Pensacola, FL: Local Unsolved Murders.....

[Slimpickins]

PUBLISHED SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2002

Unsolved homicides
Victims not forgotten as investigators seek clues and families seek closure

By Brett Norman
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

Bernard Clark lives only with his aging lap dog now because of a bullet that
put a hole in his son's back.

Just after dawn July 9, Clark found the body of his son, James W. Clark, 41,
a few feet from the back door of their Pelham Road home.

Bernard Clark looks over photographs of his son, James W. Clark, shown in
the background. Bernard Clark came home in July to find his son shot to
death on his doorstep. The homicide has not been solved.

Photo illustration by Ron Stallcup,
Gary McCr...@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

His son and housemate, recently diagnosed with emphysema, had a
small-caliber bullet lodged in his lung, the medical examiner told Clark. He
died between 10 p.m. and midnight the night before he was discovered.

But autopsies explain how, not why, a murder victim dies. The latter
question is the one Clark and seven other Escambia County families want
answered.

Sheriff's investigators say that to the best of their knowledge, the killers
behind eight of the county's 17 homicides last year are still walking the
streets as their victims' loved ones mourn.

Investigator Paul Hawke hopes to bring Bernard Clark some closure soon.
Hawke said he has strong leads on a suspect in James Clark's killing.

Also, in the September stabbing death of Hardie LeShawn Bender, 19,
investigators have issued a warrant for the arrest of Vinson Hall, 22, who
is believed to be from New Orleans, although he has not been located.

Nonetheless, the balance of the unsolved homicides leave a lot questions
unanswered. The year brought the toughest cases in the highest numbers in
recent memory.

"This year, we've really been slammed," Hawke said. "A lot of difficult
cases all at one time. They eat up a lot more time than your smoking-gun
situations."

The last year with as many homicides was 1994. No one recalls the last year
with as many unsolved ones.

Homicide investigators were overwhelmed this fall when seven people were
killed in seven weeks. Five of those cases remain unsolved.

Murders formerly were assigned to a joint robbery/homicide unit within the
sheriff's Major Crimes Division. After the fall flood of cases, however,
four detectives were chosen to work only homicides.

In most investigations, and particularly with murder, time is of the
essence.

"The first 48 hours are crucial," Investigator Terry Kilgore said. "It
starts getting a little bit harder after that - harder to jog people's
memory, but it can be done."

The 2001 track record is not encouraging, however, with killers so far
almost as likely to get away with their crimes as not. In each of the nine
homicides in which arrests were made, investigators identified or arrested
suspects within the first two days. Two are believed to be accidental
shootings.

Last year, by comparison, there were 15 homicides with only one unsolved.
Melvin Robinson, 35, was found in January in an isolated area in the 8100
block of Ashland Avenue in Pine Forest. Investigators have yet to hand over
that case or any of this year's to the Cold Case Unit, which takes over once
the assigned detectives exhaust all leads.

Investigators said that won't happen anytime soon.

"We have not forgotten, and we will not forget, and we are going to solve
them," Kilgore said.

Not an easy job
Clark was impressed by how thorough detectives were when they arrived at his
home on that July morning, when the discovery of his son's body caused him
to abandon a vacation to South Africa later that day.

"They immediately went and closed down Ritchie's (Bar and Package Store) and
processed it," he said of the nearby bar he thought his son was walking home
from when he was shot. A group of deputies swept the route to the bar with
metal detectors, searching in vain for a shell casing, weapon or any
evidence of the single fatal shot.

They canvassed the neighborhood, Clark said, finding one man who heard a
gunshot but could provide no other information.

James Clark was found without his wallet, although his father said his son,
a drywall hanger by trade, likely had less than $20 on him.

James Clark was somewhat of a loner, his father said, but he frequented
Ritchie's and was friends with the regulars, many of whom showed up at his
funeral.

"He imbibed a little, but when it came time to get up in the morning and go
to work, he did," his father said. "He paid his own way. He didn't want
something for nothing.

"It's the way that he went that bugs me," continued Clark, who discovered
another son dead in almost the same place three years ago.

Richard W. Jones Jr. died of a ruptured blood vessel in his stomach. Clark's
wife, Bobbie J. Clark, also died of natural causes four years ago.

Murder is a different kind of loss. Said Clark: "Either it's somebody who
knew him, or it's random, like robbery. I just want to know why."

`Good leads to work on'

Investigators hope to provide answers soon.

"We've got good leads in most all of them," Kilgore said. "Good leads to
work on."

Although there are five unsolved murders involving Escambia County women
since September, only two cases are possibly connected, investigators said.
Two women who share a troubled history of prostitution and drug use were
murdered in just over a month.

Kimberly Hindall, 33, was found Sept. 8, badly decomposed in the 3100 block
of Mobile Highway, a little more than three blocks from her apartment on
Shoemaker Street. Investigators have not released her cause of death.

Jessica Schuchman, 22, was discovered piece by piece off Allegheny Pier in
Pensacola Bay beginning Oct. 19. She likely was killed and dismembered a few
days earlier.

"We're still interviewing people trying to reconstruct their time lines -
what they were doing leading up to their deaths," Kilgore said.

Robin Hindall, 36, was living in Arkansas when her sister was killed. She is
only now able to talk about it without crying.

"We spoke every day without question," she said. "The last time I talked to
her was Aug. 18. We were both in abusive relationships. I told her to pawn
her stuff and come to live with me (in Arkansas). She was coming to me. When
I didn't hear from her, I knew she was dead."

Hindall said her sister's Chevrolet Nova was found abandoned on Mobile
Highway, packed full of her clothes and tickets from her pawned possessions.

"I want people to know she was a fun-loving person who wouldn't hurt anybody
in the world," Hindall said. "She was just a little mixed up."

Investigators need help
The case investigators need the most help from the public, however, is the
murder of Horace Jones, 64, found shot to death the morning of Nov. 2 at his
business, Line Power Inc., in a rural part of Gonzalez.

"As far as I know, we haven't gotten the first Crime Stoppers call on it,"
said Hawke, who is handling the case. "We didn't have a whole lot to go on
to start with. No witnesses. And we didn't get much from the crime scene."

Conditions at the scene made forensic evidence difficult to collect, he
explained.

"There were so many people involved in his business and private life that
I'm still trying to track them all down," Hawke said.

Jones, a University of Florida graduate and Gonzalez Baptist churchgoer, was
found by his daughter and an employee about 8 a.m. in the 400 block of
Childers Road off Chemstrand Road.

Robbery does not appear to be the motive, Hawke said.

Hawke has one other case that is particularly difficult because of the
victim's lifestyle.

James Gentry, a 40-year-old homeless man, was found March 27, bludgeoned to
death in the woods behind Montana's restaurant on Davis Highway.

Hawke said he knows the names of Gentry's fellow hitchhiking transients,
with whom he wants to talk.

He believes they might have information as to what happened, but Hawke has
been unable to find them.

"We've been to Louisiana a couple of times and to Crestview, but by the time
we got there, they were gone," he said.

Emotionally draining

Homicide investigators know what their work means to grieving families. The
burden of several unsolved cases is emotionally draining.

"We're the only ones that speak for the victim," Kilgore said. "I couldn't
even imagine what (their loved ones) feel."

Said Investigator John Sanderson: "(Families) can't really put them to rest
without answers."

He said detectives become particularly close with families in unsolved
cases, remaining in touch as they discover new information and try to answer
their questions.

For Bernard Clark, retired after 22 years in the Navy, justice is in God's
hands. He doesn't want retribution or revenge for his son's murder. He wants
the killer behind bars so no one else gets hurt.

When one of Clark's sons said he wanted an hour alone with the culprit,
Clark stopped him short, quoting Scripture: "`Vengeance is mine,' sayeth the
Lord, `I will repay."'

The satisfaction he expects from an arrest amounts to an understanding of
what went wrong - of why his son died.

"My mother told me years ago that life is uncertain - death is sure," Clark
said. "Life is for the living, and you have to go ahead. But it really would
be a relief to actually know who did it, how it happened and their reasons
for doing it. Then I can put it to rest."

Unsolved homicides

Investigators have not made arrests in eight of the 17 homicides committed
last year in Escambia County. Moreover, an arrest warrant has been issued
for one suspect who has yet to be found.

James Gentry, 40, was found bludgeoned to death in the woods behind
Montana's restaurant on Davis Highway. The transient was found March 27, but
he probably was killed a few days before that.

James Westley Clark, 41, was found fatally shot in the back outside his home
in the 600 block of Pelham Road. His body was there for hours before being
found by his father, Bernard Clark, about 6 a.m. July 9.

Kimberly Hindall, 33, was found Sept. 8, her body badly decomposed in the
3100 block of Mobile Highway. Investigators would not release her cause of
death but said she shared a similar background with Jessica Schuchman, a
woman with a history of prostitution and drugs, whose body was found
dismembered in October.

Hardie LaShawn Bender, 19, died Sept. 24 after being stabbed repeatedly the
previous Thursday. Witnesses said Vinson Hall, 22, believed to be from New
Orleans, was fighting with Bender in the courtyard of some apartments in the
4300 block of West Fairfield Drive when the stabbing occurred. Investigators
issued a warrant, but Hall has not been located.

Sherri Malarik, 34, of Cantonment was found shot in the head in her van
Sept. 22 in the Winn- Dixie parking lot on U.S. 29.

Jessica Schuchman, 22, was discovered to be dead as parts of her body washed
up off Allegheny Pier in Pensacola Bay beginning Oct. 19. Authorities
believe she likely was killed a few days earlier.

Horace Jones, 64, was found dead at his business, Line Power Inc., in the
400 block of Childers Road in Gonzalez on Nov. 2 by his daughter and an
employee. Jones had been shot in the head.

Patricia Belanger, was beaten to death Dec. 19 in her Clio Drive home. her
body was discovered by two relatives who arrived to pick her up for a
holiday trip. They saw a masked man slip out a bedroom window as they
approached the house.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/011202/Local/ST001.shtml