When Flowers went back on trial, Armstrong heard no mention of the gun by either prosecutors or defense attorneys. He allegedly committed robberies to fund a drug habit. 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. 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. It took theIn the Dark team a full year to track Hemphill down in an Indianapolis courtroom (hes still getting into trouble). He allegedly committed robberies to fund a drug habit. 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. Willie James Hemphill is confronted by reporters at an Indianapolis courthouse in June 2019. It takes no imagination at all to imagine Marcus Presley committing a crime like thatwe have the video from the pawn shop. Phone Number: (704) 751-NZMM +2 phones. In Flowers' third trial, Snow testified that the height of the man she saw was between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5. | BillionGraves We are testing a new layout for the record page. They did, however, find bullets, bullet fragments and shell casings at the crime scene. Could those responsible for Tardy Furniture murders have escaped a different way? Following that arrest, Hemphill committed crimes nearly continuously for the next three decades. The obituary was featured in The Bryan-College Station Eagle on August 16, 2009. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. 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. The bodies of Derrick Stewart, 16, Robert Golden, 42, Carmen Rigby, 45, and Bertha Tardy, 59, were found spread throughout the store and in the back office. "Yes, sir," Snow replied. Find Willie Hemphill's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading people search directory for contact information and public records. SEND FLOWERS. 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. He allegedly stabbed a woman with a screwdriver, among other violent crimes. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Williae Hemphill. But his demeanor when approached by In the Dark investigative reporters was consistent with innocence. 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. Visitation will be observed from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service. Last month, the Supreme Court overturned Flowers latest conviction, citing In The Darks reporting. Quantico National Cemetery. In fact, he said, police never searched the crawl space beneath the house. Case Details. What follows are selected incidents from his past. The day in photos. Menu. 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's alibi doesn't check out TIMELINE: Hemphill's long criminal record. US States (36975K) Current Events (51K) Celebrity (272) Exonerated (117) Favorites (421) FBI Most Wanted (848) Gangsters (49) Historical (131) Interpol (1.7K) . 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. And why did Doyles brother, Emmett, run from law enforcement when they came to question him on the morning of the crime? LOW HIGH. His website is. Now the spotlight is on three other deaths that are linked to the case. - Law enforcement had interviewed a different suspect with a violent criminal history, Willie James Hemphill - a fact which was not disclosed to the defense. My mom, my stepdad were afraid that, hey, if they're manhunting me like that, they may shoot me down in the street, Hemphill told them. Submit an Obituary. 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. 1. 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.". After nearly 23 years locked up, Curtis Flowers has a chance to get out on bail if his lawyers can convince the judge to rule in his favor. Visitation will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m . 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. Resides in Greenwood, MS. For Ali and the other lawyers working on Flowers' appeal at the time, this was a significant revelation. But Flowers deserves to have a fair trial and prosecution, he said. I aint saying nothing bad. Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. Marcus Presley, then 16, points a gun at pawn shop owner John Burleson shortly before killing him on July 25, 1996, in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Soon that would change. So, maybe Curtis didnt steal the gun after all. APM lead investigative reporter Madeleine Baran found one page among the documents Evans did give the defense attorneys, a form someone named Willie James Hemphill, then 24, of Memphis had signed . 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. Can Marcus Presleys affidavit be trusted? Between June 19th, 1996 and June 30thof that year, Presley was involved in five robberies at gunpoint. Flowers parents have long believed in his innocence, visiting him in prison. NEWSPAPERS. used to implicate Flowers in the Tardy case. 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). The similarities between the crimes were striking. 5 Visits. "I don't know nothing about it.". One of them, LaSamuel Gamble, had more money in his possession when he returned to Alabama, Presley said. And that's what I know," said David Goldberg, now retired from his job as a detective in the Norfolk Police Department. And the case file doesn't contain the report Goldberg says he would have sent to Mississippi authorities, or any indication of what might have been done to substantiate it. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008); The Social Network (2010) If you recall our last conversation, I wasnt in the city., Reporter: You said you were in Memphis with Twanda Woods. Both involved store employees who were shot execution-style, a .380 handgun that might have jammed, and a suspect wearing Fila shoes. He died on July 14, 2000 at age 81. 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. Hallmon told APM Reports that he became a prosecution witness in spring 2001 after being arrested on multiple drug charges. Law enforcement witnesses had testified under oath in Flowers sixth trial that Presley was never a suspect. Willie James Hemphill was born on June 2, 1941. 0.68 2.43 /5. Username. Goldberg couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth. When reporters talked to Hemphill last year, he said investigators cleared him because he had an alibi he called it "airtight." As far as him telling me he killed some people, hell, naw, he aint ever told me that. Armstrong questions whether Flowers could have carried out the killings of four people execution-style. Willie James Hemphill an early suspect in the Tardy Furniture murders was charged with disorderly conduct last week. 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. In The Darks reporting on the case documented the inequities and outright barbarism of Mississippis criminal justice system. The presence of live ammunition on the floor suggested that one of the killers was using a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. And Hemphill had actually lived for a time in Winona. WIILIE HEMPHILL OBITUARY. Marcus Presley, the gunman in the Alabama crime spree, was staring up at Ali from among the six photos in the lineup. I knew Curtis had started to get involved in crack. Miller, the Mississippi investigator who made the lineup and asked for the two to be interrogated, declined to answer questions from APM Reports. View Actual Score Check Background . Statistics for all 30 William Hemphill results: 68 yrs. But if Curtis Flowers doesnt get relief in the face of these well-publicized facts there will be hell to pay. F.T. On July 14, his mother, Lola, died of surgery complications. Baran said she reached out to the two state investigators who questioned Hemphill, Matthews and Wayne Miller. In that 1963 ruling, the court said: "The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment.". Presley shot and killed store employees execution-style on his way out the door. He told the podcast he had an airtight alibi. Flowers has remained imprisoned the entire time, for more than 20 years. Grief Support. If Flowers did what he is accused of doing, he deserves his punishment, Armstrong said. But Curtis Flowers is somehow still not cleared of the gruesome quadruple murder on July 16, 1996. LOW HIGH. Hemphill supposedly had an alibi for the time of the murders, but when In The Dark dug into it, they were able to determine his alibi was barely credible if at all. Armstrong said a law enforcement officer told him the gun had been sent to the state Crime Lab, determining this .380 handgun wasnt the murder weapon. Search by Name. 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. In 1996, four people were killed execution-style inside Tardy Furniture, which faces one of the busiest streets in the small town of Winona. The Dallas Morning News. Presley and Gamble were extradited to Alabama, and again Gamble was questioned, almost in passing, about Mississippi. Not long after Armstrong found the gun in October 2001, two police officers happened to pull him over for speeding. Baran noted that Hemphill was known to love the song Nasty Bitch by Bust Down it was not for kids, Baran said which he would sing and dance to on Winonas streets in those days. 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. Willie James Hemphill Phone Numbers (662) ***-4391 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. If it hadnt been for a single slip of paper in the prosecutors file with Willie James Hemphills name on it, theIn the Dark squad wouldnt have known about the man. Send Flowers. This narrative turn places In The Dark firmly, disappointingly, and alarmingly in the mainstream of the True Crime genre. After the second stick up, the two men argued about whether they should have killed the witness. 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. So, if Curtis Flowers isnt guilty, who is? 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. What are we supposed to think? 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. He took the gun and placed it into a nearby shed. Following their Alabama crime spree, Presley and Gamble fled north to Boston, where Gamble had relatives. <a . He will be held in a county jail while its decided if he should face trial for a stunning seventh time. 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. Burial will follow in Hemphill Star Cemetery, Boyce. It wasn't until Flowers' sixth trial that jurors heard anything about the Alabama suspects. Jessie Mae Hemphill; Jimmie Gordon; Jimmy "Duck" Holmes; Jimmy Burns; Jimmy Dawkins; Jimmy Holmes; Jimmy Johnson; . Both men bounced from one traumatic living arrangement to another with no respite. Past Addresses: Shelby NC, Shelby NC +7 more. Willie James Hemphill Willie Hemphill (1919 - 2000) Jump to: Bio graphy Family Photos Comments Obit uary. Menu. Select this result to view William Thomas Hemphill's phone number, address, and more. In the Dark has previously reported that Hemphill was an initial suspect in the days after the July 1996 murders in Winona, Mississippi. She said that investigators have never questioned her about Hemphill's story. 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 crime had a random and senseless quality to it. Right now, Willie Hemphill lives in Rock Hill, SC. John Johnson, the DAs investigator, told the jury, I think they talked to him for five minutes. 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. It was all make believe. If, hypothetically, theIn the Dark team was charged with defending Curtis in a seventh trial even an all-white jury selected entirely of Winona residents couldnt find him guilty. District Attorney Doug Evans insisted he'd given the defense access to all records of the investigation. Marcus Presley sometimes accompanied by LaSamuel Gamble had committed a string of robberies in 1996 in and around Birmingham, with the same modus operandi. When Jeffrey Armstrong heard his dog barking, he went outside tosee the reason for the commotion. He spent 11 days in jail before authorities released him. Like LaSamuel Gamble, Hemphill wore Fila shoes and had a criminal record. Maybe theyll cover that in their next season. By the time Presley and Gamble were arrested, Doug Evans wasnt interested in alternative scenarios; he knew Curtis was the killer. 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. Not the right Willie? The killer or killers could have used the key to enter the side door, perhaps hiding before the store opened. The host, Madeleine Baran, carefully noted that only some of evidence seemed to point in Hemphills direction, even though a flimsy case was enough to almost execute the man her show just found innocent. In The Dark was clearly righteous in exonerating a black man condemned by a ludicrously unjust system. He has been behind bars ever since. Willie James Hemphill Addresses Click Here For Willie James Hemphill's Last Known Address 1241 Hatfield Dr, Evansville, IN 47714 1001 Mississippi Ave, Greenwood, MS 38930. "I don't understand how she said that.". 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. 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. A shoeprint in a pool of blood found in the Winona furniture store was found to be from a Grant Hill Fila shoethe footwear Gamble, McKenzie (and just about every other young man in America) was wearing while in Mississippi. We went to boot camp together., The officers denial dont make me mad, he said. Hemphills name came up briefly in Flowers 2010 trial. The only other such form in the file was signed by Flowers. But that doesnt mean that he killed those four people at Tardy Furniture. In the Dark,episode 10, makes it clear that the prosecution committed what is called a Brady violation by failing to inform defense counsel that Hemphill had been a suspect early in the investigation. It was his legal obligation, but its easy to see why he didnt. "I was here in Winona," Woods said. Nine days later, on July 25, 1996, the bodies of two innocent people were discovered in a pawn shop in Birmingham, Alabama. 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 . But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. He said he knew nothing about the burglary. Follow him onFacebookandTwitter. Police received a call about the murders at 10:21 a.m. But both denied having committed the Tardy murders and said they'd never even been to Mississippi. We encourage you to research and . Hemphill also wasnt held briefly. Following a masterful turn as Flowers defense lawyer, the podcast also wanted to play the part of the prosecution. 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. Green is a reporter in Toronto. 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. 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). We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. That same day, Horace Wayne Miller, a lieutenant with the Mississippi Highway patrol, asked Norfolk officials to keep him apprised of their investigation. Find an Obituary . Asked if he'd committed the murders at Tardy Furniture, he simply said, "Hell, no.". In the sixth trial, inmate Odell Hallmon testified that Flowers told him about carrying out the Tardy murders, helping lead to Flowers conviction. Simpson's brother Emmett was an early suspect, too a fact Matthews had himself testified to in the second Flowers trial. Where were you?, Hemphill: I was in your p***y. Police arrived at the factory and interviewed employee Katherine Snow. Store employees were threatened with death and forced to lie on the floor. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders.
