SHELBY -- The man accused of murdering an 11-year-old Shelby girl died this weekend while awaiting trial -- perhaps never definitively answering the 46-year-old question: Who killed Brenda Sue Brown?
Thurman "Soupy" Price, 83, died hoping he could someday stand trial for the grisly 1966 murder that haunted Shelby for years.
A little girl was dead -- her body found naked in a honeysuckle thicket off Lafayette Street, her head bludgeoned with a rock.
The little mill community lost its innocence that July day nearly five decades ago.
Brenda Sue's family wanted Price to stand trial, too. Now, both families are left wondering what could have been, what might have happened if Price had lived to see his day in court.
Price's daughter speaks
In recent years, The Star spoke frequently with Brenda Sue's family. Now, for the first time, Price's daughter has come forward to share her father's side of the story.
Since Price's arrest five years ago, he lived with the whispers, said his daughter, Niki Trager.
"That's him, isn't it?"
"He's the one."
Being branded a child-killer weighed heavily on Price during the last years of his life,Trager said. The stress, the rumors, the waiting. They only made Price's health worse, said Trager, who now lives in Louisiana.
Just days before he died, Price was still hoping to clear his name.
Trager said most people in Shelby have already convicted Price in their minds. They didn't need the judicial system to decide his guilt or innocence. With her father's death, she fears he'll be forever known as the man who killed an 11-year-old girl.
"I still want his name cleared," Trager said, sitting on the front porch of her father's Shelby home Monday. "I want my daddy vindicated. ... That was what he wanted."
The Star published a 13-part series in 2006 about Brenda Sue's murder -- a cold case at the time. Shortly after the series started, a Cleveland County woman told police about her grandfather's deathbed confession. The dying man, Earl Mickey Parker, reportedly told his granddaughter that he and Price killed Brenda Sue together.
Trager won't believe that story. Her father couldn't hurt Brenda Sue, Trager said. He wouldn't hurt her, she insisted.
Brenda Sue's family thinks otherwise. They said they know police arrested the right man.
'It's over'
Brenda Sue's sisters, Patricia Buff and Mary McSwain, pushed Shelby Police to re-open their sister's case in 2005, before Price was arrested. They wanted answers when, 40 years after their sister's death, no one was charged in her murder.
For years, the Brown family fought. Now, they say, their struggle to bring justice for Brenda Sue has ended.
"I thought, 'Well, sis, it's over,'" Buff said, cradling her grandchild in her lap and wiping tears from her eyes. "Because we fought a long, hard battle."
Buff lights a candle for Brenda Sue every year on the anniversary of her death: July 27, 1966.
This year was no different. Buff lit a candle for her sister, who would have turned 57 in May. She said a prayer.
Buff didn't know that in a few days, she would learn her sister's alleged killer died awaiting trial. Price was scheduled to have his day in court several times since his arrest, but that never happened.
"The waiting game was hard," Buff said, "because you never knew when the phone was going to ring."
Over the years, the story continually popped up in newspapers and on TV. Each time, Gladys Brown relived the details of that day. That horrible day.
"I get tired of hearing how they killed my little girl," Brenda Sue's mother said.
Maintaining innocence on his deathbed
Price's attorney, David Teddy, visited his client in the hospital a few days before he died. Teddy said Price always told him he didn't kill Brenda Sue. That didn't change in the final days of Price's life, Teddy said.
Price died an innocent man, according to Teddy. The justice system says those accused of a crime are innocent until proven guilty. Price didn't have to prove his innocence, Teddy said. It's the state's responsibility to prove guilt.
Teddy declined to comment about the obstacles that prevented Price's case from coming to trial. District Attorney Rick Shaffer didn't return phone messages from The Star requesting comment. He responded to an email message from The Star and asked for questions about Price's case to be emailed to him. Questions weren't answered in time for this story.
In the court's eyes, Price died innocent of Brenda Sue's death. He was never convicted. The Brown family said, even without a trial, they know Price killed little Brenda Sue. That's enough for now, they said.
But Trager isn't satisfied with a legal definition of innocence. Although her father died peacefully, he was still troubled knowing that people think he killed Brenda Sue, Trager said. Price told his daughter he lived a good life. As a born-again Christian, Price went to heaven, Trager said.
No services were scheduled at Price's request.
And although Trager knows her father is now with God, one question still remains:
Who killed Brenda Sue?
Read more: http://www.gastongazette.com/art ... .html#ixzz249CiOcbn |
发表于 2012-8-20 13:59
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