used to implicate Flowers in the Tardy case. Investigators said the Simpson brothers were eliminated quickly because they were both at work at the time of the murders. Menu. Why was he questioned? Despite raising earthshaking doubts about the justice system, the show ultimately conforms to the systems logic that crime, denuded of context, must be solved and punished. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case. View More. Willie James Hemphill was born on June 2, 1941. "We did go to the mall, but it wasn't the day of the killing. A series of Willie James Hemphill mugshots ranging from 2000 through 2016. In loving memory of Willie Mae Hemphill who passed away February 25, 2012. Although authorities quicklysettled on Flowers as their main suspect, he wasnt arrested until seven months later. Are you a wh*re?, Reporter: Did you commit the murders on Front Street? I dont think they learned anything.. Flowers gave authorities conflicting statements about the times he went to these places. He didn't work on July 4, a holiday, and didn't show up for work on July 5, 6 or 8. Willie Ray Hemphill, Jr., 49, of Bryan, passed away Thursday, August 13, 2009 at his residence. In fact, it appears Miller had specifically asked for the photo of Presley from an investigator in Virginia, where Presley and his accomplice, LaSamuel Gamble, were apprehended. When Snow told police that the man she saw was about 5-foot-6, investigator John Johnson corrected her, saying she had already given the heights as 5-foot-10, according to an audio tape obtained by APM Reports. Updated: June 22, 2016 . Eight days later, Tardy and three others working for the store were killed execution-style. Both his father, Archie, and his sonbelieve he will be free one day. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Episode 10 of the In the DarkPodcast was largely dedicated to the strange case ofWillie James Hemphill, a local bad boy with a violent streak who was continually getting cross-ways with the law. 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. In the sixth trial, inmate Odell Hallmon testified that Flowers told him about carrying out the Tardy murders, helping lead to Flowers conviction. Search by Name. View More. For starters, a key prosecution witness who testified she saw Flowers sprinting from the front of the store at the time of the murders, has been discredited, he said. That day in October 2015, Ali was looking at a photo lineup that law enforcement had used to implicate Flowers in the Tardy case. State investigator Matthews told the jury he didnt check Hemphills alibi, ruling him out by conversation alone. That said, I dont see a compelling motive, and none of these people is any more capable of pulling off an outrage on this scale than poor Curtis Flowers. 704-***-**** View Phone. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. (1909). Although Presley was only sixteen, he seems to have been the driving force behind these crimes. During nearly 30 years of crimes, he's shown a quick temper, and a penchant for daytime robberies and violence against women. Hemphill said he was wearing his Filas when in walked into the Sheriffs Department. When he showed up the Montgomery County Sheriffs Department two days later, he said, they immediately cuffed him and that the investigators made it clear he was a suspect. She lived in Winston, Mississippi, United States in 1930 and Beat 2, Winston, Mississippi, United States in 1940. They fell out and broke. Both men bounced from one traumatic living arrangement to another with no respite. "[I]t's almost like a hair trigger that would cause a reversal if you've got false testimony that is significant.". Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window). Who was he? But this week she told journalist Madeleine Baran that she was wrong. Hours after the killings, authorities interviewed Flowers, who said he had been babysitting the children of his girlfriend, Connie Moore, and also gone to his sister's home and a nearby store. In the Dark has previously reported that Hemphill was an initial suspect in the days after the July 1996 murders in Winona, Mississippi. "The best of my recollection, Mississippi was able to determine that our guys weren't the ones, or there was something that didn't make them right for the Mississippi case," said Mike DeHart, the Alabama sheriff's deputy who questioned Gamble. Find Willie Hemphill's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. Steven McKenzie, the driver of the getaway car in the pawn shop murders, was arrested on August 1 in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. "I was out of the whole jurisdiction in another state.". Includes Address(1) Phone(2) Email(1) See Results. Ive been confused of the day from the beginning. Usually if somebody starts shooting, he said, others will run.. Psychologist John R. Goff tested Flowers, concluding his IQ was 75. How did your name get involved in this?, Hemphill: I wasnt in the city. Officers gave him a gunshot residue test, finding oneparticle of residue. Hallmon has since admitted he lied. In 1996, four people were killed execution-style inside Tardy Furniture, which faces one of the busiest streets in the small town of Winona. How do we create a person's profile? Surveillance video from John's 280 Pawn Shop broadcast by ABC News. Hemphill had previously told police and the podcast that he was not in Winona on the morning of the murders. ", 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. Asked to clarify what he'd just said, Hemphill became agitated. Look, Ive got something yall need to get, he said he told them. But perhaps the most intriguing new development is the emergence of a man who verbally attacked journalists on the podcast while denying he was in town on the day of the murders. Hemphill, Willie Mae Willie Mae Hemphill, Born March 8, 1926. Records show he was questioned Hemphill said he was interrogated for hours and held for 11 days before being released. According to testimony in Flowers' first trial, authorities found $255 hidden in the headboard of Flowers' girlfriend. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 7-to-1 that prosecutors unconstitutionally eliminated black jurors during the trial proceedings for Timothy Tyrone Foster in 1987. analysis of his record of striking potential black jurors, Curtis Flowers' prosecution witness says testimony was all 'make believe', Recanted testimony, subjective science helps put Curtis Flowers on death row, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He didnt bother anybody.. It remains unclear why Mississippi investigators ruled them out as suspects. Injustice flourishes in the darkness, and the sun is now blazing in the heavens (at least for Curtis Flowers). A Hearing. A .380-caliber is hard to control. That night, according to Moore, Hemphill was home with an ounce of marijuana, some of which they smoked together. So, if Curtis didnt do this terrible deed, who did? 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. But maybe she didnt see anyone at all. Reporters also poked holes in Hemphill . The first of these events took place last month when the US Supreme Court tossed out Flowers conviction. 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. Curtis Flowers, as any prison guard who has ever worked with him can tell you, has no demons. In the 1980s and '90s, Hemphill spent time in Memphis. So, if I am forced to pick an alternative perpetrator in this awful case I would lean toward the Birmingham Boys, Presley in particular. But at Curtis Flowers' trials, the prosecution downplayed any investigation of other suspects. Law enforcement witnesses had testified under oath in Flowers sixth trial that Presley was never a suspect. Shooting a handgun with accuracy is more difficult than people think, said private investigator Charlie Saums of Ridgeland. Again, he denied ever being there. Editor's note: This endorsement editorial was updated on . Law enforcement had interviewed a different suspect with a violent criminal history, Willie James Hemphill a fact which was not disclosed to the defense. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. But he believed Gamble's denial. Marcus Presley and Lasamuel Gamble werent raised at all. "It just kind of jumped out," Ali said. Willie James Hemphill Obituary. Not the right Willie? And Hemphill had a history of committing crimes in Winona and Memphis. 0 Reputation Score Range. Presley and Gamble were extradited to Alabama, and again Gamble was questioned, almost in passing, about Mississippi. Gamble never discharged his weapon. But instead of stopping there, its reporters started snitching to the same system whose injustice they had just unmasked. (1870), A.M. (1872), and LL.D. Store employees were threatened with death and forced to lie on the floor. 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. He said he wondered what happened with the gun. It would indeed have been a solid alibi except it didn't check out. "I was here in Winona," Woods said. Like LaSamuel Gamble, Hemphill wore Fila shoes and had a criminal record. "Best I remember is somebody brought it to the attention of the investigators that they wanted us to talk to him, and he came in and we talked to him," Matthews said on the stand in the sixth trial. The officer who was with Small when they pulled over Armstrong for speeding told APM Reports that Armstrong had indeed given them a handgun, which was turned over to the district attorneys office. His mother lived there, and he had gone to school there on and off. 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. 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. On November 16, 2015, Marcus Presley signed an affidavit claiming that Lasamuel Gamble and Steven McKenzie (the driver of the getaway car) had been in Mississippi the day of the Winona murders and had returned with several hundred dollars in their pockets after claiming to have hit a lick (committed a crime). The whole time Ive been telling them, I dont remember the day, Fleming said. It was his legal obligation, but its easy to see why he didnt. In other words, Evans committed two egregiousBrady violations that will, in the days that lie ahead, force the courts to grant a new trial and, just as likely, insist that Doug Evans recuse himself from this case. The accused has had his conviction overturned for the sixth time, the woman who put him at the scene of the murders has backflipped on her story and another man has been forced to deny it was him all along. Quantico National Cemetery. The second best result is William E Hemphill Sr . Find an Obituary . Hallmon is now serving three life sentences in Parchmanwithout the possibility of parole. He took the gun and placed it into a nearby shed. Menu. The day in photos. Search by Name. By the time Presley and Gamble were arrested, Doug Evans wasnt interested in alternative scenarios; he knew Curtis was the killer. District Attorney Doug Evans argues that Flowers, enraged with losing his job, stole a gun out of a parked car at the Angelica garment factory, cooled his heels at home for an hour or so, then marched to the furniture store with murder in his eye, did the foul deed, and raced home. Marcus Presley sometimes accompanied by LaSamuel Gamble had committed a string of robberies in 1996 in and around Birmingham, with the same modus operandi. Their reporters know better than anyone that Hemphill wouldnt get a fair trial. Resides in Greenwood, MS. Soon that would change. He said he began working at Tardy Furniture on June 29, 1996. When In The Dark spoke to Woods, she denied the two were together. Only now, a new name has surfaced. Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. When Flowers went back on trial, Armstrong heard no mention of the gun by either prosecutors or defense attorneys. Who was he? When reporters talked to Hemphill last year, he said investigators cleared him because he had an alibi he called it "airtight." During nearly 30 years of crimes, Willie James Hemphill has shown a quick temper, and a penchant for daytime robberies and violence against women. Willie Hemphill in Virginia. Saums said it makes sense the killers would have left through the side door, rather than go out the front door onto busy Front Street, the small towns main drag. Memphis is two hours north of Winona, just across the border with Tennessee. Can Marcus Presleys affidavit be trusted? Obituaries Section. It wasn't that day." Its almost impossible to not hate him and to believe he is guilty. But, just like Curtis Flowers, Doyle Simpson fails the motive test. According to the ledger, about$287 was missing from the cash drawer the morning of the murders. The two men had family in both Boston and Norfolk. Simpson's brother Emmett was an early suspect, too a fact Matthews had himself testified to in the second Flowers trial. That might not be so if the whole world wasnt watching, but it is. . He told us the truth … The statement that he gave in court I made sure was the truth before we used it.. 4). But Curtis Flowers is somehow still not cleared of the gruesome quadruple murder on July 16, 1996. 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. The presence of live ammunition on the floor suggested that one of the killers was using a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. Menu. The Dallas Morning News. Hemphill's Timeline Willie James Hemphill has an extensive criminal record starting in 1990, just when Hemphill was eighteen-years old. In 1996, Mississippi investigators told the local paper they were looking into a possible connection. The killer or killers could have used the key to enter the side door, perhaps hiding before the store opened. He also tried to shoot his own 12-year-old son who was hiding in a closet, though the boy survived. And then Hemphill stormed off, ending the interview. Share to Reddit. Nor was there any record of the evidence gathered from Hemphill. Following that arrest, Hemphill committed crimes nearly continuously for the next three decades. 1.58 3.33 /5. LAYTON - Willie Morris Hemphill, 69, passed away August 11, 2018 at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. 1. Appendix III: List of Soldiers by Name Updated February 22, 2005 War of 1812 Discharge Certificates Appendix I: List of Units and Subunits Appendix II: List of Company/Detachment Commanders Appendix III: List of Soldiers by Name Appendix IV: List of Soldiers by Unit Appendix III: List of Soldiers by Name [table striped="true" responsive="true"]NameYearRegimentCompanyAbbey, Edward17951st . A woman who admitted having sex with a 13-year-old boy and becoming pregnant with his baby has avoided jail time. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. 20181228 Willie James Hemphill Criminal Civil Records Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. Hemphill said investigators tape recorded the interrogation and took notes, none of which was in the file given to Flowers defense attorneys. Her rough exterior portrayed a tough, independent woman. Evidence that prosecution witnesses may have given false testimony could potentially get Flowers' conviction overturned, said Bennett Gershman, a former prosecutor who now teaches law at Pace University. Evidence of false testimony by prosecution witnesses could potentially get Flowers' conviction overturned, Bennett Gershman, a former prosecutor who now teaches law at Pace University, told the APM reporting team. Grief Support. 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. Police received a call about the murders at 10:21 a.m. | BillionGraves We are testing a new layout for the record page. Hemphill was born on September 10, 1971. For Flowers, the new information including Flemings changed story adds weight to his case for a full acquittal. By his own account, someone told investigators that they'd seen him on Front Street that morning, though Hemphill has said repeatedly that he wasn't there.