Parents in Vidalia, LA, Fearful After Murder of Five-Year-Old

The Alexandria, LA, Daily Town Talk ^ | 11-22-02 | Goodnight, Mandy M.

[Theodore R.]

VIDALIA - Parents in this Concordia Parish town are worried.

"Until we know who did this and they are caught, it is terrifying," said Gayle Smith of the Vidalia area.

The typically sleepy town that sits along the banks of Mississippi River has been rattled since the murder of a 5-year-old boy two weeks ago.

[Theodore R.]

Vidalia is along the Mississippi River across from Natchez, MS. It is the seat of Concordia Parish.(The "Vidalia onion" is named for a city in GA, not LA.)

[Theodore R.]

Here is a feature article on the death of little Eric:

'Our life feels so empty without him'
Slain young-ster was ''all boy''
Mandy M. Goodnight / The Town Talk
Posted on November 22, 2002

Sam and Rachel Hudson stand on their back porch Thursday as they talk about the strangulation slaying of their 5-year-old son, Eric. The boy was found floating face-down in a pond (background) near the fam-ily's home. The killer re-mains at large. Rachel said of Eric, "He was our heart, and we are shattered."

VIDALIA - Every white pole except one in front of 426 Rountree Road had a shaky "E" ran together with a "r" followed by a sideways "i" and "c."

A rock in the yard being played with by a dog even had the unsteady signature.

Five-year-old Eric Hudson had left his mark on the world.

He wrote his name in permanent marker on the house poles except the one in front of the door where his mom might catch him.

"Everywhere we turn there is a reminder of our baby," Rachel Hudson said Thursday as she held the signed rock.

Eric was supposed to turn 6 years old today, and his parents planned to surprise the Vidalia Lower Elemen-tary kindergartner with a new bicycle.

But Eric did not make it to age 6. His body was found Nov. 9 in a pond behind the family's home outside Vi-dalia.

At first it was thought Eric had drowned accidentally, but an autopsy report from the Adams County, Miss., coroner's office showed the boy had been strangled and "violated."

Louisiana State Police in-vestigators have joined a task force that includes Concordia Parish sheriff's detectives and the Concordia District Attorney's Office in investi-gating the slaying.

State Police Sgt. Howard McKee said the case belongs to Sheriff Randy Maxwell's office.

Investigators have not said whether they have any suspects in the case, but they have said they believe the killer knew Eric.

Maxwell has not given daily press updates on the progress of the investigation. Sheriff's spokeswoman Kath-leen Stevens said earlier that investigators would release information only when there was something new in the case.

Hudson said she and her husband, Sam, are in the dark on the status of the in-vestigation. She said the Sheriff's Office has not given them any updates or told them if there are any leads in the case.

She said the investigators "don't tell us anything," and she admitted it was hard "just not knowing."

"We can't seem to get any reports, and now it seems that they are trying to retract what has been printed. If there was no water in his lungs, then how did it hap-pen?" she asked.

Sam Hudson said Thurs-day that investigators did not rope off the area and have not been back to his home since Monday or Tuesday.

The mother said that since the family has not gotten any news on the case, it looks to the family like the Sheriff's Office is not doing anything.

Sam Hudson said he was afraid investigators were try-ing to "sweep the case under-neath the rug."

Also, the couple said, it was hard being questioned as suspects in the case. Rachel Hudson said she knows in-vestigators look at the family first, but it was not easy.

On Wednesday, the couple said they took a polygraph test, which they passed.

Hudson said she was glad to get that over with so inves-tigators could stop looking at them and instead find the real killer.

Investigators arrived at the hospital to ask her what happened before the family knew if Eric had lived or died, Rachel Hudson added.

It was not until after Eric was buried that Sam Hudson was told the boy did not drown but was murdered.

"Of course, we were dev-astated all over again," Ra-chel Hudson said.

Sam Hudson said they were told the boy had been strangled with one hand.

Rachel Hudson recalled that Saturday, Nov. 9, had been a regular day for her and her son.

She said Eric loved to play outdoors and did so nearly every day.

"He loved heavy equip-ment, dozers and tractors and playing outside with our dogs and in the dirt," she said. "He was all boy."

An old flowerbed in front of the house had been turned into a dirt pile for Eric to play in, especially when it rained and he could not go play in the field at the back of the house.

Rachel Hudson said her son loved the spot and loved to get new toys to play with out there.

Every trip to Wal-Mart was a chance for Eric to ask for something new. She said he was the couple's only child together and was the young-est. She admitted he usually got what he wanted.

On that Saturday, he was outside playing when he poked his head in to tell her about a dog that had wan-dered in the yard, then ran off again.

Suddenly, she said, it was quiet, and she could not hear him playing.

She yelled for him and then went looking for him. The mother said it had been about 20 to 25 minutes since she had last seen her son.

She looked out toward the field and then in the front yard. She found Eric face-down in the family's man-made fishpond. She called 911.

After that, "I screamed for help, but there was no one," she said.

Eric was rushed to Natchez (Miss.) Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Sometimes, Rachel Hud-son runs to the front door, thinking she might see her 5-year-old son outside playing in an old flowerbed.

Or she's sure, for just a moment, that he's in his bed-room playing with Bob the Builder toy.

But each time, she quickly realizes the youngster she called her "heart" is no longer there.

"This house is just dead without him," Rachel Hudson said.

On Thursday, the Hudson home was filled with flowers sent since Eric's death.

A collage of photos made by the boy's teacher and teacher's aide from last school year stands in the cor-ner.

Eric's bedroom remains unchanged. His Blue's Clues bed sheets still are crumpled where he had gotten up that Saturday morning and left his bed unmade.

Rachel Hudson said she told her son to clean up his room as she picked up a crayon-colored picture of a pumpkin.

A handcrafted turkey sat on a desk in the room. Eric and his family made it, but "he never got to take it to school," his mother said.

Rachel Hudson said life feels "unreal," and she thinks she will wake up and it will all have been a "nightmare."

"Our life feels so empty without him," she said. "He was our heart, and we are shattered."

She said she and her hus-band get up, sit at the table and look at one another. Nei-ther is sure what to do next, she added.

"Two weeks ago, life was so perfect," she said as her voice tailed off.

Family, friends and com-plete strangers have been supportive since Eric's death, bringing food and offering comfort, she said.

At this point, the mother said she wants to know who did this and see the person arrested.

"This person can't be hu-man if they could do that," she said. "I can't think of anyone who would hurt my baby."

Sam Hudson said his son's death does not make any sense to them.

"This is not real," he said.

Family members have vowed to keep Eric's story alive until an arrest is made. Hudson pleaded for anyone who saw anything or has any information to contact the Sheriff's Office.
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