CHAPTER 20
As the calendar rolled over into 1996, tips and rumors about the Headrick case continued to come into the sheriff’s office on a slightly less frequent basis than before, but much time was spent carefully following up each one of them. In mid-January, Rhonda Jackson accompanied Investigator Joel York, of the Rainsville Police Department, on a search of a Rainsville woman’s house on another case she was assisting the Rainsville department with. While searching the house with the woman’s consent, a .22 revolver, EIG model E4, was seized from a man who was also living there at the time. He identified the gun as being his, and told the investigators he had formerly lived with one of Headrick’s sisters. Since the gun fit the description of the weapon that possibly could have been used to kill Dora Ann Dalton and Carolyn Headrick, the officers sent it to the Department of Forensic Sciences for ballistics testing.
While the investigation into the Dalton/Headrick murders continued, the insurance companies that had issued the policies on the murder victims were busily conducting their own inquiries into the case. Autopsy reports and other case information was requested; phone calls were made back and forth from the companies to the sheriff’s office; representatives of the companies stopped by frequently to check with the investigators on the status of the case.
In early February, an attorney from State Farm Life Insurance came to Rhonda Jackson’s office to speak with her about the current status of the investigation.
“I advised him that the investigation was still pending, was still an open file, and that Randy Headrick was still a prime suspect,” she said. “I told him that I had the original life insurance policies in my possession.”
The following day, Jackson turned over a large file of material to an agent of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Bureau, which had agreed to take a look at the case and offer any input he might have. Included in the files were firearm transaction records from Wal-Mart and the Gun Center, a copy of Headrick’s driver’s license, a copy of the questions and answers asked to Headrick and answered through his attorney, a copy of a taped statement from Headrick on the day following the murders, a copy of the case summary and the name, address and phone number of a Headrick relative who had bought a 9mm pistol from Headrick. The investigators welcomed the input of the ATF agent. They eagerly sought assistance from any other agencies that might spot that tiny, overlooked detail that could break the case.
On Valentine’s Day, a young woman came into the sheriff’s department to make a statement concerning some things she had overheard at her place of employment, Sola Electric, the week following the murders.
“I was in the restroom at work at Sola,” she said. “Two other women were in there talking about Randy Headrick coming in to Sola and delivering skids. They said he gave one of his Indian artifacts to a guy in the shipping department and told him to go and put it in his truck and not be seen with it. He told the guy somebody was after him.”
Rhonda Jackson, who was conducting the interview, asked the woman to try to recall what else the two women were saying.
“As best as I can remember, they were saying Randy told the guy he was supposed to make a bunch of stuff for ‘them’ and that there would be a bloody massacre,” the woman told a startled Jackson.
“I don’t remember the guy’s name, but he worked in shipping. This happened the day of the murders.”
Although this hearsay evidence could not be put to use, it was astounding to think that Headrick might have had this conversation with someone at Sola Electric, his first delivery of the morning, on the very day that the murders were committed.
On February 23, Rhonda Jackson spoke with an FBI agent in the Birmingham, Alabama, field office, talking with him about the possibility of obtaining an FBI psychological profile of the killer in the Dalton/Headrick case. Jackson felt this might help the investigation, and hoped for assistance from the FBI. After she gave the agent the facts of the case, he said he would contact headquarters at Quantico that afternoon and get in touch with her about the requirements for the profile. A few days later, Jackson received a Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) form to fill out on Carolyn Headrick and mail back to Quantico, and another form was sent for Dora Ann Dalton. Hopefully, the expertise of FBI profilers would provide some help in the search for the killer, or give some confirmation of the investigators’ suspicions.
In early March, some disappointing test results were received on the EIG .22 revolver that had been sent earlier to the Department of Forensic Sciences after being seized during the search that Rhonda Jackson had assisted with in Rainsville.
“The weapon was test fired for comparison with the bullets from the bodies of the subjects,” the report stated. “It was determined that the bullets were not fired by the weapon due to a difference in general rifling characteristics.”
During the first week of April, a Dalton relative called Rhonda Jackson and told her that a man had gotten in touch with some of her family members saying he had information on a small red pickup that he saw the day of the murders. Rhonda immediately called the man and set up an interview with him for the following day.
The caller had also told Rhonda that Carolyn and Randy Headrick had gone to another relative’s home in Chattanooga twice in May and June before the murders, and both times Headrick left the home and stayed gone for about an hour, refusing to let anyone accompany him.
“When he got back, Carolyn asked him where he had been. He said he went and withdrew money from the ATM machine, went to the store, and went to a little bead shop.”
When the informant came in to be interviewed about the small red pickup, he told the investigators the truck was at that time located in Chattanooga. A few days later, Mike James and Rhonda Jackson traveled to the Chattanooga Police Department and met with Sergeant Rodney Bowman, who took them to the address listed on the tag number, which was given to them by the informant.
When they arrived at the address, they found that the house was vacant. They went next door to a small grocery and learned that the lady who owned the house was now in a nursing home in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. It didn’t appear that this particular red pickup truck was going to figure in the investigation in any way, and James and Jackson returned to Alabama empty-handed.
The next day brought a payoff so big that the countless disappointments of the previous weeks were forgotten. Jill Shrader called to tell Rhonda Jackson that she had some important information on the murders and was now ready to talk. Rhonda and Mike James immediately made arrangements to meet Jill, who was living at that time in Brunswick, Georgia, at the King and Prince Inn located on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. Jill and Shane Headrick were still living together. When the investigators arrived at the inn the following day, Jill was already there, waiting for them. And she was very afraid.