Scott County Times from Forest, Mississippi • Page 1

'Bubba-watching See Dentey, Page 4A OUNTY TOM Vol. 54, No. 9 March 3, 1993 Copyright 1993, Tkt Scott Cointy Tint 'Scott County's best kept secret' in Morton See Feature, Page 1B Scott Lawmen Brandon man seek links to Shondra's murder has been questioned twice since 1988 in May's abduction I I i Lake High Lady Hornets to compete for state title The Lake High School girls' basketball team recently claimed the South State title in their division and received a bye into the state tournament. Coached by Arthur McMillan, the Lady Hornets defeated Philadelphia 57-47 and Union 66-61 to win the South State title. Lake will enter second round play in the state tourney at 7 p.m.

on Saturday, March 6, at the Mississippi coliseurri.in Jackson. Morton clerk announces election deadlines, schedule City of Morton voters will hold municipal elections primaries May 4 for the offices of mayor, police chief, city clerk, five alder-men(one per ward) and eight municipal Demcratic executive committeemen(one per ward and three at large). The qualifying deadline is April 3 at noon and qualifying papers are available at me City Clerk's office. Morton City Clerk Connie Hollingshead said the city redis-tricting plan is pending Justice Department approval and that when the plan is approved, no tices of any changes will be sent to voters. For voter registration infor mation, call 732-8609.

The clerk's office is open for voter registra tion trom 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and will be open Saturday, March 27, 1993 from 8 a.m, until 12 noon. The office will also be open until 7 p.m. the week of March 29-April 2 and from 8 a.m until 12 noon on April 3, the qualifying and registration deadline for the May 4 primaries.

Two jailed in armed robbery incidents by MPD officers Morton Police, the Scott County Sheriffs Office and Scott County Constable Nicky Crapps collaberated on the arrests of two county men in connection with three recent armed robberies in Morton. Arrested were: Bobby Towner, 23, of Lake on one count of accessory after the fact and one count of possession of a con trolled substance. He remains jailed on $60,000 bond set by Judge Wilbur McCurdy; and Willie Charles Townsend, 33, of Morton on three counts of armed robbery. Townsend is jailed on $150,000 bond set by Judge McCurdy. LUi Our Deaths Views Classifieds.

Legals Society 2A 2A 4A THE SCOn COUNTY TIMES has been authorized to innounct ttw candidacy o( th following for public office in Scott Coutty in tha ftrst Primary ol It Municipal Election on Tuesday, May 4, 1993 FOREST For MAYOR Michael D. Dozier FredLGadd'is Fw CHIEF OF POLICE Joe C.Bradford Hiram Richardson Robert Roncali Jamie C. Veazey For ALDERMAN WARD 1 James Clark For ALDERMAN WARD 2 Bity Frank Alford Frank B.Morgan RuthWsems For ALDERMAN WARD 3 WilOe Bowie Nancy Chambers For ALDERMAN WARD 4 R.P. (Bob) Stringer For ALDERMAN WARDS H.C. (Skipper) Warren MORTON For CHIEF OF POLICE CWHarrel For ALDERMAN WARD 2 David Elhridge PM) POtmCAl ADVERTISEMENT By SID SALTER Times Editor For more than seven years, Scott and Leake County residents tormented by the violent death suffered by Pea Ridge teenager Shondra May have returned to the inexorable question: "Why did she stop?" That agonizing question remains as yet unanswered and Shondra's tombstone in Clark Cemetery still bears no date of death.

But the May murder investigation took an unexpected turn last week after a Hinds County teenager reported to Jackson Police that she had been abducted and sexually assaulted by a man impersonating a police officer on 1-20 in Jackson. Hinds County Court Judge Huston J. Patton refused a defense request Tuesday to reduce the $250,000 bond set for William Kenneth McLain, 34, of 105 Live Oak Cove in Brandon, who was jailed Feb. 25 in Jackson in connection with the abduction and sexual assault of an 18-year-old female. State and local law enforcement officers say McLain has been questioned twice over the last four years as a possible suspect in the 1986 kidnap-slaying of May.

Although charged with kidnapping and sexual battery in the current case involving the Hinds County woman, McLain faces no charges in connection with the Shondra May murder and has no prior convictions. Leaving his Tuesday court appearance, McLain shouted to re-, porters did not do any of this." May, 17, disappeared Feb. 4, 1986 shortly after leaving her job at the Forest McDonald's restaurant at 7:25 p.m.. She was last seen buying a Valentine card minutes later at the Forest store. At 8:15 p.m., May's mother found her car parked in the driveway of their home about 75 yards from the house.

Shondra's purse and other belongings were in the vehicle, which was found with the driver's side door open and the interior light on. The only thing missing was her driver's license. After a 22-day search. May's nude body was found Feb. 26, 1986 gagged and bound with fiber-reinforced tape in a manner investigators described as "hog-tied" floating in Baker's Creek near Bolton in rural Hinds County.

Then-State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett said the girl had been dead "five to ten day" before her body was discovered by a fisherman. Bennett did not rule on a cause of death, but ruled the case a homicide. Jackson pathologist Dr. Rodrigo Calvez ruled in a second examination conducted in Scott County immediately prior to May's burial that the cause of death was May was 110 lbs. with brown hair and brown eyes.

Defense attorney Chris N.K. Ganner of Jackson told reporters last week that authorities have no evidence linking McLain to the May murder. There is not one scintilla of proof linking him to that(the May murder) direct, circumstantial or otherwise," said Ganner. "The only supposed evidence they have is the opinions of law enforcement and that is simply not evidence." But law enforcement agencies in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and in Jones and Scott counties in Mississippi are renewing their investigations into similar unsolved kid nap-murder cases searching for possible links to McLain's alleged abduction and sexual assault of the Hinds County woman in which Jackson Police Department detective Robert Jordan said the victim reported that McLain impersonated a police officer by allegedly flashing a badge and telling the woman to "pull over. Jordan said the victim reported that McLain flagged her down on I-20, flashed a badge, asked for her driver's license and told her she had committed a traffic violation.

The victim then said the was taken to an unknown location in downtown Jackson, forced to perform oral sex and then taken back to her vehicle, Jordan said. He told Judge Patton that the victim "positively" identified McLain from a police photo lineup. Scott County Sheriff William Richardson, State Bureau of Criminal Investigation head Maj. Joey Gonce and Hinds County Sheriffs Office investigator Sammy McGee all confirmed that McLain had been previously questioned in the May murder in 1988, but was not arrested or detained. McLain was again questioned about the case Monday at Highway Patrol headquarters in Jackson, Gonce said.

Ridgeland Police are also looking at McLain's Hinds County charges in connection with a recent complaint filed by two women who said they had been harassed by a subject posing as a law officer, law enforcement sources confirmed Tuesday. Former Highway Patrol Chief Walter Tucker, now Brandon's police chief, told reporters Friday that lawmen first turned their attention to McLain after he voluntarily expressed an intense interest in the May murder investigation. Tucker said McLain approached lawmen about the case, offering his opinions on what he thought happened. In addition to the state and local investigation into the May murder subsequent to McLain's arrest on the Hinds County charges, Tuscaloosa Homicide Unit detectives told reporters Monday that they plan to question him in regard to the June, 1987 kidnap-slaying of University of Alabama graduate student Chanda Fehler, 24, of Tuscaloosa, who disappeared from the university's Riverside Pool on June 10, 1987. Her vehicle, a 1986 Honda CRX, was found parked at the Riverside Pool with the driver's side door ajar, the interior light on, and her identification and personal possession on the seat Fehler's nude body bound and weighted with a cinder block-washed up four days later on the banks of the Black Warrior River.

Cause of death was ruled "smothering or was 5 feet tall, 120 lbs. with brown hair and brown eyes. Despite a reported $20,000 reward offered after her death for information leading to arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible, the case remains unsolved. Jones County Sheriff Maurice Hooks was present during McLain's questioning at the Highway Patrol on Monday and Richardson con-finned that Hooks and state officials looking into alleged similarities between the May murder and the Jan. 21, 1993 kidnap-slaying of Lori HilL 18, of Ellisville.

Hill, who was seven months pregnant, was reported missing after her mother found her car abandoned at the end of the driveway of their home. JCSO deputy James Dearman said the mother found her daughter's car with the headlights on, the key in the ignition and with her purse on the seat. "Nothing was missing," Dear-man said. The driver's side window of Hill's vehicle was rolled down. Officials said it appeared Hill had been talking to someone in another car pulled alongside her own.

On Feb. 10, Hill's body was found face down in a field near a tool shed in Covington County near Collins. Cause of death was ruled as Hill was 124 lbs. with brown hair. Hinds County Chancery Court records show that McLain was committed by his mother to the State Hospital at Whitfield on July 2, 1991.

Court records show he was discharged on Feb. 25, 1992. A psychologist's affidavit filed in support of McLain's mother's commitment affidavit described him "paranoid" and his behavior as "grossly Upon his discharge from Whit- (Coninued on Page 8A) (Times staff photo by Leilani Pope) William Kenneth McLain. 34. of Brandon is being held on $250,000 bond on charges of the alleged kidnapping and sexual battery of an 18-year-old Hinds County woman in Jackson on Feb.

19. McLain, twice questioned as a possible suspect in the Shondra May murder case since 1988. was denied a reduction of bond by Hinds County Judge Huston Patton on Tuesday. McLain has no prior convictions and currently faces no charges in the May case. abducted Jan.

21 1 993 near her home 1 bodv was found 21 days later near 6 i been strangled. Her car was found, parents' driveway. Case remains Maurice Hooks present at McLain's Jackson on March 1 Shondra May was abducted Feb. 4,1986 after leaving work in Forest Her body was found 22 days later. She had been strangled.

Her car was found, door ajar, in her parents" driveway. Case remains unsolved. McLain questioned twice. An 18-year-old Hinds County woman was abducted Feb. 19.

1993 after allegedly being flagged down by a man posing as a policeman. Victim allegedly sexually assaulted, then released by assailant. McLain arrested in case. Lon Hill was in Ellisville. Her Chanda Fehler, 24 Abducted and murdered June 10, 1937 hi Tuscaloosa, AL UIIIIU Collins.

She had door ajar, in her unsolved. Sheriff questioning in iPiitiiffi Chanda Fehler was abducted June 10, 1987 from the University of Alabama swimming pool on the campus in Tuscaloosa. Four days later, her nude body was found tied and weighted in the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa. She had been Her car was found at the pool, door ajar, with her ID, driver's license and other effects on the seat. Case remains unsolved.

Tuscaloosa Homicide Unit seeks to question McLain. (Times staff graphic by Leilani Pope) Shondra May, 17 Abducted and mirdered February 4, 1936 in Forest J-W-M mi i LoriHHL.18 Abducted and murdered January 21, 1993 in BisviHe.