed signs of several personality disorders. In the end, it took only two hours for the jury of ten men and two women to find the defendant guilty of Capital Murder due to the crime being committed for monetary gain. In March 2007, Judge Jackie Hatcher sentenced Kim VanPelt to death by lethal injection.

Since that time, VanPelt has remained on the Holman Prison death row in Atmore where he has filed several unsuccessful appeals. He has also created several online accounts asking for female pen pals. Apparently, a good man is hard to find, but you don't have to look far for a bad one.

In the years since Kim VanPelt's conviction, his crime has been the subject of a 44 minute documentary, Happily Never After Season 3 - Virtual Demise, available to purchase on Prime Video for $2.99.

VanPelt has also taken part in the Captured Project, which published a book of sketches of "dubious" individuals drawn by prison artists. Yes, it seems that VanPelt is an accomplished artist who took pencil in hand to draw Brian T. Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, whom the book accuses of various money crimes and states "should be in prison." The 2016 book, at $40.00, was a quick sellout, but may be found on Amazon.com from time to time.

VanPelt's 2005, 2009, and 2015 appeals have all been denied. At this point, it appears the Muscle Shoals Internet Lothario will soon be facing a date with the Holman death chamber.

Want More Murder? Buy on Amazon

Is One of Connie's Killers Still Walking Free? - 10/23/23 Update

 

She was born on the Fourth of July...1956, in Athens, Alabama. Connie Jane Patterson Williams Ridgeway left this world on Friday, October 23, 2015. The twice married Ridgeway had lived her entire life in Northwest Alabama, residing at the Meadowland Apartments in Rogersville at the time of her brutal stabbing death. The apartment complex was located in a highly visible area directly across from the Lauderdale County High School's football stadium. 

Connie Ridgeway was known as a soft spoken and caring woman who attended Clements Baptist Church just across the county line in Limestone and who was pronounced a blessing by those who knew her. Was it her involvement with the less fortunate that ultimately led to Connie's demise?

At the time of her death, Connie's second husband Thomas Randall Ridgeway was deceased, as well as her beloved dog Rambo. Perhaps living alone made her an easy target for local thugs... or was it something more personal? The Rogersville Police Department and the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department weren't ruling anything or anyone out.

Weeks and months passed with no breaks in the case, and the State Bureau of Investigation took over the case of the 59 year-old Ridgeway's death. Connie's sons Cameron and Austin Williams offered a reward for the apprehension of their mother's assailant. When, after three years passed with no arrests, Rogersville hosted "Connie Ridgeway Day" in 2018. Besides her family and friends, the event was attended by Lauderdale District Attorney Chris Connolly and Sheriff Rick Singleton. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sent a special statement indicating the state's dedication to bringing Ridgeway's murderer to justice.

Many speculated that Ridgeway was murdered to keep her from testifying in an upcoming grand jury hearing involving the financial exploitation of a friend. Others thought perhaps she had simply attempted to help the wrong down-on-his-luck person who took advantage of the situation.

Still more time passed. Mark White, the host of a local news oriented radio show, kept the unsolved murder fresh in the public's mind. By early September 2020, the case was almost five years old, and there had been little to no progress in the investigation. 

Two months after Ridgeway's violent death, Casey Cole White was charged in Limestone County with a violent crime spree that included a home invasion, two carjackings and multiple shootings in North Alabama and South Tennessee that left a dog dead and a woman injured. White was convicted of a total of nine crimes and sentenced to 75 years in the William Donaldson Correctional Facility.

Then in August 2020, White penned an unsolicited letter to the Lauderdale District Attorney's office confessing to Connie Ridgeway's murder. According to insiders, White presented facts that would have been known only to someone present at the brutal crime.

The confession wasn't the only bombshell in the missive; the 38 year-old White also announced that he had been paid to commit the murder. DA Chris Connolly was quoted as saying the public could expect more arrests.

Yet slightly over one year later, no other arrests have been made. The 6'9" White remains in the Donaldson facility confined to maximum security. Even if he should escape charges in the Ridgeway death, he's not scheduled for release until the end of 2090.

What of the man whom White accused of placing the hit on Connie Ridgeway? No more information has been forthcoming in the past 14 months. Does he still walk freely among the citizens of Eastern Lauderdale County?

Connie Ridgeway was buried in the Mitchell Cemetery near Anderson. Let's hope by the next anniversary of her death, the public has more answers.

Today marks eight years since the murder of Connie Ridgeway. There are few who don't know the story of Casey Cole White and Vicky White. 

If Casey told the truth concerning Connie's death, one of her killers remains free. If he lied, at least one killer still walks free today.

As for Casey, whether he's prosecuted in Connie Ridgeway's death or not, he has a home in the Alabama prison system until at least January 2061 when he will be eligible for parole. He will be 77 years old. 

Casey's DOC page gives his physical description. On his left wrist is tattooed the name "Vicky."

The Death of Brandon Hydrick: Beer & Guns Don't Mix - 2023 Update

Special Report from Crime Writer Nick Ireland

The Berg:

Belle Mina. Now that’s a classy name. Too bad this spot on the Limestone County map doesn’t live up to expectations. Nothing in Belle Mina but a few old houses and the occasional store. Then there’s the stream.

Land that borders on the small stream running through Belle Mina is marketed as water front property. Sure. If it rains enough. Just like my backyard.

Who buys these choice lots? Locals call them Yankees and that about sums it up. Families that work in Huntsville or Madison just love the prices on these backwoods hideaways.

The Murray family was no exception. The daughter, that’s the Babe to us, considered it the ideal spot to entertain her Huntsville friends. That’s just what she did on Friday, September 28, 2012.

The Bash:


It was billed as a Halloween party. No matter that it wasn’t even October. It was cool at night and just right for what passed as a country cookout. Wieners, marshmallows, and beer? Probably plenty of beer judging from the Hydrick family photos on Facebook. What else was served? You can be sure the state’s pathologist knows what was in Brandon Hydrick’s system when he died.

The bash ended around midnight. Guests began to go their separate ways and the Beard (B. Hydrick) took the Babe back to her parents’ front door. The Babe says the date ended with a chaste kiss.

Then the Beard drove off into eternity.


The Bro:


The Beard’s brother Ryan wasn’t even close to him in looks. Doesn’t seem to have had as good a job either. You can bet your pickup truck that he was only invited to the Babe’s bash because he was the Beard’s brother.

The Bro left in his own vehicle when the Beard exited the cookout. What happened between midnight and three o’clock Saturday morning is anyone’s guess. The Bro knows, but he’s not giving out any of the details to the Beard’s adoring fans and mourning friends.


The Beard:


Brandon Hydrick often sported a bushy beard. Yeah, doesn’t sound too kissable, does he? But apparently the Babe was so taken with him that she picked him up at a charity run in Huntsville. The Beard was younger than the Babe and didn’t quite travel in the same social circles, but hey, a good man is hard to find.

Friends thought this relationship would go the distance, but it ended that Saturday morning when the Bumpkin put a bullet through the Beard’s chest.


The Bumpkin:


Joel Moyers had lived in the same manufactured home since he was in grade school. He was now a rode hard 52 and had lived alone since his mother married the year before and moved to Cullman

The Bumpkin was afraid. The Limestone County sheriff stated there was little crime in the area, but actual reports say something else. Maybe there had to be a death before Mike Blakely considered it real crime He got that death early in the morning of September 29th.

The Bumpkin heard a truck around three o’clock. The Bro was now driving the Beard’s truck and they had returned to the scene of the cookout for reasons unknown. When the duo decided to turn around on the Bumpkin’s desolate corner, they made the mistake of their lives.

An SKS kept the Bumpkin company as he first followed them in his own truck and later marched toward the Beard’s vehicle in full confrontational mode. He flashed a light in the Bro’s face and told him to stop. The Bro hit the accelerator.

As the pickup passed the Bumpkin, Moyers raised the heavy SKS and fired. The question is where the Bumpkin aimed. Heck, maybe the question should be was he even strong enough to aim. His bullet traveled through the back of the truck’s tailgate, entered the cab, and finally juggernauted through the Beard’s chest. The Bro panicked and hit the accelerator again. He met with a tree that refused to get out of his way as he attempted to navigate a corner. The Bumpkin retired to his home and called the sheriff.

The Babe:


Bronwen Murray was as yuppie as you get in Alabama. She was going places and picked up the Beard to tag along. Good men are hard for those bluestocking babes to find and lasso. Now her man was dead.

The sheriff originally charged the Bumpkin with a manslaughter type crime, but the Babe was having none of it. Where would she ever find a replacement, and her eggs weren’t getting any younger.

Don’t worry. The Babe had a trump card. She worked for the Big Shot. He’d handle it while she made the appropriate mewing noises to play the sympathy card.


The Big Shot:


Parker Griffith was a prominent Huntsville doc and a former U.S. representative. Easy for him to place a few well-chosen words in the ear of the Limestone County D.A. Yeah, the D.A. knew which side his political funding was greased on.

The indictment comes down, and the Bumpkin is charged with Capital Murder. Hey, it’s Alabama. Justice is still scarce and usually a political tool. Yeah, we call it JuJu man justice around this state.

The trial? It’s coming. Let’s grab the beer and popcorn. Okay, no beer. Limestone County is dry. Too bad the Bro and the Beard grabbed their beers; maybe they’d both be alive right now and the Bumpkin tatting a new doily for his mother.

Obituary for Brandon Longoria Hydrick:

Brandon Longoria Hydrick, age 26, of Athens, passed away Saturday. Brandon was employed with Halo Monitoring.

He was preceded in death by his grandfathers: Col. Ezekial Longoria and James Hydrick.

He is survived by his parents: Phillip and Donna Hydrick; sister: Jessica Hydrick-Nichols (Matt); brother: Ryan Hydrick; grandmothers: Robbie Longoria and Nancy Hydrick; three aunts: Jan Chambers (Lynn), Kay Clark and Charmaine Burgin (Kenny); cousins: Amber, Matt, Melissa, Eddie, Leah, Morgan, Chase, Lydia, J.D. and Haleigh.

Visitation will be Thursday from 5:00-8:00pm at Berryhill Funeral Home. Funeral services will be Friday at 11:00am at Faith Chapel with Rev. Joel McGraw officiating followed by burial at Valhalla Memory Gardens.

Bronwen Murray now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and states on her Facebook page that she's in a relationship...and is a "homicide survivor." She is a member of the Everytown Survivor Network and lobbies for more sensible gun control. Murray also has a second career as an actress and is planning on authoring a mystery based on her life experiences.

Joel Moyers was convicted of Capital Murder in May 2015. He died in prison in November 2015. 

Lust, Jealousy, & Murder in Grassy

 

If you blink while traveling on Highway 64 in northeast Lauderdale County, you may miss the Grassy community. It consists of a Baptist Church, cemetery, park, and a retail farm supply. Houses dot the farmland surrounding this hamlet that's relegated to a Lexington postal route. The community hasn't changed more than a micron since a murder that rocked the area almost 40 years ago. 

James Russell Thames Jr. moved to Grassy in 1970 to work just across the Tennessee River as a control room supervisor at Champion International Corp. in Lawrence County. With him, Thames brought his wife Trudy Holley Lavender Thames. After their arrival in the Shoals, Holley gave birth to four sons. By 1984, Jim had joined the Lexington Rescue Squad and was coaching his older sons in Dixie Youth League baseball.

This should have been a happy time for the family, but unfortunately it wasn't for the 35 year-old Holley. Was she bored? Having delivered her last child only months before, did she have a form of postpartum depression? Or had she simply allowed herself to become caught up in gossip of something that she never intended and didn't know how to squelch?

It was Monday, May 21, 1984, and Jim's youth league team was playing at Lexington City Park. As the former Army sergeant from Montgomery looked casually up into the stands, he saw Holley with the married man local gossips said was her lover. The exact give and take between the husband and wife was not memorialized that night, but witnesses who were called to testify at Jim Thames' murder trial stated he called his attractive young wife to the dugout where he told her to leave the man, leave the game, and go home. 

Holley laughed at Jim.

According to trial testimony, Holley returned to the stands and appeared shaken. Friends, including her alleged paramour, encouraged her to spend the night anywhere but with her husband, but Holley stated she was resigned to the inevitable confrontation. Once home in Grassy, Jim and Holley Thames became involved in a verbal argument that lasted at least 20 minutes. Their three oldest sons heard their father say he would blow his wife's brains out, to which Holley responded "I don't care." It was then that the sons heard three gunshots; however, an autopsy indicated Holley Thames had been shot four times in the back, falling across the couple's bed where rescue squad members found her.

The boys testified that their father left the bedroom and relocked the door. He told one son that he had shot Holley in the arm and they needed to drive to a friend's to secure medical help. It's unclear from court records why no phone communication to the small Lexington Rescue Squad was available at the Thames home, but precious time was wasted in finding help for the mortally injured Holley.

Once rescue squad personnel arrived, they immediately began to perform CPR until an ambulance arrived to take the dying young wife to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital. Jim Thames was ultimately left alone in the house with his sons and one Lexington police officer. The officer later testified that Thames stripped the bed, placed the linen in the washer, and inverted the mattress, stating he didn't want his sons to see the copious amount of their mother's blood. Thames repeatedly alternated between saying he didn't mean to do it and that his wife made him do it.

The Lexington officer then drove James Thames to the Lauderdale County Sheriff's office where he was formally charged. The trial was held five months later, and a jury of nine men and three women convicted Thames not of Felony Murder as the district attorney asked, but of Manslaughter. While Judge Ned Suttle could have given the young father a 20 year sentence due to a firearm being involved, he instead decreed that Thames would spend ten years in the Alabama State Prison System.

After an incarceration of ten months, Thames asked for a transfer to work release. Both the Lauderdale District Attorney's Office and a group of Lexington citizens opposed Thames' transfer, forcing him to serve his sentence in a literal prison setting.

After he completed his sentence, James Russell Thames Jr. moved to Missouri where he passed away ten days after his 63rd birthday, survived by his four sons who had been raised by their maternal grandparents in Montgomery. He was interred in the veterans' cemetery in Springfield.

Holley Lavender Thames lies buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery where she grew up. 

"Jealousy is the worst of all faults because it makes a victim of both parties."

Randy Lee Patrick: Dead at 18

 

Randy Lee Patrick was 18 years old and an accomplished diver when he lost his life in the depths of Pickwick Lake. For those who have asked why, there have never been any satisfactory answers.

It was only three days into Summer on Tuesday, June 23, 1992, that Patrick and two friends boarded a small boat and made their way to the southern tip of Seven Mile Island. Once there, all three dove into the 15 foot deep water, ostensibly looking for mussels. At around 1:00 p.m., Patrick signaled to his two companions that he was surfacing. According to witnesses in the area, Randy Patrick was approximately 30 feet from the boat when he reached the surface. When the remaining two divers surfaced a short time later, Patrick was not to be found. It was approximately two hours later that the two men sounded the alarm.

Both Colbert and Lauderdale rescue squads began a search that lasted into the darkness, but no sign of the teen diver was found. The search continued on Wednesday as a rescue dog was brought in from Mississippi. It was early on Thursday morning that responders found Patrick's body on the Lauderdale side of the river, still wearing his diving gear and oxygen tank. Colbert's lay coroner Joe Morrison ruled the death accidental.

It wasn't until approximately four weeks later that Randy Patrick's two companions were publicly identified: Former Cherokee police chief Jeffery D. Wilemon and Alabama State Trooper Phillip James Pettus. Neither man was willing to provide the TimesDaily with a statement at that time.

However, Randy's father, brother, and sister did make public statements concerning his drowning. Michael Patrick related that his brother had died on the third anniversary of receiving his diver certification. He also related that Randy had told him he had become afraid to dive, but failed to offer a rationale. Patrick's father Thurman added that his son was always extremely careful; his sister Connie Cottingham related that Patrick had found a civil war era gun in the channel and that the June dive involved more than harvesting mussels.

While the family handed out flyers asking for any witnesses to the events of June 23rd to come forward and retained Florence attorney Bob Hill to represent them, the Alabama Marine Police firmly held to the position that all credible witnesses had been interviewed and the investigation was closed. It has now been three decades since the death of Randy Lee Patrick. The public may never know the exact events of that early Summer day...but God does.


Note: The value of Civil War guns varies depending on condition. A Gatling gun in good condition sold for $93,000.00 in 2019.

Stanford Lakey: Wrongly Convicted of Murder?

 

Did the murderer of Tommie Fields Lakey walk free, while her husband took the fall? After 72 years, that question may never be answered.

Stanford M. Lakey was born in Panola County, Mississippi, in 1908. Until the United States entered World War II, Lakey's existence had hardly been extraordinary. After the war, Stan returned home looking for a better life, a quest that led the machinist to a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority, a home in Sheffield, and a wife to whom he was totally unsuited.

After his move to Sheffield, the single Lakey met Tommie Fields, a nurse ten years his junior who managed the office of Dr. D.D. Cox. Tommie was reportedly a large woman who, like Stan, enjoyed the effects of alcohol a little too much. By February 1951, Stan and Tommie had been married just over a year, but the union had already turned sour, with Stan often heard to say he could easily kill Tommie if given half a chance.

The Lakeys lived in a garage apartment on the corner of 30th Street and 14th Avenue. While their digs were small, it wasn't unusual for the couple to entertain on weekends, and it was during one of their usual parties that Tommie Lakey met her death on February 11th.

The party had started early that Sunday, but the guests who came and went all stated the alcohol infused gathering had ended by 4:00 or 4:30 that afternoon. It was slightly later that Stan awoke in the living room and found Tommie lying on their bed. When he couldn't awaken her, he called a neighbor for assistance. When J. P. McLemore arrived, he realized that Tommie Lakey was past help.

The coroner arrived and pronounced Tommie deceased before leaving around 8:00 p.m. By 8:30, Sheffield Police had arrested Stanford Lakey for First Degree Murder. Was the case against the TVA machinist that open and closed?

Stan Lakey's attorney advised him to plead not guilty due to mental defect. Stan had little or no memory of what had happened that afternoon, and at the April indictment, he followed his legal counsel's advice. The trial was held in late June and offered no dramatic revelations.

Stan's family from Mississippi testified that he had always been moody. His supervisor from the TVA Phosphate Plant was subpoenaed, but ultimately neither the prosecution nor defense chose to present his superior's character assessment that, while quirky, Lakey didn't seem like someone who was capable of murder.

Meanwhile, the press offered scant coverage of the crime. Many theorized that D.D. Cox, the physician for the Sheffield High football team, had asked to keep the information about his employee's last hours to a minimum. As the trial progressed, testimony presented a picture of a brutal murder in which Tommie Lakey had been beaten and stomped, finally bleeding out from a perforated liver.

Blood patterns indicated that Tommie was killed at the bottom of the stairs leading to the apartment and then carried to the second floor where the couple lived. While Stan's defense attorney chose not to pursue any problems with that scenario, many felt that a man as diminutive as Lakey could not have carried a woman of Tommie's size up the stairs and into their apartment. Was Stanford Lakey really innocent of murdering his wife?

It took a jury just over one hour to find Lakey guilty of the crime of First Degree Murder. Stan's defense attorney appealed, but it was ultimately parole that set the machinist free. He died at the age of 65 in 1974, never having proved his innocence, and is buried in Water Valley, Mississippi. Tommie Fields Lakey lies buried in a family plot in Gurley in Madison County, Alabama.

The Walnut Street Widow

 

Elizabeth Kerr Flanagan Loving, the daughter of Otto and Audrey Pearl Hendon Kerr, began her life at 438 North Walnut Street when the now historic home was only a year old. While she lived in Huntsville during her first marriage, the Florence residence had long been home to the 71 year-old Loving when she left it to take up digs in a local behavioral health unit in April 1995. It was still a kinder departure than that of her husband Ernest Norman Loving, who left in a body bag ultimately to be buried in a Selma cemetery. 

After the death of Audrey Kerr in 1990, Elizabeth and her second husband were left alone in the aging Walnut Street residence. Loving, known as Ernie, was only 43 at his death, but those who knew him called him a raging alcoholic who had been in rehab at least 15 times and looked much older than his actual age. He was not only physically abusive to his wife, but also a regular with the AA crowd and, according to Elizabeth, was having an affair with a woman whom he had met while attending Alcoholics Anonymous. 

Ernie Loving's alcoholism also caused the couple financial problems. He owned an electronics business in Sheffield, but often worked little and failed to collect from clients who owed him. In short, Elizabeth wasn't content in her marriage, and January 1995 saw the union come to a violent end. 

Due to Ernie being often absent from the home, he was ostensibly worried about his wife's well-being while alone. Elizabeth claimed that he encouraged her to visit Shootin' Irons Emporium in downtown Florence where she purchased a .380 calibre handgun. 

According to Elizabeth's trial testimony, the couple's problems came to a head on the night of January 31st. Soon after, neighbors realized they hadn't seen Ernie in several days, and his work truck remained in the same location in the driveway of the Walnut Street home. When asked, Elizabeth cracked jokes about her husband's whereabouts. Some observers even theorized that Ernie had been offed and buried under the new front walkway. Yes, it seems Elizabeth was making a lot of improvements to her childhood home now that she was living alone. Yet for all the improvements, Mrs. Loving made none to the back bedroom of the old home.

It was on April 4th that Elizabeth asked her hair stylist and his partner to dinner. She must have fully trusted the two men, but thankfully her dinner guests chose not to become involved in her machinations. At some point, the guests were directed to the back bedroom where to their horror they found the almost mummified body of Ernest Loving lying in a fetal position. Elizabeth suggested that she needed their help in order to dispose of the remains properly. 

In early 1995, few owned a bulky mobile phone, but one of Elizabeth's guests managed to run next door to call police. When the authorities arrived, they found not only the decayed body of Ernest Loving, but Elizabeth with a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She was taken to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital where she recovered. Loving was later transferred to the hospital's behavioral health unit and then to Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa where she underwent extensive psychiatric testing.

During the five months in hospital in Tuscaloosa, Loving suffered a stroke; however, she was later judged both mentally and physically competent to stand trial. Ralph Holt represented Loving at the October trial where she changed her plea from not guilty by reason of mental defect to self-defense. Elizabeth stated that Ernie had come home drunk and demanded a divorce. Further, he hit her several times, while she begged him not to hurt her. She then shot her husband several times with the exact number being unknown to her.

A jury found Elizabeth Loving guilty of Felony Murder and sentenced her to 30 years in the state prison system; however, her troubles were far from over. Ernie Loving had two daughters from a previous relationship who sued Loving for the wrongful death of their father. After Loving lost the case, she was forced to sell both the Sheffield electronics business and the childhood home she had fought so hard to save.

As is usually the case, Elizabeth Kerr Loving didn't spend 30 years in prison for murdering her profligate husband. She was released early and, if public records are correct, today lives in Birmingham at the age of 99.

Gerald Winston Surratt Jr. - Crime, Punishment, & Parole - 2023 Update

Gerald Winston Surratt Jr. came from what most in the Shoals would call a privileged environment, yet his early life was far from perfect. Surratt’s father had substance abuse problems and wasn’t always there for the young man who called himself Gerry or Jerry. When the younger Surratt was 18, his father died. Two years later, Gerry was arrested in Lauderdale County on charges of Drug Possession, Breaking and Entering a Vehicle, and Burglary.

Between the years 2006 and 2019, Surratt was arrested at least 31 times. Most of these arrests were related to either drugs or theft, but some were more sinister. His 2006 arrest at the age of 20 garnered the young Florence man a sentence of 10 years, indicating he already had a juvenile record.

During Surratt’s stay in an Alabama Department of Corrections facility, he was denied parole. Gerry also lost correctional incentive time due to bad behavior and lacked two weeks serving five years on a sentence he could have completed in 40 months. Finally released in August 2011, the now 26 year-old Surratt returned to Florence and began work for Hensley Properties, a company founded by his great-uncle.

Shortly after his return to the Shoals, Surratt also acquired a live-in girlfriend. This unfortunate young woman later stated that the longer she knew Surratt, the more she feared him.

In March 2012, a young woman was kidnapped from the UNA parking garage and forced to take her armed abductor to the Bank Independent ATM on Pine Street. There the kidnapper had his victim withdraw the maximum amount allowed; together with what cash the young woman had in her billfold, the kidnapper netted just under $600.00. He then had his victim return to the parking deck where a nearby male student became suspicious of the situation. The kidnapper ran when confronted and has never been officially identified.

An artist’s sketch greatly resembled Surratt, who was also questioned about an armed North Florence home invasion from earlier the same day. Unfortunately, the UNA victim was unable to identify her attacker with 100% certainty. She reportedly left the university a short time after her ordeal, and the case remains officially unsolved.

Yet Surratt’s girlfriend and others were convinced that Gerry was the wanted felon. The romantic relationship soured shortly thereafter, and Surratt began to date a young woman who resided in Sheffield.

In May 2012, Surratt was visiting his new girlfriend in her apartment where both consumed alcohol. When a second woman who lived in the apartment arrived, she was concerned, later telling police that she didn’t like Surratt. The roommate retired to her bedroom and locked the door.

According to the roommate, approximately two hours later, she awoke to find Surratt in her bed, fondling her sexually and kissing her neck. The terrified young woman managed to escape and call both her boyfriend and Sheffield Police. Surratt was arrested on charges of First Degree Sexual Abuse; however, an August 2012 Colbert County grand jury failed to indict Gerry.

Many asked at the time how Surratt could have entered the roommate’s locked bedroom? It may have been simple; friends of Surratt told stories of the Hensley Properties maintenance man having several master keys that fit many locks, not just the ones in the apartment complexes owned by Hensley Properties. After all, Gerald Surratt Jr. was nothing if not an accomplished burglar.

Surratt continued to live in Polynesian Village Apartments and work for his late uncle’s company; however, authorities say Gerry augmented his income by the occasional home or car burglary. After a long string of arrests that Surratt was always able to wrangle out of, his deviant sexual proclivities again landed him in jail. The then 30 year-old sometime maintenance man contacted at least two young teenage girls on Facebook, sending them live feeds of him masturbating.

One Place of the Shoals pieced together a case against Surratt, having him arrested in July 2016 on a charge of Electronic Transmission of Obscene Material. It would be a year before Gerry was indicted on the lesser charge of Indecent Exposure. Ultimately, Surratt again managed to avoid any real punishment for his crimes against an innocent young woman.

During this time frame, Surratt boasted that he was above the law. His family had money to pay for the best defense, and his second cousin Benjamin Graves was now a sitting Lauderdale County Circuit Court judge. While Graves was indeed Billy Hensley’s grandson, it’s doubtful that Surratt actually found this connection helpful. A good defense attorney and crowded state prisons were more likely reasons for Gerry’s continued freedom.

Perhaps emboldened by this lack of punishment, Surratt continued to exhibit anti-social tendencies against women. After several complaints, the University of North Alabama Police banned Gerry from the campus in May 2018. The university wasn’t the only entity to ban Surratt. The social pariah was also banished from Walmart Stores where he ostensibly made a second career of shoplifting electronics and other items to peddle on his Facebook page.

In November 2018, Florence Police announced that Gerald Surratt was a suspect in a rash of burglaries at and near Florence Mall. Authorities say Gerry broke into numerous residences, as well as retail establishments including Castner-Knott Beauty Shop.

It didn’t take long to apprehend Surratt, who was already on probation in several cases. Perhaps Gerry’s family saw the futility of continuing to assist him, especially since his younger brother Corey Taft Surratt had also now taken up the mantle of armed robber. Nevertheless, Gerry posted bond, but was soon re-arrested with the added charge of escape/absconding.

Gerry Surratt was convicted in Lauderdale County in August 2019 on a charge of Burglary. The court took Surratt’s record into consideration and ultimately sentenced the career felon to 15 years. He’s currently serving his time in the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison.

According to Department of Corrections records, Surratt has not been a model prisoner. He currently has lost six months of correctional incentive time due to his behavior and is being held in “Close Custody,” the most secure status outside of solitary confinement or death row.

Gerry Surratt will end his sentence on November 19, 2023; however, he will be eligible for parole consideration on June 1, 2021. With his current record, it’s extremely doubtful that Surratt will even come close to making parole, but with the right attorney, it’s not to be ruled out.

If you have been a victim of Gerald Surratt, you may write a protest letter to the parole board here:


Alabama Board of Pardons & Paroles
Re: Gerald Winston Surratt Jr., AIS# 259912
100 Capitol Commerce Boulevard - Suite 310
Montgomery, AL 36117

Gerald Winston Surratt Jr. was denied parole; however, that didn't stop his ultimate release. Under a mandatory early release program enacted in 2015, Gerry was released nearly a year before the end of his sentence.

The mandatory early release program is highly supervised, and Surratt lasted only a few months before violating the terms of his parole. He was taken into state custody in early December 2022 and remains awaiting transfer back to the state prison system as of February 2023. His new end of sentence date is February 19, 2024.

As news of his parole failure became known, one young local woman commented: 

I worked with Gerry like 12 years ago at Demos. I hadn't seen him in years and I got a video call from him on FB last year. My dumb a** answered it and it was him, in prison, playing with himself... Needless to say I never answer video calls anymore...

Corey Seahorn: Kidnapper & Child Pornographer

 

Corey Mack Seahorn was born in 1977 in Colbert County, Alabama. Friends say that as one of four children, Seahorn led a relatively normal life growing up in a home where he lacked for little. As he grew older, he made no secret of his homosexuality and as an adult entered into an undocumented marriage with a male partner in Louisiana.

After that relationship broke up, Seahorn returned to Alabama. He quickly set himself up as a legally ordained minister, but he didn't stop there. He also advertised himself as a medical doctor and a psychologist, despite having no degrees to back up his claims. Then things turned very strange indeed.

While reportedly under the influence of alcohol, Seahorn and a friend from Moulton kidnapped a young man at gunpoint from a Littleville convenience store. Corey had met the teen the previous year and was seeking to force him into a marriage. After sobering up, Seahorn returned the then 16 year-old boy to the Colbert County Sheriff''s office and was promptly arrested.

From an April 2019 news account:

Almost three years ago, Corey Mack Seahorn and an accomplice kidnapped a young man in Littleville. Now, the fake doctor/psychologist has been arrested on over 75 counts of possession of child pornography.

Seahorn is originally from Franklin County, but had lived out of state for several years when he returned to the area ostensibly married to a male. Whatever the relationship was, it was short-lived, and Seahorn soon found himself single and in love again.

This time Seahorn's beloved was a 15 year old male, a boy whose mother had also had a relationship with Seahorn. The self-proclaimed physician/psychologist soon found himself spurned and arranged to kidnap the young man, by then 16, in order to establish their romance.

According to Seahorn, he and a friend had been drinking when they came up with the plan to abduct the youth from a Littleville mini-mart. When Seahorn sobered up, he called the Colbert County sheriff's office to ask if he were in any serious trouble. Told that he was in the clear, Seahorn returned the boy to the authorities and was immediately arrested.

During the initial investigation, it came to light that Seahorn was posing as both someone with a medical doctorate and a PhD in psychology. He was reported to the appropriate boards, but without anyone to press charges, nothing was done about his ruse.

Now Corey Mack Seahorn, 41, has been arrested in Lauderdale on charges of both possession and production of child pornography. He was reported by the mother of a young boy whom he was ostensibly grooming for a sexual relationship. He remains in the Lauderdale County Detention Center at this time. 

Seahorn never made it to court on either his Colbert County kidnapping charge or his Lauderdale child pornography charges. From a second April 2019 news report:

An accused child pornographer has died while being held in solitary confinement in the Lauderdale County Detention Center. Authorities say Corey Mack Seahorn of Franklin County was found unreponsive in his single bed cell early on Sunday morning. His death is believed to be from natural causes, but an autopsy will be conducted for conclusive findings.

Seahorn made Shoals headlines three years ago when he kidnapped a teenage boy from Colbert County. At the time of his arrest on over 75 child pornography charges in Lauderdale, the 41 year old Seahorn had not been tried on the kidnapping charge. He was being held on over 400K bond.

On April 7, 2019, Corey Mack Seahorn was declared dead in his cell in the Lauderdale County Detention Center. At the time, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton stated that Seahorn had multiple health problems, and his demise was ruled from natural causes.

Seahorn's family buried him in the Bethlehem Cemetery in the Mountain Star Community in Franklin County. His published obituary received two comments of condolence. The public is now left to ponder the unknown fate of his kidnap victim and the children he involved in his pornographic image collection.