Saturday, January 03, 2004
It has been a little over 19 years since Aug. 10, 1984. I still remember that day. My brother Doug had called me that morning to tell me that his wife, Debbie, didn't show up for work. I went to the newspaper office to be with Doug.
Shortly after I arrived, I called the police. Like Fred Flager, the managing editor of The Sentinel, I didn't get anywhere with them. Later, Flagler got a phone call. I knew from the look on his face that something bad had happened to Debbie. He told us she had been murdered. I had to call our parents and tell them Debbie was dead. Debbie's mom showed up at the newspaper office. After that, it was pretty much a blur. The police came and talked to us. Then I drove Doug home. All I remember was getting out of the car with Doug and seeing my parents' faces, then my sister's and her children's. It was agony for us. Debbie, my mom, my sister and I had just gotten together the weekend before and planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my dad.
We never got to give the party. We never got to do anything else with Debbie. What we got to do was pick out clothing for her to wear at the funeral. We had to get something to cover her neck and arms because of all the stab wounds and defense wounds. That's the last thing my sister and I got to do for Debbie. Her dog Freckles kept going to the door every day, looking for her to come home. We had to go to sleep each night and wake up each morning with the knowledge of what happened to her, knowing she suffered, questioning why and knowing she wasn't ever coming home again. We had to listen to all the comments being made by your city leaders about the arrest being racial. Do you know how hard all this was and still is? I still miss her very much. I would have loved for my children to have known her personally, not just by my memories or her picture.
I am appalled at the way this murder has been made a racial issue. I am appalled that your city leaders and ministers have made the comments they have. All we want is for the people responsible for this to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of their ethnic background.
Would these same leaders have done the same thing if the defendant had been white and the same mistakes made? I don't know, yet I feel as if they would not have. The biggest mistake was made by the dispatcher when she sent the officers in the wrong direction after hearing exactly where the offense was taking place. Because of that error, hours went by, possible evidence was destroyed, and the opportunity to find perpetrators in the area with evidence on them was lost. You have yet to hear from any of these same leaders and ministers about that. Why?
All these leaders have been able to see is that a black man, whom they feel was wrongly accused, was arrested by a white officer for murdering a white woman. I don't see it that way. I see it as a man being arrested and convicted for murdering a woman, a human being. Why can't they see it that way? Why make it racial? Why not just comment that a man, not a man who is black, red, yellow, white, but a man, a human being, has been wrongfully accused and imprisoned?
I still feel that Darryl Hunt was involved in some way. There are too many unanswered questions. I don't believe that Willard Brown acted alone. I don't know that I ever will. There is too much evidence that points to more than one person being involved.
I sat through every day of the 31/2 weeks of the first trial. There is still much that points to Hunt that these leaders and ministers have chosen to ignore.
I am sure that Hunt has suffered mentally, yet so have we. He looks a lot better than most people who have spent that many years in prison. From his recent photos and media reports, he appears to be well nourished, has received some college education, has married, has a home.
These same city leaders that you have heard so much from never once called or sent a note even offering their thoughts and prayers to Debbie's family. Why, when they were so concerned about everything else?
All I do know is that one day, the ones who committed this crime will have to answer to a higher being for what they did. I wish everyone could just focus on the fact that a murder was committed and more investigation needs to be done. Debbie was a beautiful person, and we have missed out in not getting to grow old with her.
To the city leaders and ministers I would say: I hope that one day, you will be willing to hear about Debbie and how this has affected her family. Then maybe the next time something like this happens, you will remember what you contributed to our agony, and you won't be so quick to point fingers, condemn and make it something it's not. One last question for the city leaders and ministers: What will you have to say if, without any doubt, the evidence points back to Hunt as being one of the ones who murdered Debbie? What will you do then?