At the time, investigators in Mississippi told the media they were looking into whether the crimes could be connected to the murders at Tardy Furniture. Why offer up another suspect? Obituaries Section. LOW HIGH. Burial will be at Barber Memorial Cemetery 23 Matches for Willie Hemphill . "Yeah we was leaving. 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. Find an Obituary . "It just kind of jumped out," Ali said. His full criminal history is too lengthy to reproduce here. But instead of stopping there, its reporters started snitching to the same system whose injustice they had just unmasked. If you recall our last conversation, I wasnt in the city., Reporter: You said you were in Memphis with Twanda Woods. Podcasts should stick to exonerating the innocent. At a hearing, the attorney generals office told the judge that prosecutors knew of no such gun. How do we create a person's profile? 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. Just weeks ago, however, reporters discovered that Hemphill had an upcoming court date in Indianapolis and met him there. But his demeanor when approached by In the Dark investigative reporters was consistent with innocence. In the past, Willie has also been known as Willie James Hemphill, Willie A Hemphill, Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill and Willi Hemphill. 614 records for Willie Hemphill. He said he knew nothing about the burglary. The presence of live ammunition on the floor suggested that one of the killers was using a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. We went to boot camp together., The officers denial dont make me mad, he said. Both involved store employees who were shot execution-style, a .380 handgun that might have jammed, and a suspect wearing Fila shoes. Memphis is two hours north of Winona, just across the border with Tennessee. And he's shown a quick and violent temper, particularly with women who don't comply with his demands. Before he left on July 3, he said she gave him $30. At first he was reluctant to divulge who he was with that morning, but later said it was a woman named Twanda Woods. And Hemphill had actually lived for a time in Winona. The Tardy murders took place during a 24-day gap when the group carried out no robberies in Alabama. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. But In The Dark was apparently unsatisfied with exonerating the innocent: It needed the narrative closure of guilt, and found its key to that in Hemphill. Willie James Hemphill has done many terrible things. Willie Dixon - The Big Three Trio 1947-1952 (Roots N' Blues C 46216) FLAC . And why did Doyles brother, Emmett, run from law enforcement when they came to question him on the morning of the crime? The answer was yes many, many times. The crime itself was extraordinary, but the case drew In The Darks attention because a local prosecutor had tried Flowers six times for the murders. 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. District Attorney Doug Evans insisted he'd given the defense access to all records of the investigation. 704-***-**** View Phone. 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. The only other such form in the file was signed by Flowers. 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. | BillionGraves We are testing a new layout for the record page. Maybe. Name. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark. View Willie Smith results in Kingwood, TX including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. It's not like you're going to say, 'Yeah I robbed this 7-11, but I didn't rob that 7-11.'". "I haven't heard anything about them," John Johnson, the investigator for the District Attorney's office, had said when questioned about the Alabama suspects at the sixth Flowers trial. I know he didnt do it, Archie Flowers said. Asked if she remembered where she was when the murders happened, she recalled the morning clearly. 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. "He would have just told me everything and anything at that point," Goldberg said. He spent 11 days in jail before authorities released him. His website is. Then why havent the defense attorneys who have represented Mr. NEWSPAPERS. But that doesnt make Doyle a cold killer. He told APM Reports that he was arrested and questioned in the early days of the investigation. She said she had seen somebody at 7:15 a.m. outside Simpsons car at the factory. Not long after Armstrong found the gun in October 2001, two police officers happened to pull him over for speeding. Willie Hemphill in Virginia. Eight days before these murders, a side door key was stolen. In a remarkable turn of events almost 23 years after four people, including a 16-year-old boy, were gunned down and left inside the Tardy Furniture store in Winona, Mississippi, three things have happened. But how could a single person (especially a man like Curtis Flowers) dispatch four victims with a bullet to the back of the head? 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. The podcasts decision to try to figure out who may have actually committed the murders at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona, Mississippi isnt surprising. LOW HIGH. And Hemphill had actually lived for a time in Winona. There are 60+ professionals named "Willie Hemphill", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. We have lots of information about Willie: religious views are listed as Christian . For Flowers, the new information including Flemings changed story adds weight to his case for a full acquittal. 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. He told the Commonwealth, I think these (APM Reports) folks are just coming up with anything they can to discredit the case. Now the spotlight is on three other deaths that are linked to the case. "We did go to the mall, but it wasn't the day of the killing. Find records of Willie Hemphill . It might mean letting someone get away with an abominable crime. We developed information that Doyle was missing from work that morning for about 30 or 40 minutes, which was about the time of the murders, he said. 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. So, maybe Curtis didnt steal the gun after all. Three of the four were each killed with a single head shot. That might not be so if the whole world wasnt watching, but it is. "They were investigating that intently back then. Hemphill seemed surprised when reminded that he'd told In the Dark in June 2018 that he was with an old friend named Twanda Woods. 4). In the Flowers case, Evans and investigators asserted that Flowers was the main suspect from the beginning, including up to his sixthand, so far, final trial. 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. Saums pointed out that Simpson who has since died lied to police about how he had gotten the gun. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case . Between June 19th, 1996 and June 30thof that year, Presley was involved in five robberies at gunpoint. The show has won rightful fame for its work helping to save Flowers life. Saums said it makes sense the killers would have left through the side door, rather than go out the front door onto busy Front Street, the small towns main drag. When reporters talked to Hemphill last year, he said investigators cleared him because he had an alibi he called it "airtight." Willie Ray Hemphill, Jr., 49, of Bryan, passed away Thursday, August 13, 2009 at his residence. 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. Baran found Hemphills booking card showing he had been arrested and jailed a few days after the killing. Robert Reid Hemphill's brother, James Calvin Hemphill, was born in Due West, South Carolina, on May 18, 1850. Matthews never responded. It was still in the morning time.". He explained his suspicion that the gun might have something to do with the Tardy murders. Willie James Hemphill Phone Numbers (662) ***-4391 Contact Jerry Mitchell at 601-961-7064 or jmitchell@gannett.com. Born in 2 Jun 1941 and died in 27 May 2008 Gaffney, South Carolina Willie James Hemphill Willie James Hemphill was born on June 2, 1941. Find Willie Hemphill's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. Name. He allegedly stabbed a woman with a screwdriver, among other violent crimes. Search by Name. . In The Dark proved that Curtis Flowers was railroaded by an unjust system. Even before finding the gun, Armstrong had doubts about whether Flowers played a role in the quadruple murder. Share to Tumblr. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Williae Hemphill. Marcus Presley and Lasamuel Gamble werent raised at all. Submit an Obituary. She had at least 2 sons and 1 daughter with James Tobias Whitehead. "I was here in Winona," Woods said. He lived near Tardy Furniture at the time of the murders, and near where a gun that might have been the murder weapon was found. Hemphill had previously told police and the podcast that he was not in Winona on the morning of the murders. In fact, he said, police never searched the crawl space beneath the house. 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. Record for Willie James Hemphill 27 May 1919 - 14 July 2000 in Quantico National Cemetery, Triangle, Prince William, Virginia, United States from BillionGraves GPS Headstones. Following a masterful turn as Flowers defense lawyer, the podcast also wanted to play the part of the prosecution. 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. 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. That night, according to Moore, Hemphill was home with an ounce of marijuana, some of which they smoked together. He testified in multiple trials that the other images in the photo lineup were just "filler pictures," chosen "at random" based on some resemblance to Flowers. He will be held in a county jail while its decided if he should face trial for a stunning seventh time. On April 30, 2018, American Public Medias true crime podcast In The Dark began airing its second season, an investigation of the case of Curtis Flowers, a black man in Mississippi accused of a quadruple homicide at a furniture store in 1996. As the investigators interviewed for theWrong Man episodes on Flowers point out, the family members of the victims should have been considered suspects until evidence suggested otherwise. "If he's guilty, he's guilty.". The FBI checked it out. Shooting a handgun with accuracy is more difficult than people think, said private investigator Charlie Saums of Ridgeland. The weapon in at least some of the Alabama cases was a .380 handgun that tended to jam. Each victim of the July 16, 1996 murders was murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. 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). His age is 79. What are we supposed to think? Willie James Hemphill didn't come up until the sixth Flowers trial, and law enforcement officers said he was eliminated as a suspect in about five minutes. Sure, onceIn the Dark is over the heat will diminish slightly. Nor was there any record of the evidence gathered from Hemphill. Current Address: EHZR Hannah Dr, Rock Hill, SC. Photos. Find 23 people named Willie Hemphill along with free Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles on PeekYou - true people search. He's also targeted women in general and often women carrying purses. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case. And so, in the corridors of the courthouse last week, a female journalist with In The Dark confronted Hemphill about his airtight alibi. In the sixth trial, inmate Odell Hallmon testified that Flowers told him about carrying out the Tardy murders, helping lead to Flowers conviction. Police received a call about the murders at 10:21 a.m. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. View Willie Hemphill results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Phone Number: (704) 751-NZMM +2 phones. Marcus Presley, the gunman in the Alabama crime spree, was staring up at Ali from among the six photos in the lineup. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. 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 . Again, he denied ever being there. He's shown a fearlessness about committing brazen attacks and thefts in daylight with high risks and low payoff, in places close to where he's lived and where people are more likely to recognize him. Initially, Hemphill refused to provide further details of his whereabouts on July 16, 1996. Visitation will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m . His mothers mutt, Patches, was barking in the crawl space, causing him to find a gunbeneath the house she was renting. And in the first Flowers trial, in 1997, he testified that "there were numerous suspects" in the early days of the investigation. William is related to Alicia Kristen Hemphill . "You're confusing me. Evidence suggests that Marcus Presley was a psychopath who enjoyed random violence for its own sake. Gamble told me that they saw a few licks while they were in Mississippi. Last month, the Supreme Court overturned Flowers latest conviction, citing In The Darks reporting. Hemphill said investigator took his shoes for a few minutes as well as his fingerprints. And if the two had spent just an hour at the mall assuming the mall, which is now closed, opened as early as 9 a.m. they'd have needed to leave Winona no later than 7 o'clock that morning. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008); The Social Network (2010) Presley wasnt the only suspect defense attorneys didnt know investigators had seriously considered. As I argue in the course of the program, Simpson seemed to be bending over backwards to let the world know that a gun had been stolen from his car in the parking lot of the garment factory where he worked. listing of 6209011-20040428-Willie-James-Hemphill-Criminal-Civil_jp2.zip; file as jpg timestamp size; 6209011-20040428-Willie-James-Hemphill-Criminal-Civil_jp2/ Six trials and six successful appeals. I knew Curtis had started to get involved in crack. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 7-to-1 that prosecutors unconstitutionally eliminated black jurors during the trial proceedings for Timothy Tyrone Foster in 1987. analysis of his record of striking potential black jurors, Curtis Flowers' prosecution witness says testimony was all 'make believe', Recanted testimony, subjective science helps put Curtis Flowers on death row, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Relatives were alarmed to see a swarm of police cars descending on their homes in search of Willie James. 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. With the discrediting of Hallmon and other witnesses, Saums said, I think the district attorney would find it hard to prosecute Curtis Flowers again, much less convict him.. A surveillance camera revealed that the killer was wielding a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly.