Is Sweetwater a "Crime?"

The Sweetwater Mansion Debacle

By Sarah Savant

All my life I've been surrounded by people who volunteer to improve the community. I've always worked with various well-established school clubs and when I volunteered to work with Sweetwater Mansion, I expected it to be the same. I couldn't have been more wrong.

My first day as a volunteer was in the middle of August, and the director immediately handed me a camera and told me to take photos inside the house and on the grounds. Cynthia Johnson told me she was specifically looking for orbs that would suggest a ghostly presence. I do believe in ghosts, but I had volunteered to help restore the mansion, not take snapshots of what Ms. Johnson wanted to prove was on the property. Nevertheless, I followed her instructions, and several of us volunteers took photos for Cynthia. 

After we finished up, Cynthia told one young man he had captured the image of a werewolf in his photos. She then proceeded to show off what she called her psychic powers by offering predictions to our group. My friends and I thought the whole set up was odd, but we believed that the director really cared about the house so her behavior didn't bother us that much at the time. 

When we returned in October to begin the tours, we found that absolutely nothing had been done to restore the old home. These things take time and money, so we told ourselves "Rome wasn't built in a day." Cynthia told us that restoration would begin in earnest in early December, and we still had no real reason to doubt her. As Cynthia began to tell us about the history of the house, she mentioned she had been William McDonald's personal assistant at one time. We found this impressive, but then she continued to tell us about Susan Leigh Smithson, the property's owner. 

According to Cynthia, Ms. Smithson had been a high fashion model in her younger days and was now a fashion designer. I consider myself pretty fashion savvy and had never heard of Ms. Smithson, so I decided to Google her when I returned home. I found that Susan owned a shop in Atlanta that specialized in prom dresses and she had some odd comments and reviews attached to her name. 

Things definitely weren't adding up. I was left to wonder just what other statements we needed to take with a grain of salt... Sweetwater's director Cynthia Johnson liked to paint a perfect picture of the supposedly wealthy owner. She never spoke of Susan Smithson without mentioning her great wealth, but by October of 2010, we began considering the source. We soon saw that Susan didn't pay for anything related to the house. Her mother Edith Smithson paid the bills, and we also soon learned that the money earned from any events was paid directly to Susan's mother. 

At first I thought this looked shady, but Cynthia said Mrs. Smithson paid the utilities and taxes for Susan. When I asked Cynthia why the plantation hadn't received tax exempt status, she told me she had sent the paperwork to Susan's mother who had lost it. I didn't ask after that. I did talk with two other volunteers who had similar stories about the finances at the mansion, but there was never a great deal of money involved. I would guesstimate less than four thousand was taken in each year the mansion was open to the public. 

Still, we thought this money should have gone to restoration rather than to pay Susan's electric or tax bill. We began to think the mansion would never be restored with Cynthia as director. As the tours took shape, Cynthia told us stories of the original land owner, Gen. John Brahan, practicing voodoo in the basement and other ghost tales which she seemed to relish. About this time I became friends with another local historian who worked there. She shared her knowledge of Mr. McDonald's history of Sweetwater and also many things she had discovered through her own research. She was in possession of some writings of Jane Patton and other first hand material from that era. 

The two stories were so different, and Cynthia's was so unbelievable. I began to use the story told to me by my friend when I lead the tours, rather than the more lurid voodoo story that Cynthia had told me to relate. Cynthia then began to follow me around during the tours and "correct" me. I was becoming more and more disenchanted, but Cynthia told me in late October that massive restoration work was set to begin in early December. I knew that Cynthia had promised this before, but I hoped this time it was true. 

When I returned to the home after Christmas break, again absolutely nothing had been done. It was then that I decided to call owner Susan Leigh Smithson... I looked up the number for Miz Scarletts in Atlanta, called, and asked to speak to Susan. I was told Susan was at fashion week in Paris. This was early in January, and I knew the only shows in Paris at that time were haute couture and men's fashion. What prom dress store owner would be invited to something like that? I started laughing, but I did manage to say I worked at Sweetwater and gave them a false name. 

Apparently I still gave store personnel too much information because it was only about five minutes later that Cynthia Johnson called me. It seems Susan had called her and was livid. How had I found her "private number?" She related that Susan didn't take calls because she got death threats, was involved in lawsuits, and the list just went on an on. I don't know what any of Susan's personal problems had to do with me, but if I had problems with Cynthia before, I really had them now. She began telling other volunteers that I was out to get her and wanted her "job." At first I just shook it off, but then something happened that I couldn't just overlook. 

Cynthia was always relating things using her self-proclaimed psychic abilities, but now she began to tell others that she had a vision of me in the future and in this vision I was being raped. When I heard this I was angry beyond words; I was sick to my stomach. When I confronted Cynthia she told me she was only concerned for my well being. Apparently she wasn't concerned enough to come to me privately and tell me this. 

What should I do? I didn't want to be around Cynthia any more, but I really loved Sweetwater, so I decided to stay at least until the Living History Days in April. I wanted to be sure the stories told during the program were accurate, but Cynthia had her own version of things leading up to the actual event. If anyone ever asked about Susan, Cynthia told them that Smithson was in London working on Kate Middleton's dress for the royal wedding. I wish I could say she was joking, but she was completely serious. If this didn't kill any interest I had in the project, what happened next did.

Things actually went very well for the living history event, and some of us decided to spend the night at Sweetwater. There were only volunteers present, and we were having fun playing with some of the ghost hunting equipment. At least it was fun until two to the committee members got into an argument that turned nasty very quickly. One of the two involved was my friend who had helped me with Sweetwater's history. She resigned the next morning and most of us were extremely upset. We thought that Cynthia Johnson as director should do something about it. Instead, Cynthia acted as if nothing odd or out of the way had happened. 

I then decided to distance myself from the project, only dropping by if someone I knew well was going to be there. Some time later I received a phone call from this friend who had been "thrown under the bus." She had heard that someone was taking up money for Sweetwater at First Fridays and asked that I go with her to the next event and see what we could find out. Before we could go, I heard that Cynthia was accusing me and still another former committee member of being the ones who were collecting the funds. I decided to call Cynthia to ask why she was accusing us. She told me she had received a description of the pair and they sounded much like my male friend and me. 

I still love Sweetwater and want it to be restored. I don't know what it will take, but I honestly and sincerely believe that Cynthia Johnson is holding the project back. Volunteers don't stay long and no real work is ever done. If exposing what is really going on at Sweetwater will help, I feel that I have finally accomplished something. 

Originally published in Shoalanda Speaks July 28-August 1, 2011.

The Saga of the Reedtown Rapist

The Franklin County community of Reedtown is an anachronism, a racially segregated town that sits at the southwest corner of Russellville. Known for its copious drug dealers, Reedtown is the home of Marcus Anthony Hurley, a self-proclaimed member of the Reedtown Crip and Folk Nation and a convicted sex offender with a laundry list of other lesser convictions. Known as Mark Anthony, the 6'1" bearded Hurley was convicted in 2002 of 1st degree sexual torture, his victim a 17 year-old girl. 

Sentenced to prison on April 5, 2002, he was a free man by July 16, 2003. On September 18, 2003, Hurley visited the Hotskees Lounge in nearby Littleville. The small Colbert county town borders Franklin County on the north and is the closest community to Russellville that legally sells alcohol. There Hurley met an exotic dancer whom he repeatedly raped. This is the account of the ordeal as presented in case records: 

The victim testified that in the early morning hours on September 18, 2003, she was working her second night as a dancer at Hotskee's Lounge in Littleville. As part of her job, she was required to dance in a bikini or bra and panties for tips and to persuade patrons to buy her at least six non-alcoholic drinks. She would also perform lap dances for customers, one-on-one personal dances performed in a back room. She testified that her shift had begun on the evening of September 17, 2003, and that it was not a busy night at the lounge. 

She testified that Hurley entered the club at approximately 10:00 p.m. Following her dance on the stage, Hurley tipped her, bought her some drinks, and they talked for about an hour and a half. She asked Hurley if she could perform a lap dance for him, and he agreed. She testified that she performed for him for one four-or-five minute song. During this time, she said, Hurley was respectful and did nothing inappropriate. That dance was the last one of the night for the victim. She testified that she went into the dressing room, changed clothes, and prepared to go home. 

As she was leaving through the front door, Hurley was waiting for her and asked her if he could walk her to her car. Because he had been a "perfect gentlemen" throughout the night, she agreed to let him walk her to her car. As they were walking to her car, she assumed Hurley had stopped under a breezeway, because he was no longer walking next to her. She testified that she got in her car, buckled her seat belt, and began lighting a cigarette, when the passenger door opened. Hurley got into the car, and told the victim to "shut up." 

She testified that Hurley hit her twice in the head and told her to "shut up and drive." Hurley directed her to drive and pull into "what looked like it used to be a driveway" leading to an abandoned house. Hurley instructed the victim to turn off the car's ignition and lights. He then placed her head in a "headlock," exposed his genitals, and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He then ordered her to remove her pants and underwear, pulled her on top of him while he was in the passenger seat, and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. Although the victim continued to tell him "no," and that she needed to go home to her baby, he held onto her to prevent her from leaving the car.

Following the rape, Hurley smoked a cigarette and allowed the victim to do so as well. Before she finished her cigarette, however, Hurley again forced her to perform oral sex and to have sexual intercourse with him a second time. She testified that they engaged in conversation and smoked another cigarette and that Hurley stepped out of the vehicle with his back to the victim to "use the restroom." The victim testified that she was too scared to start her vehicle. Hurley turned around and told the victim that she could leave, but that she better not tell anyone about the incident, because he would be back at Hotskee's. The victim testified that she pulled onto the main highway and was speeding toward the Littleville Police Department, when she was pulled over by an officer of the Russellville Police Department. After she explained that she had been raped, the officer escorted her to the nearest hospital. 

The victim identified Hurley from a photographic line up, as the perpetrator of the crimes against her. Evidence was presented indicating that shortly after the incident occurred, police found Hurley sleeping on the porch of the abandoned home where the rape and sodomy had taken place. When he saw the police, Hurley immediately rolled over and put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. He admitted that he had been at Hotskee's lounge that night. Evidence was also presented indicating that the DNA profile, taken from Hurley after his arrest, matched that taken from the vaginal swabs from the rape kit analysis performed on the victim on the night of the incident. 

For his crimes, Franklin County Judge Sharon Hester sentenced habitual offender Hurley to life in prison. Two years later, he was free again. Joseph S. Rushing prosecuted the Hotskees rape case against Mark Anthony Hurley, winning a conviction; however, Rushing used what the Alabama Appeals Court later termed inadmissible evidence of yet another previous rape. While not appearing on official Alabama sex offender records, Hurley had committed a very similar sexual assault for which he was convicted in 2000. 

From court records: She testified that she first met Hurley on April 7, 2000, at a friend's house. She testified that a group of her friends was at the house when she arrived. Hurley was there, but she did not know him. Hurley took part in the group's conversations and mentioned several times going to the Waffle House breakfast restaurant. After he asked several times, she eventually agreed to go, observing that the appellant appeared to be a "nice guy." She testified that she went alone with him to the Waffle House "[j]ust to go eat." 

Instead of taking her to the restaurant, however, Hurley took her to his apartment, explaining that he needed to make a telephone call before they went to the restaurant. Hurley asked her to come into his apartment while he made the call. When they entered the apartment, Hurley lit a candle and pretended to make a telephone call before asking her if she wanted to go to the Waffle House. When she replied that she no longer wanted to go and asked that he take her back to her friend's house, he agreed and proceeded toward the front door. She testified that he then closed the door and pushed her toward the living room into a chair. 

As she begged him to take her home, Hurley began trying to take off her clothes. He proceeded to pull her pants down; he did not remove her underwear or remove the tampon she had inserted earlier before forcibly raping her. After he finished, she asked him to take her home. Although Hurley initially blocked her at the doorway, he finally agreed and drove her back to her friend's house. She testified that no words were spoken on the return drive. 

During Hurley's second trial for the Hotskees rape, Joey Rushing, now Franklin County District Attorney, was forbidden to introduce the above facts and otherwise failed to prove force in the Littleville incident. To the delight of Hurley's Reedtown family and friends, the self-proclaimed gang banger was found not guilty. 

Hurley returned to Reedtown, but moved often, and in March 2008 was indicted for failing to comply with the sexual predator registration act. Receiving only probation for that crime, Hurley once again remained free. Soon the Reedtown Rapist was accused of a fourth illicit sex act, specifically the rape of a 17 year-old girl on June 7, 2009. 

His alleged victim stated she was beaten during the assault that took place at Hurley's Filmore Street residence. Hurley had disappeared by the time officers arrived at his home with the arrest warrant, and U.S. Marshals joined the Russellville Police force in a massive man hunt. 

Six days later, acting on a tip, authorities found Hurley at the residence of Desmond Hamilton. Hurley posted a $75,000.00 property bond and returned to his home to await trial, but he was obviously not subdued by his plight. In February 2010, he was arrested again while out on bail--this time on drug charges. He was then indicted by a Franklin County Grand Jury on the charges of Possession of Marijuana and Drug Paraphernalia. 

What does it take to keep this man in prison? Perhaps Rushing and Hurley's victims felt a plea was the only sure way to incarcerate Hurley. Now, he will serve at least three years and one day in jail for his latest rape. In March 2011, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing deemed the split sentence the best way to ensure Hurley would do a substantial amount of time in prison and, considering previous jury verdicts, we agree. 

After his release from prison, the 34 year-old Hurley will then face five years of probation. Any violation of the terms of his probation will send the Reedtown Rapist to prison to serve the remainder of his twenty year sentence. Mark Anthony Hurley's record goes back at least ten years; besides several rape/assault charges, Hurley has also previously been convicted of second degree escape. 

 Look for another chapter in the ongoing saga of the Reedtown Rapist after his release in two years...yes, two years. The year Hurley spent incarcerated after his bail revocation will count toward his time served. As VOCAL says, justice for all, even the victims. 

 The above account was taken from Shoalanda Speaks originally published June 17-18, 2009, April 14, 2010, and April 3, 2011.

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The Tommy Morris Murder: 24 Years Later

The following account was taken from material originally published in Shoalanda Speaks on November 23, 2008:

Law enforcement officials in the tri-county area currently list a backlog of 15 unsolved homicides. The oldest of these is the murder of Tommy Morris, a 35 year-old special education instructor from Lauderdale County. On the evening of October 17, 1986, Tommy Morris forwarded his phone to a sister's home and left his apartment in the University District of Florence; he was never again seen alive. By the next day, his two sisters became concerned enough to report him missing to the Florence Police, who initially dismissed the family's fears. 

Deciding to take matters into their own hands, family members found Morris' car three days later near the intersection of Natchez Trace Parkway and Waterloo Road. The car had been torched, and authorities called to the scene found Morris' body locked in the trunk. 

Tommy Morris had taught at Lauderdale County High School before transferring to Wilson a short time before his death. Morris, who was generally considered someone with designer tastes, also worked at Shankey's Men's Wear and Caster-Knott Department Store in Regency Square Mall. The school teacher, known for his elaborate wardrobe and expensive dental work, had friends in both high and low circles--a situation that made the investigation into his personal life that much more difficult.

It was even rumored at the time that authorities videotaped Morris' funeral, but all inquiries led to dead ends. Rich Thigpen, a former Rogersville resident who remembered Morris from Lauderdale County High School, speculated on the teacher's death. Writing in Prism Comics' online magazine, the openly gay Thigpen theorized that Morris' closeted lifestyle had contributed to his death. 

Whatever the motive, the murder was especially brutal and stood out to the detectives assigned to the case. By December 1987, there had been little progress in the case when then-Lauderdale District Attorney Steve Graham announced the formation of a Special Investigations Unit consisting of the Lauderdale Sheriff's Department and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. Graham emphasized the Morris death would be one of the unit's top priorities. 

In January 1993, then-Sheriff Billy Townsend revealed that Morris' autopsy didn't confirm the teacher had been murdered; however, the department was still viewing the case as a homicide. Considering that the body was found locked in the trunk of his burned out car, it would seem less than logical to consider Tommy Morris' death anything less than murder. Many, especially Morris' family, were taken aback by Townsend's statement.

Charles Ford and Charles Perkins, Lauderdale County investigators, have since retired and handed the investigation over to Jr Witt. Since late 2005, Witt has received at least two new leads and still hopes to solve the mystery of Tommy Morris' death. 

Next month will mark the 24th anniversary of Tommy Morris' death. Members of Morris' family still live in the area, as well as many of Tommy's former students; they deserve closure. Anyone with information concerning this crime should contact Witt at the Lauderdale County Sheriff's office.

Does the Mayor's Killer Still Walk among Us?

Originally published in Shoalanda Speaks February 17-19, 2010:

Dead Bay...did anyone call the small Northwest Franklin County town Dead Bay before former Mayor L. N. Flippo Jr. and his wife Ruth were brutally murdered early that Saturday morning July 11, 1981? The blast that shook Red Bay, Alabama, at approximately 3:00 a.m changed the community forever. No one has ever been held responsible for the slayings, and after 28 years, no one may ever be.

When first awakened by the blast, neighbors assumed a natural gas line had exploded. Investigators who appeared within minutes of the blast quickly ruled out that possibility. Some were quick to mention plastic explosives since no fire was present--a ball of the highly combustible material could easily have been tossed through the picture window of the Flippo home. Others had a more practical idea.

Large amounts of explosives had been stolen from a Colbert County construction site the month before, never to be accounted for. A loose grate under the Flippos' bedroom and pieces of a shovel handle found nearby indicated to investigators that explosive material had been shoveled under the couple's bedroom and then ignited. Did the Flippos have enemies close enough to know in which bedroom they slept, or was it all a horrible coincidence? Red Bay Police, Franklin County officials, and the ABI all chose to issue a gag order on any outgoing information, yet citizens of the small town were bound to talk among themselves.

Who or what had made the Flippo family the target of a lethal bombing? Whoever he was (and most bombers are male), he's never been caught.

L. N. Flippo Jr. was born in Hodges, Alabama, not far from the town in which he was murdered. He married his sweetheart Ruth and moved to Red Bay in the 1940s. The family raised three daughters who attended Red Bay Schools, while L. N. worked at a local bank, eventually becoming president.

Seeking to give back to his adopted hometown, L. N. ran for mayor and won the office easily, but decided to leave public service three years into his term. If anyone outside L. N.'s family knew why Flippo had become disenchanted with public office, they kept his secret as their own. Too young for retirement, L. N. opened an insurance office in the small town, and it prospered as had his other business endeavors. Except for the hour each morning L. N. visited with cronies at the local coffee shop, he was never far from the side of Ruth who helped with the insurance agency.

While all three of the Flippos' daughters had done well in school, those who knew the family called them shy. That combined with their relative affluence caused a few to term them snobbish, but those who knew them well said that was far from the truth. By 1981, the older two were married, and the youngest was away at college.

The weekend of Saturday July 11, 1981, one of the Flippos' cars was in the shop. Did someone think the couple was away for the night? A hidden grate behind the house appeared to be undisturbed, while someone had obviously loosened the more visible grate under the couple's bedroom, possibly indicating intimate knowledge of the home's floor plan.

A thundering blast rang through the town at 3:00 a.m. Responders were on the scene within minutes finding the 68 year-old L. N. Flippo, sleeping nearer the wall, already dead. Ruth, also 68, with splinters from the floorboard embedded in the calves of her legs was alive, but died twenty minutes later at Red Bay Hospital due to internal bleeding.

The entire town of Red Bay was in shock. As word spread that the blast was intentional, neighbors gathered to talk and grieve. Who would have killed the mayor and his family. Almost three decades later, the same town continues to ask the same question.

Four months after the explosion that both emotionally and literally rocked the small Franklin County town of Red Bay, three combined teams of investigators were no closer to finding their bomber than they had been on July 11, 1981. The three Flippo daughters had offered a ten thousand dollar reward for any information, with then-Alabama Gov. Fob James matching the amount. That amount of the reward in today's dollars would be roughly $45,000.00--yet, there were no takers.

After four years of no valid clues, then-Gov. George Wallace added still another ten thousand dollars to the available rewards. Investigators decided to release small amounts of information. An ex-boyfriend of the youngest daughter had been cleared, as had a band of Marion County bootleggers who lived near the home of one of the Flippos' older daughters. While never completely authenticated, investigators by now believed that Flippo, the former president of Red Bay National Bank, left the mayor's office in 1975 because of a temporary health problem. They also believe that Ruth, a retired school teacher, heard the bomber as he placed the explosive under the bedroom, causing her to attempt to stand and resulting in her unusual injuries. Those at the scene said her last words were, "Oh, somebody please help me."

By January 1993, Franklin County Sheriff Larry Plott declared the case at a dead end. Without new information, there was nothing left to investigate. The TimesDaily lists the 1985 murder of Florence teacher Tommy Morris as one of the area's oldest unsolved cases. Perhaps Red Bay sits too closely to Mississippi for many in the Shoals to remember the tragic deaths of L. N. and Ruth Flippo.

Their daughters and friends still remember. There's still a $30.000.00 reward offered for any information leading to the murderer(s). Surely someone knows something...

Lloyd Hollis Hayes: From Fire Marshal to Purveyor of Porn

The following was taken from Shoalanda Speaks columns originally published November 6-8, 2010:

In May 1984, the Killen Fire Department of thirty plus volunteers announced that 28 year-old Capt. Lloyd Hollis Hayes was their new chief--for the second time since the previous December. A spokesman for the department would say only that the small group was a victim of internal problems. Now, Hayes was on his way to a successful career that lasted 18 years. 

Married to the former Carol Lynn Mason Gresham, Hayes was the father of two young children and by 1989 had joined the Florence Fire Department where he served as captain. In 1994, Hayes ascended in rank to fire marshal, a position he held until he was terminated in 2002. 

As part of his role with the Florence department, Hayes regularly participated in childrens' learning activities during National Fire Prevention Week each October. Hayes himself announced that the Florence program involved reaching young children not just in local public schools, but day care facilities as well. At the state level, Hayes helped establish youth groups connected to various fire organizations. If Lloyd Hollis Hayes was unduly concerned with children, no one seemed to notice until January 2002. 

It was at that time the City of Florence conducted a routine audit of municipal computers. No one expected to find what appeared on Hayes' computer. Possess computer images of adults in various states of sexual interaction and, while it may be sickening to some, it's not a crime. Possess photos of children in the same state, and you can go to prison for up to twenty years--in some states, the sentence is life. For legal purposes, children are defined as being under 18 years of age, but most who are so horribly used, and even raped, for the gratification of those willing to pay for such images, are much younger. 

Florence Fire Marshal Lloyd Hayes agreed to plead to the charges on which he was indicted, so only those who were part of the legal investigation, prosecution, and defense know exactly what was on both Hayes' home computer and the computer provided him at work by the City of Florence. From the July 17, 2007, New York Times: 

Experts have often wondered what proportion of men who download explicit sexual images of children also molest them. A new government study of convicted Internet offenders suggests that the number may be startlingly high: 85 percent of the offenders said they had committed acts of sexual abuse against minors, from inappropriate touching to rape. 

While Hayes may be part of the 15% (3 out of 20) who did not act on his fantasies, he was at least so addicted to child pornography that he risked his job, a very well-paying job, by keeping at least part of his pornographic collection stored on his computer at the Florence Fire Department. When a routine audit on January 11, 2002, discovered the illicit images, police also confiscated his home computer, finding more of the same. The City of Florence placed the 45 year-old Hayes on paid administrative leave on Tuesday January 15th, a day after the fire marshal was arrested on three counts of possession of child pornography and seven counts of distribution of the same. His bail was 50K, not a difficult amount for someone in Hayes' income bracket to produce. 

A short time later, Lloyd Hollis Hayes' status was changed to unpaid administrative leave; and his wife filed for divorce. If Hayes was to salvage anything from his downfall, he was going to need a lot of luck and a great legal defense. As Lloyd Hollis Hayes sat in the Florence-Lauderdale Detention Center awaiting bond, he called Florence Fire Chief Charlie Cochran to express the love he had for his job, or more to the point, his former job. Employed under the Civil Service Act, Hayes was entitled to a due-process disciplinary hearing over which Cochran would preside. The fire chief stated at the time that friendship with Hayes would not influence him in his decision. 

On January 25, 2002, Cochran heard three hours of testimony in Hayes' hearing, after which he recommended the former fire marshal be placed on leave without pay until the charges against him were adjudicated. Hayes was luckier during his hearing in District Court three months later. District Judge Deborah Bell Paseur dropped the seven charges relating to distribution of child pornography since no money changed hands in the transfer of the images. Now, Hayes faced only three counts of possession of obscene material. Hayes later agreed to a plea bargain in which two of the three remaining charges were dropped. 

Judge Mike Jones sentenced the former firefighter to a 30 month sentence. Under the agreement, Hayes wore an ankle monitor for nine months, while spending two years on probation. His defense attorney was quick to point out that the children pictured on Hayes' computers were not local. Well, thank goodness they were only children from third world countries. 

Today Lloyd Hollis Hayes remains on the sex offender list, as he will for the remainder of his life unless current sex offender laws change drastically, and works in a North Florence dollar store. It's a dismal ending for a once bright future; however, once he reaches the age of 60, Hayes will begin to draw his state retirement--our tax dollars at work.

Who Murdered Little Miss Sunbeam's Killer?

The following account is taken from columns that originally appeared in Shoalanda Speaks December 19-24, 2009:

It was 1942 when Quality Bakers of America, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, introduced a brand of white bread that it dubbed Sunbeam. In an era before rapid transit, an era that was also shrouded in war time restrictions, Quality Bakers decided to franchise its product. In Alabama, the Flowers Bakery Company produced Sunbeam Bread, a product whose recipe quickly made it a favorite of the American consumer.

Just as in today's tight economy, marketing could make or break a product in the 1940s, and Quality Bakers hired illustrator Ellen Segner to create a brand icon that would distinguish it from other products, most importantly Sunbeam Appliances. Segner, who died in 2001, was noted at the time for her semi-erotic pin ups, but is remembered today for her creations of Dick and Jane, as well as Little Miss Sunbeam.

While sitting in a New York park, Segner saw a young blond girl playing. She immediately took out her sketch pad and created what was to become one of the most recognizable faces of the late 20th century; however, before Segner could approach the child to offer her a formal sitting, the little girl had disappeared. Segner then used other models to finish various portraits that came to represent Sunbeam Bread in advertising across most of the United States.

After the war, Sunbeam Bread continued to grow in popularity, and one franchiser hit upon the idea of selecting a real-life Little Miss Sunbeam to represent their area. The first Miss Sunbeam, Patty Michaels, was chosen in the New York area in 1955, but finding public appearances too tiring, left the Sunbeam company after only two years. Michaels went on to appear in The Sound of Music and enjoy a moderately successful recording career.

With the success of this live mascot in one geographic area, other franchisers followed suit. Flowers Bakery held its contest for a Miss Sunbeam in the late 1950s, and thus Marie Burns of the Central community in western Lauderdale County became the Southeast's Little Miss Sunbeam, enjoying the title's fame well into her adulthood when, in the mid-1980s, she was killed by impaired driver Wilburn May Jr.

Those who knew Wilburn May Jr. universally called him "Junior." They also called him other names that colorfully described his usual state of inebriation. It wasn't unusual to hear customers of the Central Heights Pharmacy tell each other to watch out on the way home--Junior May was on the road. In the early 1980s, May was involved in a drunken crash that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Apparently no charges were filed in that crash, and Junior May continued to drive a modified vehicle--still drinking and now under the influence of narcotic pain killers. It came as no surprise when a a few years later a drunken May hit another car head on; it was a shock to the community that the dead passenger in the car was Marie Burns, a former Little Miss Sunbeam and the mother of four children.

It was also a shock when May was again allowed to plead to a lesser charge than manslaughter and was given only a slap on the wrist in Marie Burns' death. Divorced, May still had family who attempted to help him recover from his addictions, but to no avail. Now, May was not only an addict himself, but had also taken on the mantle of local drug dealer.

In 1998, his drug dealings caught up with him when a family member of one of his customers reported him. Junior May yet again cheated justice--this time due to his condition. Apparently the state had no wish to house a paraplegic whose body was ravaged by a lifetime of alcohol and other drug abuse. Wilburn May Jr. was given probation and allowed to return to the Central community where he again set up shop selling drugs and some said fencing stolen merchandise.

For the next three years, May operated out of a hospital bed set up in the living room of his small house on County Road 15. This is where family members found the body of Wilburn May Jr. lying in his hospital bed on the morning of February 26, 2001; a single gunshot wound to the chest was circled in dried blood. May, 45 years old and a known drug dealer, had many enemies--some of them due to his role in the death of the former Little Miss Sunbeam Marie Burns, but after a four month investigation, the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department had found every lead to be a dead end.

By the end of June 2001, the reward in the case totaled $16,000.00; but the first real break came from a Madison County law enforcement officer. Donald Wayne Darling II was seventeen years old and lived less than a mile from Wilburn May Jr. on County Road 15 in the Central community. Now Darling was an inmate at Three Springs School, a Madison alternative correctional facility for juveniles where he had been held since May 1. According to authorities, Darling told a roommate he had killed May.

When Lauderdale Investigator Jr. Witt visited with Darling at the school in mid-July, the teenager denied the charges, but admitted he had bought drugs from May twice in the past. Witt was convinced that Donald Wayne Darling had killed Junior May and secured a search warrant for his Central Heights home. Investigators were secretive concerning their finds, but immediately requested a warrant for Darling's arrest.

Taking Darling into custody the next day, Lauderdale County assigned Doug Evans to prosecute the teenager. The Assistant District Attorney immediately requested an upgrade in Darling's charges--now Donald Wayne Darling was accused of capital murder in the killing of Wilburn May Jr. Evans based the new charges on accusations that Darling had also stolen drugs at the time of the killing, a killing the prosecution believed to be the result of a gang initiation. Darling defense attorneys offered a different scenario, but District Judge Deborah Bell Paseur now ordered Donald Wayne Darling held without bail.

Darling spent almost two years in the Lauderdale County Detention Center awaiting trial, while defense attorneys Jenny Behel and Chris Connolly filed various motions and maintained that Jr. Witt had illegally questioned Darling, setting the stage for what was to become a lengthy battle of words--not the least of which were prosecutorial misconduct. In the mean time, was the real killer still out there?

The State's case against Donald Wayne Darling II hit roadblocks from the beginning. Darling himself claimed he had bragged of murdering Wilburn May Jr. in order to impress gang members with whom he was incarcerated in Madison. The day before Jr Witt had traveled to Madison to interview Darling, the teenager had attempted to hang himself and was under the influence of powerful anti psychotic drugs during questioning. Of the items taken from Darling's home by Witt, some proved to belong to Darling's father. Prosecutors in the case failed to allow the Darling defense to inspect the items, a fact that drew the ire of Judge Mike Suttle who had been assigned to hear the capital murder case.

As the trial began, the case against Darling began to unravel even further. The defense proved May's front door was kicked down by an individual with a larger foot than the teenager's and none of the defendant's shoes matched the sole pattern as the prosecution initially claimed. The defense also produced witnesses that several individuals, including May's ex-wife, had recently threatened the murdered drug dealer.

As the trial progressed, Chris Connolly asked for a mistrial based on the possibility of prosecution witness Torry Harrison being released early for his testimony. The witness had testified previously in several other trials in return for special considerations. Also, a main point of contention in the Darling trial was the witness being allowed to wear street clothes to the proceedings (We will inject here that even those who are incarcerated should be allowed some dignity--as long as the jury was advised that the witness was currently serving time in the Colbert County Jail, his clothing should have made little difference).

Further, Junior May's heavily peroxided blond daughter Nancy Stevenson testified that she believed her father had also been beaten and that his axe had been turned over to Lauderdale deputies, but was not introduced into evidence. If May had been beaten, as his daughter claimed, this was another element that clashed with Darling's initial and supposedly drug-induced confession.

After two days of deliberation, the jury announced it was deadlocked, and Judge Mike Suttle declared a mistrial. Darling was returned to the Detention Center to await a second trial, but his defense attorneys had other plans--they immediately filed charges of prosecutorial misconduct by the Lauderdale County District Attorney's office. Judge Mike Suttle took the charges of prosecutorial misconduct in the Donald Darling murder trial so seriously that he ordered a jury trial in the matter; however, the Lauderdale District Attorney's office appealed the ruling and won.

Now, Darling was to face a second trial for the murder of Wilburn May Jr. By May 2004, Darling had been released on bond, and Lauderdale District Attorney Steve Graham had resigned. Graham's successor, then Republican Billy Jackson, knew the Darling family socially and recused his office from the second trial. Even Judge Suttle's role was questioned due to his announced support of Darling's defense attorney Chris Connolly, Jackson's Democratic opponent in the upcoming election. Suttle refused to step down and presided over Darling's second trial, now moved to Decatur.

During the trial, the defense team introduced evidence that included an alibi for Darling and accusations against one of May's ex-wives as well as a known drug associate who had not been seen since May's murder. On July 23, 2004, a Morgan County jury found Donald Wayne Darling II not guilty of the murder of Junior May. Suttle then authorized protection for the Darling family as they left the courthouse due to alleged threats from the May family. Darling himself spoke of his relief to have an unencumbered future.

What did Donald Darling do with his freedom? Less than four months later, the now 20 year-old Darling was accused of attempting to break into a condom vending machine at a Central Heights mini-mart. He pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor charge. Two years later, Darling was arrested for breaking into a convenience store to steal cigarettes; a short time later an intoxicated Darling was arrested by an observant off-duty deputy immediately after breaking into a truck in the Central community.

Do Darling's post acquittal criminal actions indicate he was in reality guilty of killing Junior May? They certainly indicate Donald Wayne Darling II placed little value on his freedom. As for who did murder Little Miss Sunbeam's killer, one of the strangest cases in Shoals crime history is still officially open.