Posted on 02/06/2004 8:54:14 AM PST by CFW
Elderly women's deaths baffle N.C. police By Paul Nowell, Associated Press Writer, 2/6/2004
SHELBY, N.C. -- Police Chief Charlie VanHoy isn't quite sure what he has on his hands, but he's worried.
From August to November last year, three elderly women were found dead in their beds, dressed in their nightclothes, with no sign of forced entry into their homes. Phone lines were severed, yet medical examiners found no foul play.
Further confusing matters, jewelry, pocket books -- even loaded guns -- were not taken.
"This is just baffling and very frustrating," VanHoy said Thursday.
Lottie Mae Ledford, 85, was found dead in August. The body of Margaret Tessneer, 79, was discovered about a month later. And Lillian Mullinix, 87, was found dead in November.
Their community, Shelby, is a working-class town of 21,000 people that once was home to a thriving textile industry. The town, located about 50 miles west of Charlotte, averages between five and seven homicides each year, so VanHoy is alarmed by the possibility there could be a killer on the loose in what he describes as "older, established neighborhoods."
The first death was discovered Aug. 23, when Ledford's niece tried to check on her aunt after she was unable to reach her on the phone for several days. According to a police report, she found the front door unlocked and no sign of forced entry, then went next door to a neighbor's house and called police.
Before officers arrived, the neighbor entered the small, one-story home and found Ledford lying on the bed, wearing a nightgown. VanHoy said the neighbor had seen Ledford on her back porch earlier that day.
"She had two loaded guns in her bedroom," the police chief said. "We learned it was normal for her to have them. In all the cases, pocketbooks were located with cash in them. We also found jewelry on their bodies that was undisturbed."
Bobby Fisher, Ledford's nephew, does not believe his aunt would have left her front door unlocked.
"Any time I went to see her, she had to unlock the door to let me in," he said. "And she had two guns and she wasn't afraid to use them."
His wife, Barbara Fisher, described Ledford as a "very independent woman" who never married and lived in the same house for 57 years until her death. She said she thinks Ledford was surprised by an attacker who had been staking out her house.
Investigators found the severed phone line after they searched the exterior of Ledford's one-story home. VanHoy said "red flags went up" when the discovery was made, and the concerns resurfaced when another severed line was found about a month later.
On the morning of Sept. 20, Tessneer's daughter and son-in-law went to her house. When there was no answer, they tried the front door, which was unlocked. Tessneer was found dead in her bed, with jewelry on top of the bedroom dresser and no signs of robbery.
An autopsy listed the cause of death "undetermined," VanHoy said. A second autopsy, performed by the state medical examiner's office, ruled out foul play, he said.
Just a few miles away, Lillian Mullinix, 87, lived in two-story brick house with a front porch shaded by large holly trees.
A neighbor called police when he noticed newspapers piling up in front of her house on Nov. 10. Like the others, Mullinix was found dead on her bed, dressed in a nightgown. There were no signs of forced entry and the phone line was cut.
Mullinix's body was sent to Chapel Hill for an autopsy. Again, VanHoy said, a forensic pathologist told him there was there was no foul play.
"To me, she was a lovely lady," said neighbor Teresa Vercher, as she watched her young daughter and her nephew play in her front yard this week. "She always stayed by herself and she would sit on her front porch every evening with her cats."
Police continue to check for connections between the three women, who were not known to be acquainted, although all worked in the textile industry.
Investigators have had no luck so far, after reviewing phone records and trying to determine if the women hired the same person for chores, such as yard work or home repairs. But VanHoy hopes that pending toxicology reports on Tessneer and Mullinix will offer some clues.
"You hope if you get that old, one day you can just lay down and die," Barbara Fisher said. "It's not fair to die in such a terrible way."
Okay, I'm stumped. Let's keep an eye on this crime and see what turns up.
Just have to jump in here. Librarians have masters degrees. While the degree itself doesn't determine whether someone is bright or not, few of the truly stupid or dull make it through 7 years of undergrad and grad school.
In addition, many of today's librarians are skilled webmasters, database managers, and otherwise involved in the electronic delivery of information.
Otherwise, nice profile. : )
insulin, CO2, potasium chloride, smothering with pillow, ....spooky. They'll probably redo the post mortem. Could even be medication was tainted with something like glucovance or glyberide and dropped the blood sugar of the ladies.
I'm sure they are looking at all of this, but it is just a mystery now. like I said... spooky!
I like it.
Now for the cause of death ...
Suffocation.
I think so too. In some cases like this where the cause of death can't be determined, it turns out to be because they weren't looking for the right thing. If its something you totally wouldn't expect, that may be hard to trace in the first place, then it can be easily overlooked, even by a competent medical examiner.
I'd modify it a bit and say that he is bright, but not nearly as bright as he thinks he is. The method of killing indicates (to me, anyway) that he sees this as a bit of a game, and is enjoying the notoriety, and is enjoying the fact that the cops can't figure it out. I'm guessing that he is more likely to have a job that gets him out on the roads of the community, because you'd have to know which areas are deserted at which times, and that sort of thing, to pull something like this off. You are right that he probably does not have a record.
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