Sheila Johnson - Blood Highway

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Without the help, cooperation and trust of District Attorney Mike ODell, Sheriff Cecil Reed, Lead Investigator Mike James and all the rest of the personnel in the DeKalb County, Alabama, District Attorneys Office and Sheriffs Department, this book would not have been possible. As in countless other situations, they have all given me their encouragement and support and, as always, they have my wholehearted gratitude.

Investigator Johnny Bass of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit in Summerville, Georgia, and Detective Eddie Colbert of the Chattooga County Sheriffs Department generously opened their files and provided a great deal of information on the case against Hayward Bissell in their state, as well as countless highly entertaining anecdotes about their experiences while gathering information in Ohio.

My friends and former colleagues, photographers extraordinaire Scott Turner and Steven Stiefel, generously provided many of the photos that helped document Hayward Bissells dramatic change in appearance during the time he was incarcerated.

Thanks also to Don and Rhea Pirch and James and Sue Pumphrey. I hope that having your stories told will help provide closure and bring you peace.

Todd Graves spent a great deal of time listening to Hayward Bissells own accounts of his crimes, and I thank him for coming forward and providing the investigators with that information and also for telling me many other stories of his conversations with Bissell.

Charlene Booher and Linda Rogers provided much valuable information and insight, along with their favorite photo of Patty, and I hope they and the rest of Pattys family and friends will consider this book a tribute to the memory of the little girl they loved so much.

Special thanks to my mother, Olena Beasley, who has always believed that Id amount to something sooner or later.

Epilogue

In most instances, the people involved in the three-year nightmare that was the Hayward Bissell case have gradually eased back into the comfortable routines of everyday life they enjoyed before the events of January 23, 2000.

Patricia Boohers family and friends still miss her keenly, and always will. She was a sweet, loving girl who only wanted to be happy and have friends, and she looked forward to raising her baby and showering it with affection. Her childhood had been very rough at times; she was determined that her baby would have a happy life and lots of love and care. Its likely she never realized just how many friends she actually had, but the large turnout at her funeral service was a solid testimony to the number of people who cared for her.

After her death, Patricia continued to touch the hearts of those who became involved in the investigation of her murder. A veteran law enforcement officer, a man who has worked on every conceivable type of murder case and has seen countless horrors inflicted on innocent victims, almost lost his composure on one occasion while talking to me about the case.

In the middle of describing the grisly crime scene very matter-of-factly, he stopped in midsentence and choked up, tears forming in his eyes.

Her little Mickey Mouse socks, he said, staring down at the floor. I keep remembering her little Mickey Mouse socks.

Then he turned and walked away without another word.

Sheriff Cecil Reed, Chief Jailer Bill Lands and the rest of the crew at the DeKalb County Sheriffs Department have continued with their routine daily business of combating crime and overseeing punishment, with no other notorious prisoners to deal with; at least, none even remotely like Hayward Bissell. Thankfully, he was one of a kind. There will likely be many other high-profile cases and problematic inmates in days to come, but for now, Reed is looking to the long-range future. The sheriff ran for reelection in 2002 and was kept in office by yet another landslide vote from the countys residents. His plans to retire are being slowed down by the promise of a new, state-of-the-art public-safety complex, which will soon begin construction in DeKalb County. After so many years of dealing with serious jail overcrowding and outdated, dilapidated facilities, the sheriff looks forward to spending a little time in the plush, new complex before he hands over the reins of office to his successor.

Id sure like to be in that new building for a little while before I retire, Reed said. I may run for office for another term; I havent really made up my mind about it yet. But it would be nice to spend some time in that new facility. Its been a long time coming.

Even though he will greatly enjoy a retirement life of leisure with his wife and family, Cecil Reed will never be out of touch with the officers he worked so closely with for so many years. Its a sure bet that hell always keep a finger on the pulse of law enforcement in DeKalb County.

District Attorney Mike ODell and his staff have remained busy with an ever-increasing number of cases, but they are thankful that none of those have involved multiple, horrendous crimes of murder and assault. ODell and his staff are accustomed to handling methamphetamine labs, domestic abuse, burglary and DUI cases on a constant basis, but a high-profile case like Bissells uses up an incredible amount of time and resources. For over two years, the staff of the DeKalb County District Attorneys Office worked diligently on a case that never came before a jury. Mike ODell doesnt regret a minute spent preparing for a trial that never happened, however. He was determined to find a way to keep Hayward Bissell from eventually being back on the streets again, and thanks to the difference in Alabama and Georgia laws, he finally succeeded.

Bissell was by no means ODells first case to gain a great deal of national attention. In 1982, when he was a young assistant DA, he helped convict Judith Ann Neelley for the death of thirteen-year-old Lisa Ann Millican, who was kidnapped, repeatedly raped, injected with drain cleaner, shot in the back and dumped into DeKalb Countys Little River Canyon.

A jury found Neelley guilty and recommended that she be sentenced to life in prison without parole, but Judge Randall Cole, the judge who ruled on most of Hayward Bissells DeKalb County court decisions, overruled the jurys recommendation and gave Neelley the death penalty.

In 1999, during his last workday in office, former Alabama governor Fob James commuted Judith Ann Neelleys death sentence to life in prison. Because of an obscure 1950 statute of which James was not aware, Neelley will be eligible for parole in 2014.

An outraged Mike ODell joined with Senate Pro Tem Lowell Barron and scores of other Alabama legislators and district attorneys to form a coalition to support legislation to prevent another uninformed governor from potentially freeing a convicted killer.

James made no effort to contact the Republican attorney general and ask his opinion to make certain his desired intent would be accomplished, ODell said. Giving James the benefit of the doubt, at best what he did was an incredibly stupid act that will one day allow a vicious criminal to walk our streets again. Had he shown the courtesy of advising us of his intentions, this horrible act might not have been perpetrated on the citizens of Alabama.

Judith Ann Neelleys commutation and the possibility of her eventual parole made Mike ODell and his fellow coalition members determined to let no such incidents happen again. Thanks to their efforts, legislation has since been passed to prevent such a situation from ever reoccurring in the state of Alabama.