It was a cold December night in the tiny town of Santa Claus, Georgia—a place better known for its charming name than for tragedy. But on that night in 1997, darkness crept in. Jerry Scott Heidler, a troubled young man with ties to the Daniels family, broke into their home with murder on his mind….
The Strange Case of Billy Wayne Cope in Rock Hill: Part 2
York County 911… What’s your emergency? In late November 2001, a 911 call was made from the Cope residence in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The caller stated that his daughter was “cold as a cucumber.” That caller was later identified as Billy Wayne Cope, who called after finding his daughter, Amanda, deceased in her bed….
The Strange Case of Billy Wayne Cope in Rock Hill: Part 1
In 1997, I attended York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, to gain undergraduate credits toward a Bachelor’s degree. I am not a math whiz, and honestly, it’s the one class where my ADHD kicks in the most. During that fall, several students around the student center began to notice a larger man, who…
The Mysterious and Strange 1997 Disappearance of Judy Smith
Judy Smith was a 50-year-old married nurse, born in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in 1946. Smith was recently married when she and her husband traveled to Philadelphia in April 1997. Judy had reportedly wanted to tour the city to see some historical attractions, while Jeffrey, an attorney, attended a business conference. Nothing seemed odd or out of…
A Winter’s Night Tragedy
The tragic story of Lue Cree Overcash Westmoreland is woven into the fabric of the Amity Hill Community as much as any cornfield, church hymn, or long-abandoned cotton gin. If you grew up in this community in the last half-century around these parts, you had heard about Lue Cree. On Nov. 28, 1936, Lue Cree…
The 1988 Old Salisbury Road Mass Murders
The Old Salisbury Road Shootings are one of the worst tragedies in North Carolina’s history. On a dimly lit section of road in Forsyth County, North Carolina, on July 17, 1988 (some sources say the 18th), a man with a rifle started firing on passing vehicles. It seemed like a bad nightmare when the gunman,…
The 1993 Luigi’s Italian Restaurant Shooting Revisited
On August 6, 1993, an armed Fort Bragg soldier, Sgt. Kenneth Junior French, aged 22, walked into Luigi’s restaurant, 528 McPherson Church Road, around 10 p.m. in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with two shotguns and a rifle. French began to yell about politics, Bill Clinton, and homosexuality when he opened fire during the drunken killing spree….
2003 Standoff in Abbeville, South Carolina
On December 8, 2003, a daylong standoff in Abbeville, South Carolina, ended with the arrests of Arthur, Rita, and Steven Bixby, which resulted in the deaths of two law enforcement officers. During the ordeal, the Bixbys, Arthur and Steven, stationed themselves at the house’s windows and shot at anyone who approached the residence. Tensions began…
The Unsolved Homicide of Bruce Gaines Marett in Oconee County
On June 28, 2002, Bruce Gaines Maret was brutally beaten and bludgeoned to death inside his mobile home at 271 N Retreat Road in Westminster, South Carolina. Marett was 50 years old at the time of death. Some have even considered the homicide as one of Oconee County’s most brutal murders. According to Oconee Law,…
The Giggling Granny
Nannie Doss may have seemed like a sweet, loving grandmother, but investigators soon found something more sinister lurked behind her charming smile after every member of her family mysteriously died. Doss was born Nancy Hazel on November 4, 1905, in Alabama. An abusive father heavily impacted her childhood, and she described it as “an unhappy…