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It was his legal obligation, but its easy to see why he didnt. I knew his sisters, I knew his brother, he said. 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. Not the right Willie? Hemphill certainly sounds like a career criminal who is fully capable of committing violence; but he doesnt come off as a psychopathic killerand whoever did the deed at the Tardy furniture store was either a hired killer (or killers) or enjoyed killing people for kicks. US States (36975K) Current Events (51K) Celebrity (272) Exonerated (117) Favorites (421) FBI Most Wanted (848) Gangsters (49) Historical (131) Interpol (1.7K) . Montgomery County Sheriff Bill Thornburg searched Moores home and found a size 10.5 Fila Grant Hill shoebox in a dresser at her house. Hallmon is now serving three life sentences in Parchmanwithout the possibility of parole. The podcast, which uncovered evidence used by Flowers to get his conviction overturned, spoke with witness Clemmie Fleming. Soon that would change. No one was going to all that trouble over the approximately $400 investigators say was in the till that morning. In the Dark has previously reported that Hemphill was an initial suspect in the days after the July 1996 murders in Winona, Mississippi. Their pattern was to spend a week or so lying low before going on another rampage. His website is. In 1996, four people were killed execution-style inside Tardy Furniture, which faces one of the busiest streets in the small town of Winona. State investigator Matthews told the jury he didnt check Hemphills alibi, ruling him out by conversation alone. 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 It remains unclear why Mississippi investigators ruled them out as suspects. View Willie Smith results in Kingwood, TX including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. And he was undeterred, at first, when he was told that Woods hadn't corroborated his story. The murder weapon in the Tardy Furniture case was a .380, and an unfired round was found at the scene; investigators believe that might indicate that the gun had jammed. You said that was an airtight alibi we talked to Twanda and she said she wasnt with you that day., Hemphill: They released me based on that. Flowers, the individuals I reference as the Birmingham boys. View Tommy Hemphill results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. But that doesnt mean that he killed those four people at Tardy Furniture. He died on December 28, 1908, at his home in the section of Abbeville called Fort Pickens, and is buried in Melrose Cemetary, Abbeville. In Flowers' third trial, Snow testified that the height of the man she saw was between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5. Hallmon told APM Reports that he became a prosecution witness in spring 2001 after being arrested on multiple drug charges. He never responded. "After a short time, we realized that he didn't know anything about the case.". Mississippi Smoldering: Tom Mangold reports on the Curtis Flowers case in 2009, Dwelling in a land of disbelief: My University Years . Willie James Hemphill has lived in Evansville, IN 47714; Greenwood, MS 38930. She lived in Winston, Mississippi, United States in 1930 and Beat 2, Winston, Mississippi, United States in 1940. I just didnt know how to say it. Submit an Obituary. In the midst of the probe, the Mississippi Crime Lab sent a copy of the bloody shoeprint found at Tardy to the lead Boston investigator. Are you a wh*re?, Reporter: Did you commit the murders on Front Street? His alibi is weak, according to In The Dark. After learning that Willie James Hemphill was an initial suspect in the murders at Tardy Furniture, reporters for In the Dark wanted to find out if he'd ever broken the law before. Prosecutors said repeatedly at trial that the only suspect seriously investigated was Flowers. After months of looking for Twanda Woods, In the Dark reporters located her a few months ago at her trailer in Winona, half a mile south of Tardy Furniture. "Yes, sir," Snow replied. Actually,In the Dark hasnt weighed in on the guilt-innocence issue (thats not what they do), but their careful dissection of DA Doug Evans case against Flowers has left the case in a shambles. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results willie james hemphill (1955 - 2006) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. Maybe Doyle did the deed and reported his gun stolen to throw everyone off the scent. The obituary was featured in The Bryan-College Station Eagle on August 16, 2009. After finding the weapon, Armstrong wondered how the gun had wound up under the house his mother was renting on Knox Street, only 700 feet or so from the furniture store. "They were investigating that intently back then. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. He quoted Bertha Tardy as saying he would have to be responsible for paying for the batteries. I dont think they learned anything.. Hemphill's Timeline Willie James Hemphill has an extensive criminal record starting in 1990, just when Hemphill was eighteen-years old. We encourage you to research and . The suspicion that the crimes could be connected was a matter of public record at the time. It might mean letting someone get away with an abominable crime. She said the shoes had belonged to her son, who no longer lived there. 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. Willie James Hemphill an early suspect in the Tardy Furniture murders was charged with disorderly conduct last week. 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. An early suspect in the murders, Willie James Hemphill, who has a long criminal history, lived less than a mile from where Armstrong found this gun in 2011. Law enforcement witnesses had testified under oath in Flowers sixth trial that Presley was never a suspect. 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. Even before finding the gun, Armstrong had doubts about whether Flowers played a role in the quadruple murder. And, unlike Curtis, Doyle had more than a passing acquaintance with organized crime (a mobster once left him for dead in a field outside of New Orleans). 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. If Flowers did what he is accused of doing, he deserves his punishment, Armstrong said. Reporter: Were trying to puzzle through this. 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. Obituaries Section. In the sixth, he was again convicted and sentenced to death, and his latest appeal was ongoing when the podcast started. Sure, onceIn the Dark is over the heat will diminish slightly. He said he would have sent a written report back to Mississippi, so authorities there could check out the stories. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case. Willie James Hemphill was detained for 11 days following the Hardy Furniture murders and wore the same brand of shoes as the bloody footprints found at the scene. The presence of Presley in the lineup raised some questions about the testimony of law enforcement witnesses who'd said under oath that Presley was never a suspect in the Tardy case. In the 1980s and '90s, Hemphill spent time in Memphis. He's also targeted women in general and often women carrying purses. View More. It wasnt until 2016 that defense lawyers took a closer look at Armstrongs statement that he found a .380 handgun. A bloody shoe print found in the store (left), and an investigator's sketch comparing the print to the Fila Grant Hill sneakers. Record that.. Presley wasnt the only suspect defense attorneys didnt know investigators had seriously considered. This score is (-15%) Above the National Average View Actual Score View Reputation Details . But this week she told journalist Madeleine Baran that she was wrong. Doyle, he said, used to work for Tardy Furniture.. Phone Number: (704) 751-NZMM +2 phones. <a . Hemphill had previously told police and the podcast that he was not in Winona on the morning of the murders. In the months before the Tardy Furniture murders, Presley hit a grocery store, a fireworks retailer, three gas stations and three liquor stores. Hemphill was born on September 10, 1971. The podcasts reporters spent months methodically proving that prosecutors systematically denied black people a seat in the jury box, and how a man who is likely innocent has been repeatedly sentenced to death. Me and Twanda was out of town," he said. That might not be so if the whole world wasnt watching, but it is. 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. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. Only now, a new name has surfaced. "I was here in Winona," Woods said. For Ali and the other lawyers working on Flowers' appeal at the time, this was a significant revelation. In the sixth trial, inmate Odell Hallmon testified that Flowers told him about carrying out the Tardy murders, helping lead to Flowers conviction. What follows are selected incidents from his past. Are you a sl*t? If youve listened toIn the Darkor watchedWrong Manon the Starz channel, you either came away convinced that Curtis Flowers didnt kill four people in cold blood back in 1996 or you werent paying attention. Detective Goldberg got Presley and Gamble to confess their roles in a pair of murders at a Birmingham pawn shop less than two weeks after the Tardy Furniture murders. Burial will be at Barber Memorial Cemetery While talking to them, he said he told them about his discovery. WrongManleans tentatively fingers Doyle Simpson as the prime suspect. INDIANAPOLIS At first, Willie James Hemphill was calm. 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. (1909). An August 15, 1996, article in The Winona Times reported that law enforcement officials in three states "released statements that they believe [Presley and Gamble] could be linked to Winona's case.". It was June 21 just an hour before the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn Curtis Flowers' conviction and reporters for In the Dark had intercepted Hemphill at a courthouse in Indianapolis. 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. They found out later that Flowers uncle, Doyle Simpson, said his .380 automatic had been stolen from the glove box of his car parked at the Angelica Garment Factory where he worked. Although Presley was only sixteen, he seems to have been the driving force behind these crimes. The weapon in at least some of the Alabama cases was a .380 handgun that tended to jam. Look, Ive got something yall need to get, he said he told them. The prosecutors had said repeatedly at trial that the only suspect seriously investigated was Flowers. SEND FLOWERS. When reporters talked to Hemphill last year, he said investigators cleared him because he had an alibi he called it "airtight." "You're confusing me. View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. 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. January 5, 1960 - August 13, 2009. Hemphill was held in jail for 11 days, according to county records, though it's not clear why he was held. Could those responsible for Tardy Furniture murders have escaped a different way? Why was he questioned? Now the spotlight is on three other deaths that are linked to the case. For Flowers, the new information including Flemings changed story adds weight to his case for a full acquittal. Told that Woods had a clear memory of being in Winona on the morning of July 16 and learning, outside the Piggly Wiggly, that the murders had just happened, Hemphill interrupted and altered his story. The funeral service will be 1pm Sunday at China Grove A.M.E. Zion Church. And why did Doyles brother, Emmett, run from law enforcement when they came to question him on the morning of the crime? ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. Mississippi Highway Patrol Lt. Wayne Miller, the investigator who created the lineup, testified that the only suspect pictured in the lineup was Flowers. Shooting a handgun with accuracy is more difficult than people think, said private investigator Charlie Saums of Ridgeland. An APM Reports investigation of Hallmon's criminal history shows that at least seven felony charges against him fell away between 2001 and 2016. Six trials and six successful appeals. Police arrived at the factory and interviewed employee Katherine Snow. The presence of live ammunition on the floor suggested that one of the killers was using a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. In The Dark also found out that prosecutions star witness, Odell Hallmon, secretly received special treatment prosecutors dropped charges in seven felony cases against him in exchange for his false testimony that Flowers made a jailhouse confession. He took the gun and placed it into a nearby shed. used to implicate Flowers in the Tardy case. The Tardy murders took place during a 24-day gap when the group carried out no robberies in Alabama. Their size was a.380. 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. 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. Matthews never responded. Belfast (2021; co-nominated with Denise Yarde, Simon Chase and Niv Adiri) References External links. James Mather is a British sound editor. OBITUARIES. American Public Media reports that Hemphills ex-girlfriend Monkra Moore said she and Hemphill lived together in 1996 and claimed that he was home in Winona at around 7am on the morning of the murders. Small is now claiming that I never gave (the gun) to him, Armstrong said. The Tardy Furniture murders were committed at a store on Front Street in Winona, Mississippi, at about 10 a.m., and around the time that one of the store's employees, Carmen Rigby, was returning with a bank bag. In addition, one jailhouse snitch has recanted, he said. Presley and Gamble did four of the June heists together and one crime was perpetrated by Presley alone. Name. But his demeanor when approached by In the Dark investigative reporters was consistent with innocence. 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. Why was he questioned? Share via email. Willie Hemphill. Lived In Sidon MS, Indianapolis IN, Prince George VA, Clarksville TN. Although authorities quicklysettled on Flowers as their main suspect, he wasnt arrested until seven months later. He told the podcast he had an airtight alibi. 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. They didnt question him about other suspects or bring up Flowers name. "Because once you get people on a roll to admitting to crimes, they just don't stop. The Dallas Morning News. But at Curtis Flowers' trials, the prosecution downplayed any investigation of other suspects. Visitation: 6-8 pm Friday, March 2, 2012 at Laurel Land Funeral Home. Twenty-two years on death row. Mark Weingarten is an American production sound mixer.He has been nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound Mixing, winning in 2017 for Dunkirk.He has worked on more than 120 films since 1987. A defense expert responded in a sworn statement that the bloody footprints left behind by the popular shoe could havebeen anywhere between sizes 8.5 and 11. Each victim of the July 16, 1996 murders was murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. When Flowers went back on trial, Armstrong heard no mention of the gun by either prosecutors or defense attorneys. "I was coming out of Piggly Wiggly and there was a woman, I will never forget her name. Grief Support. The second best result is William E Hemphill Sr . Not the right Willie? In the past, Willie has also been known as Willie James Hemphill, Willie A Hemphill, Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill and Willi Hemphill. 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. 20181228 Willie James Hemphill Criminal Civil Records Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. Hemphill also wasnt held briefly. The only other such form in the file was signed by Flowers. More importantly, Woods said she was certain that she didn't make the trip with Hemphill that day. He didnt mark it or put it in an evidence bag, he told the Clarion Ledger. Just after the murders, police arrested and jailed him as a suspect, but then let him go. NEWSPAPERS. District Attorney Doug Evans insisted he'd given the defense access to all records of the investigation. Following a masterful turn as Flowers defense lawyer, the podcast also wanted to play the part of the prosecution. Law enforcement had interviewed a different suspect with a violent criminal history, Willie James Hemphill a fact which was not disclosed to the defense. We went to boot camp together., The officers denial dont make me mad, he said. Finding the truly guilty person (or people) strengthens the case that Flowers is innocent. And in searching for Hemphill, she came upon a cousin with the same name who recalled three carloads of deputies showing up at his mobile home in 1996 looking for the other Hemphill. In the course of these crimes, one employee was shot in the leg and another in the back (both survived) and Presley was the shooter in both cases. "He would have just told me everything and anything at that point," Goldberg said. Sympathy Ideas. Sure, he had worked at Tardys in the past. 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. Saums believes whoever carried out the crime had inside information. Following their Alabama crime spree, Presley and Gamble fled north to Boston, where Gamble had relatives. Just weeks ago, however, reporters discovered that Hemphill had an upcoming court date in Indianapolis and met him there. There are 60+ professionals named "Willie Hemphill", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. Hemphill said he was wearing his Filas when in walked into the Sheriffs Department. Following his release from prison in 2013,Hallmon tried to run over a Carroll County sheriff's deputy while escaping a drug bust. Fourteen lawyers. Willie James Hemphill Obituary. James Mather at IMDb; This page was last . One, Rigby,was killed with two shots to the head. He allegedly stabbed a woman with a screwdriver, among other violent crimes. But there was a three-week gap in the Alabama crime spree right at the time of the Tardy murders. Nor was there any record of the evidence gathered from Hemphill. He thought back to when Small took the gun. The district attorneys office isnt commenting. Evidence suggests that Marcus Presley was a psychopath who enjoyed random violence for its own sake. If Gamble and McKenzie were in Mississippi the day of the Winona murders its very possible that Presley was with them. The first of these events took place last month when the US Supreme Court tossed out Flowers conviction. 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. Winona, Mississippi lies three hours west of Birmingham on Highway 82. In fact, he said, police never searched the crawl space beneath the house.