When Armstrong first saw the gun in 2001, he thought back five years to the quadruple murder at Tardy Furniture, remembering that authorities had never found a murder weapon. On July 2, the podcast, which has been downloaded more than 24 million times in its second season, laid out a lengthy argument that a different man, Willie James Hemphill, committed the 1996 murders. The podcast has never cared about the fundamental horrors of the justice system; it just wants to ensure that those horrors only happen to the correct people. Share to Facebook. The second season of the In the Dark podcast is about the case of Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same crime. Willie James Hemphill didn't come up until the sixth Flowers trial, and law enforcement officers said he was eliminated as a suspect in about five minutes. At first he was reluctant to divulge who he was with that morning, but later said it was a woman named Twanda Woods. Presley and Gamble had developed a simplemodus operandi. Resides in Greenwood, MS. And he's shown a quick and violent temper, particularly with women who don't comply with his demands. Nothing in the investigative file for the case explains why officers let him go. Whoever killed four innocent people in the Tardy Furniture store on that fateful day in 1996 was familiar with armed violence and kind of liked it. The July 16, 1996, killings of Tardy Furniture owner Bertha Tardy, 59, and three employees, Carmen Rigby, 45, Robert Golden, 42, and Derrick Stewart, 16, have haunted this town ever since. Sign the Guest Book . The podcasts decision to try to figure out who may have actually committed the murders at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona, Mississippi isnt surprising. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. Yet despite a number of theft and drug charges, probation violations, at least four domestic violence convictions and a girlfriend who alleges he stabbed her 13 times Hemphill has managed to avoid a long stint in prison. Katie Ali had been researching parallels between the Tardy Furniture murders and a string of similar crimes that had happened that same summer in neighboring Alabama. Willie James McDaniel Funeral services for Willie James McDaniel will be held at 12:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at Hemphill Star Church in Boyce, La. A photo array that contains Marcus Presley (No. So, if Curtis Flowers isnt guilty, who is? And Hemphill had a history of committing crimes in Winona and Memphis. His father had, for just a few months, been the first sheriff in the county, but returned to farming his land. Mississippi Highway Patrol Lt. Wayne Miller, the investigator who created the lineup, testified that the only suspect pictured in the lineup was Flowers. A surveillance camera revealed that the killer was wielding a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Willie James Hemphill. In October 2015, some 20 years after the murders, Katie Ali, one of Flowers attorneys in his appeal, recognized him in the photo lineup law enforcement used to implicate Flowers: In those Alabama crimes, store employees were shot execution-style with a .380 handgun the same type weapon used in the Tardy Furniture Store killings that might have jammed, and a suspect was wearing Fila shoes the same type shoe found from a bloody shoe print at the scene. He told APM Reports that he was arrested and questioned in the early days of the investigation. Asked if he'd committed the murders at Tardy Furniture, he simply said, "Hell, no.". "We did go to the mall, but it wasn't the day of the killing. It remains unclear why Mississippi investigators ruled them out as suspects. She said she had seen somebody at 7:15 a.m. outside Simpsons car at the factory. Me and her was leaving," he said, forfeiting his Memphis alibi altogether and placing himself a short walk from Tardy Furniture. Their pattern was to spend a week or so lying low before going on another rampage. Hemphills name came up briefly in Flowers 2010 trial. Look, Ive got something yall need to get, he said he told them. He said: "If it wasn't for the fact that I had an airtight alibi, I could be the one on death row right now. It wasn't that day." UNLOCK PROFILE. "[I]t's almost like a hair trigger that would cause a reversal if you've got false testimony that is significant.". "Yeah we was leaving. Search by Name. They wanted to ask him about his alibi for the day of the Tardy Furniture murders, an alibi that hadn't checked out. He allegedly committed robberies to fund a drug habit. Curtis Flowers was raised in a loving home by a gospel-singing father and a mother known for her culinary and entrepreneurial abilities. Find 23 people named Willie Hemphill along with free Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles on PeekYou - true people search. Willie Hemphill Found 194 people in Mississippi, Illinois and 31 other states. . He is aiming to get bail, which is rare in capital murder cases. Other facts may help explain why Hemphill initially was a suspect: The shoes he told In the Dark that he was wearing when he was questioned by investigators on July 21, 1996 Fila Grant Hill high-tops are the same type of sneaker that had left bloody footprints at the scene of the murders five days earlier. If Woods had been at the mall with Hemphill at the time of the murders roughly 10 a.m. she couldn't have been back in Winona any earlier than noon. Records show he was questioned Hemphill said he was interrogated for hours and held for 11 days before being released. Even so, they had to wade through a stack of rat-eaten files stored in an abandoned factory to realize he had been booked into jail. He testified in multiple trials that the other images in the photo lineup were just "filler pictures," chosen "at random" based on some resemblance to Flowers. Its a pretty cold-hearted human being that can kill four people.. Nor was there any record of the evidence gathered from Hemphill. Curtis Flowers is on Mississippis death row, convicted of the murders after six trials, but his lawyers, APM Reports In the Dark podcast, the Starz TV program The Wrong Man and others have raised questions about his guilt. That day in October 2015, Ali was looking at a photo lineup that law enforcement had used to implicate Flowers in the Tardy case. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. On July 14, his mother, Lola, died of surgery complications. Authorities put together alineup later that day of black-and-white photos, and she identified Flowers from the lineup as the man she briefly saw that morning when she came outside to move her car. Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife and son. Store employees were threatened with death and forced to lie on the floor. But maybe she didnt see anyone at all. The Tardy murders took place during a 24-day gap when the group carried out no robberies in Alabama. WrongManleans tentatively fingers Doyle Simpson as the prime suspect. When In The Dark spoke to Woods, she denied the two were together. She said the shoes had belonged to her son, who no longer lived there. He took the gun and placed it into a nearby shed. "We have never had any evidence that showed anything other than this defendant's guilt," Evans said. Although Presley was only sixteen, he seems to have been the driving force behind these crimes. Willie James Hemphill in Georgia Fulton County arrested for U/S VGCSA POSS* BLOG; CATEGORIES. The prosecutors had said repeatedly at trial that the only suspect seriously investigated was Flowers. 1 hr 4 min . View Tommy Hemphill results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Select this result to view William Thomas Hemphill's phone number, address, and more. Burial will follow in Hemphill Star Cemetery, Boyce. ", If Evans and his prosecution witnesses knowingly or unknowingly withheld evidence from the defense of other suspects in the Winona killings, they could be in violation of the Brady rule, named after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says a criminal defendant must be given evidence that could point toward his innocence. Nine days later, on July 25, 1996, the bodies of two innocent people were discovered in a pawn shop in Birmingham, Alabama. At first, Willie James Hemphill was calm. In Flowers' third trial, Snow testified that the height of the man she saw was between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5. Selected filmography. Menu. In the sixth trial, inmate Odell Hallmon testified that Flowers told him about carrying out the Tardy murders, helping lead to Flowers conviction. Willie Hemphill's passing at the age of 97 has been publicly announced by Arnold Family Funeral Services Inc. - Hillside Chapel in Altadena, CA.Legacy invites you to offer condolences and share memori Share to Twitter. F.T. Menu. Willie Hemphill is 80 years old and was born on 04/13/1942. Includes Address(1) Phone(2) Email(1) See Results. In 1996, four people were killed execution-style inside Tardy Furniture, which faces one of the busiest streets in the small town of Winona. But there was a three-week gap in the Alabama crime spree right at the time of the Tardy murders. How do we create a person's profile? He said that side door leads to a ditch that would have provided a better escape route than simply walking back through town as authorities claimed Flowers had. Maybe Doyle did the deed and reported his gun stolen to throw everyone off the scent. Willie James Hemphill was confronted in an Indianapolis courthouse last week, 23 years after police deemed him an initial suspect but later pursued leads against Flowers. Submit an Obituary. Evans didnt want jurors comparing his tortured theory with a simple and sensible alternative. State investigator Jack Matthews, one of those who had read Hemphill his rights, said hed only talked to Hemphill for a short time before realizing he didnt know anything. That same day, Horace Wayne Miller, a lieutenant with the Mississippi Highway patrol, asked Norfolk officials to keep him apprised of their investigation. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. Even before finding the gun, Armstrong had doubts about whether Flowers played a role in the quadruple murder. I know he didnt do it, Archie Flowers said. How did your name get involved in this?, Hemphill: I wasnt in the city. Search by Name. Both involved store employees who were shot execution-style, a .380 handgun that might have jammed, and a suspect wearing Fila shoes. For Flowers, the new information including Flemings changed story adds weight to his case for a full acquittal. And Hemphill had actually lived for a time in Winona. Gamble told me that they saw a few licks while they were in Mississippi. And if the two had spent just an hour at the mall assuming the mall, which is now closed, opened as early as 9 a.m. they'd have needed to leave Winona no later than 7 o'clock that morning. So where was Hemphill during the day? James appears the first time in the 1870 Federal Census as a six year-old, living with two brothers and a sister on his parents farm in Lampasas County, Texas. No one was going to all that trouble over the approximately $400 investigators say was in the till that morning. Shortly after the killings, police arrested Hemphill, then 24, who was wearing a pair of the Grant Hill Fila shoes. Reporters spent months combing through police and court records in Mississippi, Tennessee and Indiana to compile his extensive, and at times violent, criminal history. The day in photos. What are we supposed to think? Saums believes whoever carried out the crime had inside information. John Johnson, the DAs investigator, told the jury, I think they talked to him for five minutes. While Presley drove the action, Gamble kept his gun trained on the scene in case anyone tried to flee. Her new position on exactly what happened that morning is likely to be heard by a jury if Fleming faces one for a seventh time. Search for Roberto Thorpe Living on Prison Blvd in Sparta, GA. Get started for free to find contact info for nearly any adult in the U.S. Search by Name Search . His age is 79. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Williae Hemphill. 23 Matches for Willie Hemphill . The ugly facts of Hemphills past werent ugly enough for the podcast In The Dark emphasized its clear disdain of him. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. One, Rigby,was killed with two shots to the head. Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. 6209062-Willie-James-Hemphill-all-documents Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t11p6kj93 Ocr ABBYY FineReader 11.0 (Extended OCR) Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.7 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Page_number_confidence 7.04 Pages 1705 Ppi 300 Scanner Internet Archive Python library 1.8.5 Source Menu. Its almost impossible to not hate him and to believe he is guilty. Their size was a.380. Before he disappeared into a men's bathroom, he once again dodged the question of where he was on the day of the murders and insulted two female reporters with vulgarities. He told the podcast he had an airtight alibi. Reporters also poked holes in Hemphill . He told them that a day or two after the murders he was driving back to Winona from Memphis when his stepfather called him and told him carloads of law enforcement officers had descending on his parents house looking for him. This narrative turn places In The Dark firmly, disappointingly, and alarmingly in the mainstream of the True Crime genre. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Willie James Hemphill (1952 - 2006) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. Police received a call about the murders at 10:21 a.m. January 5, 1960 - August 13, 2009. Me and Twanda was out of town," he said. A series of Willie James Hemphill mugshots ranging from 2000 through 2016. 0.68 2.43 /5. And then Hemphill stormed off, ending the interview. Willie married Janeen Winegar on August 10, 2003 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Statistics for all 30 William Hemphill results: 68 yrs. On April 30, 2018, American Public Medias true crime podcast In The Dark began airing its second season, an investigation of the case of Curtis Flowers, a black man in Mississippi accused of a quadruple homicide at a furniture store in 1996. Flowers through six trials present Presley and Gamble as an alternative theory of the crime? Hemphill: A lot of people dont like to talk to the press and the police., Reporter: She was actually pretty talkative., Hemphill: Maybe she dont recall the day in question., Reporter: She actually has a really clear memory of that day., Hemphill: I dont know what she told you. And in the first Flowers trial, in 1997, he testified that "there were numerous suspects" in the early days of the investigation. Surveillance video from John's 280 Pawn Shop broadcast by ABC News. Flowers gave authorities conflicting statements about the times he went to these places. Miller would not comment. It was his legal obligation, but its easy to see why he didnt. Hemphill's ex-girlfriend Monkra Moore told In the Dark that she and Hemphill lived together on the east side of Winona in 1996 and that he was at home around 7 a.m. on the morning of the murders when she was leaving for work. Following a masterful turn as Flowers defense lawyer, the podcast also wanted to play the part of the prosecution. Inside the store, authorities discovered bloody footprints left behind by a Grant Hill Fila basketball shoe. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. His website is. Willie Ray Hemphill, Jr., 49, of Bryan, passed away Thursday, August 13, 2009 at his residence. Visitation will be observed from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service. That brings us to a theory that has been explored extensively by some of the folks currently representing Mr. Menu. Visitation: 6-8 pm Friday, March 2, 2012 at Laurel Land Funeral Home. It would indeed have been a solid alibi except it didn't check out. Hemphill said he was wearing his Filas when in walked into the Sheriffs Department. But it isnt necessary to prove a case against any of these people; the real scandal is that the existence of alternative suspects was systematically withheld from defense counsel. The two of them walked the same school halls from first grade through high school, he said. Prosecutors claimed Flowers wore a size 10.5 shoe, and a state expert testified that the 10.5 size was consistent with the bloody footprints. Willie Dixon - The Big Three Trio 1947-1952 (Roots N' Blues C 46216) FLAC . Service: 11 am Saturday, March 3, 201. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008); The Social Network (2010) Why was he questioned? Green is a reporter in Toronto. Hemphill seemed surprised when reminded that he'd told In the Dark in June 2018 that he was with an old friend named Twanda Woods. The answer was yes many, many times. The weapon in at least some of the Alabama cases was a .380 handgun that tended to jam. James Graham, was a blues pianist and her mother, Virgie Lee Graham, was skilled in many instruments, though she did not . He didnt mark it or put it in an evidence bag, he told the Clarion Ledger. Prior to his death, Doyle came across as a passive man working hard to stay out of trouble. <p>Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. The suspects include the gunman in an Alabama crime spree that summer that bore several similarities to the Winona killings and a violent career criminal who at the time of the murders was living with a girlfriend across from the furniture store. The obituary was featured in The Bryan-College Station Eagle on August 16, 2009. The show has won rightful fame for its work helping to save Flowers life. … A bunch of lies., Asked about Hallmons recantation, District Attorney Doug Evans, who has prosecuted Flowers in all six trials, said, Thats why the judge instructs the jury that a jailhouse informant is not very reliable, because they can change their statements very easily, for any reason. And Gamble wore Fila sneakers the same brand of shoe that left a bloody footprint at the Tardy Furniture scene. He lived near Tardy Furniture at the time of the murders, and near where a gun that might have been the murder weapon was found. Who was he? Three of the four were each killed with a single head shot. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. At a hearing, the attorney generals office told the judge that prosecutors knew of no such gun. Wrong Manpresented us with a small group of criminal justice professionals who started out believing that Curtis was probably the killer. It wasnt until 2016 that defense lawyers took a closer look at Armstrongs statement that he found a .380 handgun. LOW HIGH. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film Belfast. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. ROCK HILL - Willie Abraham Williams, 69, of 1138 Hickory Lane, Rock Hill, S.C., was called home Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008, at Hospice & Community Care.He was born Sept. 7 . He has been behind bars ever since. Mississippi Smoldering: Tom Mangold reports on the Curtis Flowers case in 2009, Dwelling in a land of disbelief: My University Years . The similarities between the crimes were striking. Presley and Gamble did four of the June heists together and one crime was perpetrated by Presley alone. Hemphill was born on September 10, 1971. What follows are selected incidents from his past. Marcus Presley and Lasamuel Gamble werent raised at all. Are you a wh*re?, Reporter: Did you commit the murders on Front Street? Whoever killed the four victims in Winona was beset by demons. She had at least 2 sons and 1 daughter with James Tobias Whitehead. Why offer up another suspect? It was either a paid hit on a single individual that went bad when other employees entered the room, or the awful deed was done for the hell of it. NEWS & ADVICE. Updated: June 22, 2016 . Grief Support. A series of Willie James Hemphill mugshots ranging from 2000 through 2016. December 6, 1948 August 11, 2018. Sympathy Ideas. It happens. But there was no mention of the Alabama crimes and suspects in the investigative files the prosecution had turned over to Flowers' defense attorneys. But this week she told journalist Madeleine Baran that she was wrong. He told APM Reports that he was arrested and questioned in the . Marcus Presley, the gunman in the Alabama crime spree, was staring up at Ali from among the six photos in the lineup. Hemphill also wasnt held briefly. Shooting a handgun with accuracy is more difficult than people think, said private investigator Charlie Saums of Ridgeland. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case. Jessie Mae Hemphill; Jimmie Gordon; Jimmy "Duck" Holmes; Jimmy Burns; Jimmy Dawkins; Jimmy Holmes; Jimmy Johnson; . In The Dark proved that Curtis Flowers was railroaded by an unjust system. In fact, he said, police never searched the crawl space beneath the house. They have also lived in Franklin, NC and North Fort Myers, FL. A Hearing. State investigator Matthews told the jury he didnt check Hemphills alibi, ruling him out by conversation alone. The two men had family in both Boston and Norfolk. And that's what I know," said David Goldberg, now retired from his job as a detective in the Norfolk Police Department. WINONA Renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said evidence he reviewed of the 1996 Tardy Furniture slayings suggests more than one personcarried out the quadruple murder. And maybe his girlfriend, Katherine Snow, told the authorities that she saw Curtis leaning up against Doyle Simpsons car because thats what investigators wanted to hear. Willie James Hemphill has done many terrible things. Presley wasnt the only suspect defense attorneys didnt know investigators had seriously considered. Then why havent the defense attorneys who have represented Mr. Hemphill says he was in Memphis on the day of the murder and his alibi might check out. Username. SEND FLOWERS. Each victim had been murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. Selected filmography. Passed away February 25, 2012. Hallmon is now serving three life sentences in Parchmanwithout the possibility of parole.
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