Gene Weems: Missing & Declared Dead

 

On Thursday, June 5, 1997, Robert Eugene Weems walked away from his home on Julian Street in Petersville around 9:00 p.m. and has never officially been seen again. Gene lived with his family who told Lauderdale County investigators that the missing man had left behind identification, money, and medicine. While it wasn't unusual for the bi-polar 30 year-old to leave his home when stressed, it was out of character for him to remain away for a lengthy period of time.

On Sunday, June 8th, there was a credible sighting of Gene walking along Cox Creek Parkway between North Wood Avenue and Jackson Road. Since the young man had been known to walk in that area before, the Weems family felt this was a good place to begin a ground search.

At that time, Lauderdale County had a "Crisis Action Team," and six members volunteered to search the wooded areas around that section of the parkway on Monday, June 23rd. The timing meant that early Summer vegetation was at its peak, and members were hampered by impassable areas. At the end of the day, no sign of Gene Weems had been found. Searchers continued with a water search of Cypress Creek the next day, but again turned up nothing.

During this time frame, authorities were made aware of two possible out-of-state sightings - one in Mississippi and one in Savannah, Tennessee; however, detectives were never able to associate the transients with Gene. While local authorities continued to keep the case open, new information was not forthcoming.

In September 2006, Willard Eugene (Bill) Weems had his son declared dead. Bill died four years later without any news of his son who would now be 56. Gene Weems' name still has a place on the State of Alabama missing persons list - No. Laud00952, which identifies him as endangered and is one of its oldest cases.

Was Robert Eugene Weems the victim of an actual crime? That's something we may never know.

Murder on the Joe Wheeler Plantation

 

Murder at Pond Spring tells the story of the May 3, 1871, murder of Dandridge Thompson Galey (Gailey) by the brother-in-law of Gen. Joe Wheeler. The account is written by Mike Walker, a descendant of the victim.

The book is a private printing with only a few copies remaining. For purchasing information, you may contact the author via his Facebook page:

Mike Walker

Three Years to Identify Her Body

 

Courtney Vivian Staggs, mother of five, was living on Piedmont Street in Florence when she went missing in 2020. Also known as Courtney Barrett, the 35 year-old sometimes called herself "Hot Alabama Girl" online. 

From the Florence Police Department on August 18, 2020: Courtney Staggs was last seen Monday (8/10/2020) in the Florence, AL area. Courtney is 5'05" with green eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing a black shirt and black pants with sandals. 

The Florence woman's last sighting was near the 600 block of East Irvine Avenue where she had been visiting a client who stated she appeared normal when she left. Due to certain aspects of her last known hours, she was listed as endangered.

There was no further news of Courtney until October when her EBT card was found in Lil Caesar's Pizza in Florence Plaza. Despite the find, no CCTV cameras picked up either Courtney or anyone who could possibly have been using the card.

Then, in November, hunters found the remains of a female body in a wooded area off Jarmon Lane. After viewing items found with the body, family members believed the deceased was Courtney, but needed to wait for DNA confirmation. A daughter provided her DNA for testing, and the wait began.

The body was initially sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences which failed to make a positive identification. From there, the body traveled to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.

On May 20, 2024, the Colbert County Sheriff's Office received word that the remains definitely belonged to Courtney, and a death certificate was issued on May 22nd. Her family held a memorial service on May 31st, but for Colbert Sheriff Eric Balentine, the work was just beginning.

Balentine has indicated that he expects the case to go swiftly at this point. He has persons of interest, as well as statements linking them to Staggs' last hours. While Courtney's family awaits an arrest, one relative expressed thanks for a major hurdle in the case: Courtney Vivian Staggs is now buried beside her mother.

"Frankie Shot Me"

When Reynolds Alloys shuttered a large part of its Colbert County operations, the aluminum foil giant gave employees a chance to work at one of its many other facilities. One employee who took the company up on its relocation offer was Ewell Wells Bridges. Unfortunately, Bridges' wife Frankie wasn't as enamored of Hot Springs, Arkansas, as her husband. Frankie Stovall Bridges initially thought her husband's transfer would be short-lived, but by 1986, Ewell was in his seventh year at the Arkansas plant. 

Thus began the commuter era of the Bridges' marriage; for years Ewell lived in a small lake house in Hot Springs, traveling each weekend home to Frankie in Tuscumbia. Such arrangements often take a toll on even the strongest unions, and, according to Garland County homicide detectives, the Bridges' marriage was no exception.

On May 24, 1986, Ewell Bridges' next door neighbor in Arkansas heard shots and the sound of breaking glass. Thinking that teenagers were shooting at bottles, Charles Chippola left his trailer and began looking for the hooligans. Instead of rowdy teens, Chippola discovered broken glass in front of Bridges' cottage. Inside he found the then 49 year-old Ewell lying on the floor, shot twice and bleeding profusely from his neck and torso.

After calling police, Chippola knelt by Bridges, asking who was responsible. According to Charles, Bridges, who was actively dying, used his last breath to say "Frankie shot me."

Chippola then reported seeing a large African-American woman he believed to be Frankie Bridges exit the small cottage. Buela Chippola, Charles' wife, testified that she had been outside the cottage and saw a woman run from Bridges' home and leave in a small Mercury or Maverick.

Frankie Bridges, a Coffee High School science teacher at the time of the shooting, had retained Florence attorney Don Holt as her primary advocate in the Arkansas trial. When Holt questioned Charles Chippola, the neighbor admitted that he had changed some basic details of his testimony since the night of the shooting. Holt contended that Frankie Bridges was visiting a cousin in Muscle Shoals the night of Ewell's death and could not possibly have shot her husband. The defense offered up the theory of a robbery gone wrong, while some speculated that the woman seen leaving the cottage was Ewell Bridges' spurned lover.

Holt then called Frankie Bridges to the stand. Frankie, who by the 1987 trial was no longer employed by the Florence City School System, testified that she was grading papers at the Muscle Shoals home of her cousin the night of her husband's murder. She further stated she had never owned a Mercury or Maverick and had no reason to want her husband dead. 

Did the jury believe Frankie's version of her relationship with her husband at the time of his murder, or did they believe Ewell's alleged dying declaration? It seems the 12 jurors were at a loss as to who was telling the truth and announced that they could not settle on a verdict. The Garland County district attorney later announced he would not try the case a second time.

Today, the 83 year-old Frankie Stovall Bridges lives in Chandler, Arizona. And Charles Chippola? Did he really hear Ewell Bridges incriminate Frankie? We'll consign that question to one of life's mysteries.

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.

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