CHAPTER 53

On April 25, 2000, each and every person who was present at the crime scene on the day of the murders was contacted by the sheriff’s department to come in and give a statement as to whether or not they had discussed the method of the murders with Headrick that day prior to his first interview, or at any other time.

Deputy Jim Mays, the first county officer at the scene of the double homicide at Shady Lane, told his interviewers that on his arrival, he had secured the scene as best he could. He stated that he did not talk with any member of the Headrick family concerning the method in which the two women were killed.

Officer Darrell Collins said that he spoke with no member of Headrick’s family concerning how Carolyn and Dora Ann were killed. He stated that he assisted Investigator Danny Smith during Headrick’s questioning.

Reed Smith said that he and Winston Busby went to the residence of Carolyn and Dora Ann on the day that they were murdered. Smith said that there was no one at the residence when he and Winston Busby arrived, and that he did not discuss the method in which the ladies were murdered with anyone. Smith said he did not talk with any member of Headrick’s family.

Deputy Mary Waters stated that she performed crime scene security at the residence on the day of the murders, and that she did not discuss the manner of the women’s deaths with anyone.

Deputy Johnny Brown secured the murder scene and, to the best of his knowledge, did not speak to any of the Headrick family. Brown stated that he did not discuss the manner of death with anyone except other law enforcement personnel at the scene.

Deputy Van McAlpin spoke with neighbors to see if they saw anything out of the ordinary on the day of the murders. He did not speak to any members of the Headrick family, and did not talk about how the two ladies had been killed with anyone.

Chief Deputy Eddie Wright did not say anything to any members of the Headrick family at the crime scene, and Deputy Lamar Hackworth said he helped keep the scene secure on the day of the murders. Hackworth said he did not talk about the way the victims had been killed with anyone except law enforcement personnel and did not speak to any member of the Headrick family. Hackworth said he questioned people in the neighborhood to see if they saw anything unusual.

Investigator Danny Smith stated that on the day of the murders he did not discuss the way the murders had been carried out with any member of the Headrick family. Smith said that he asked Randy Headrick if he had been told how his wife and mother-in-law were killed.

Deputy Tony Bartley said that he did not discuss the manner of death with anyone at the scene or any member of the Headrick family, and Joey Hester said he did not enter the crime scene at all because his task that day was crime scene security.

Richard Igou, who had been district attorney at the time of the murders, stated that he did not have a discussion with any member of the Headrick family on the day of the murders, and Winston Busby said that no member of the Headrick family was present at the time he was at the murder scene. David Smalley and Donald Smith both said that they did not speak with any member of the Headrick family.

Reverend Joey Turman told Investigator Jimmy Phillips that he was at the Cabbage Bowl Restaurant in Ider, having lunch with his wife, when Kathy Porter rushed in to get help. Turman said that he went to the scene of the crime and went inside and saw Carolyn and Dora Ann’s bodies. At that point, he called 911 from the house, having called them earlier from the Cabbage Bowl. Turman said that he never talked to Randy Headrick at the crime scene, later at the funeral or at any other time.

Kathy Porter told Phillips that she did not talk to Headrick at all on the day of the murders. She did not tell anyone how the victims were killed, because at that time she did not know herself. The only time she talked to Headrick was on the day of the funeral to see what clothing he wanted to bury his wife in, and they picked out her clothes that day.

Sheriff Cecil Reed told Phillips that he did not recall talking to any of Randy Headrick’s family on the day of the murders. He did talk to the press concerning the case, he said, but not on the day of the murders.

“The main thing I remember that day,” he said, “is when Randy drove past the road and turned around and came back and turned onto the dirt road and was met by law enforcement on the road. He was told what was going on, but I didn’t say anything to him about how the victims were killed.”

The most telling statement came from Terry Knowles, the man who sat with Randy Headrick on the back of his truck after Headrick arrived at the murder scene.

“I didn’t discuss how the victims were killed with anyone,” Knowles said. “I heard Danny Smith ask Randy if his prints would be on the murder weapons, and Randy said, ‘Yes, I made them.’ When Randy said this, he realized what he’d said and he became very quiet then. I also heard Danny Smith ask Randy how he knew what they were killed with, and Randy said that someone in his family had told him how they were killed.”

With everyone present at the murder scene verifying that they had not told Randy Headrick or any member of his family how the two victims had been killed, it seemed highly unlikely that he could have learned so quickly what the murder weapons were, and would remark, “Yes, I made them.” In fact, it would seem that the only person, other than law enforcement at the scene, who could have known at that time what weapons were used to kill Carolyn and Dora Ann was the person who committed the murders.

Matters were looking increasingly bleak for mounting any kind of successful defense for Randy Headrick when the case came to court. It was common knowledge that the district attorney planned to ask for the death penalty if Headrick was found guilty. Therefore, Headrick and his attorney began to give a great deal of thought as to what the wisest course of action would be, and how they should proceed in order to keep Headrick from taking a seat in “Yellow Mama,” Alabama’s notorious electric chair.

While Headrick languished in the DeKalb County Jail, trying to find a way to avoid a death sentence, one of the ironic coincidences occurred that often make true crime stranger than fiction. One of the first persons looked at as a possible suspect early on in the murders landed in the DeKalb County Jail, where he would keep company with Headrick for a time. John Mark Johnson, the Valley Head man who had long, dark hair, drove a red Chevy S10, had a criminal history that included time spent in a Florida prison for federal firearms violations, and was heavily involved in the local Native American community, had been brought to the attention of authorities early in the investigation. Johnson was quickly ruled out as a person of interest in the murders of Carolyn Headrick and Dora Ann Dalton, but he was arrested on a grand jury indictment in late February 2000 and booked on fourteen sex charges involving a juvenile female. The charges included first- and second-degree sodomy, first-degree rape and child abuse, all involving the same victim. Johnson would enter a guilty plea and be sent to prison, but he and Headrick shared some jail time while Headrick and his attorney planned their next move in their attempt to save Headrick from a death sentence.

Johnson’s wife, Laura, who had also been questioned early in the investigation, died under mysterious circumstances on October 12, 1997, in a headline-making incident when she plunged approximately three hundred feet to her death from an overlook at DeKalb County’s Little River Canyon National Preserve. She, Johnson and their daughter were at the canyon allegedly preparing to participate in a Native American purification ritual; authorities were told she slipped and fell from the overlook during the ritual. The DeKalb County investigators, the FBI and park service authorities found her death highly suspicious and continued to investigate it for several years, but no charges have yet been filed in connection with her death.

Headrick and Johnson must have had some very interesting conversations during their time together in the DeKalb County Jail. Both were highly intelligent; both shared a common interest in Native Americana and firearms; both had become grieving widowers. These amazing coincidences proved, to many of the sheriff’s department personnel, that reality is, indeed, sometimes stranger than fiction.