Diane Pollin's 20-year-old son Christopher was shot and killed in an Aiken graveyard nearly three years ago. His death has not been solved. With Ms. Pollin at her son's grave is Christopher's son, Dashon Pollin.RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

Unsolved homicides

Web posted Web posted Sep. 14 at 01:50 AM

 The cases
  Murder acquittal leaves case in limbo

By Alisa DeMao and Meghan Gourley
Staff Writers

Wayne Bunton carries the thick folders with him every day, reminders of two crimes, three lives - and deaths - that remain mysteries.

Images of Norman Palmer, crumpled on his living room floor, blood pooled on the carpet. A dozen cassette tapes of Mr. Bunton's interviews trying to ferret out the truth in the deaths of Rhonda Warren and Tim Hale, executed and left curled together on the pullout bed in their home.

The Richmond County Sheriff's Department detective takes the three unsolved killings personally.

``If you don't become personally involved, these cases are harder to work,'' Mr. Bunton said. ``That's your motivation. Whether you're empathizing with the family or you're just angry about what happened, that somebody had to die like that. This stuff stays with me. I tote it around everyday.''

Mr. Palmer, Ms. Warren and Mr. Hale, all killed in 1994, are three of 44 unsolved homicides on the Richmond County department's books since 1991. Six of those slayings have happened in the past year. During the same period, one open case was solved, and two more were cleared when the prime suspects were killed, officials said.

The Richmond County Sheriff's Department has one of the best clearance rates for large cities in Georgia: Solving 83 percent of 36 slayings in 1996 tied it with Columbus. Atlanta and Savannah each solved 76 percent of their homicides in 1996. Nationally, police solved about 65 percent of slayings in 1995, the last year figures were available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Richmond County's other 17 percent - the unsolved cases - continue to snowball each year.

It may seem like trying to dig a hole in the sand, but no crime is unsolvable, Mr. Bunton insisted. The key to most of the open cases is finding the right person and persuading them to give up the right information.

``The biggest problem is that people with knowledge of a crime will not come forward,'' the detective said emphatically. ``If they would accept the moral responsibility, there would be no such thing as an unsolved homicide. But they don't have to meet these victims' families.''

Mr. Bunton does.

And so does Detective Dwayne Courtney of the Aiken Public Safety Department, who keeps the case file on 20-year-old Christopher Pollin in his desk, where he sees it every time he opens the top drawer. Mr. Pollin's death, at the end of a gun in a Laurens Street cemetery in 1994, is one of two unsolved homicides on the books in the city of Aiken.

``He was attending the day lab on Laurens Street - that's where he was off to that morning,'' said his mother, Diane Pollin, her voice full of pain. ``I told him, `Chris, it's time to go to school, it's time to get up.' I was on my way to work, and he got up and got dressed and left before I did. He said, `Mama, I'll see you later.' That was the last thing he ever said to me.''

Mr. Pollin was barely alive when he was found about 1 p.m. the next day in the Jewish portion of Bethany Cemetery, a common shortcut, where scores of feet had worn a path. His organs were donated after his mother agreed to take him off life support, Mr. Courtney said.

Family members describe a youth involved in his church, beginning to take financial responsibility for himself, possibly contemplating a military career like his grandfather, who took Mr. Pollin fishing as a boy. He'd been in a few fights, his mother said, but police didn't view him as a constant troublemaker.

Mr. Courtney thinks a dispute over money, or a girl, went too far. No weapon has been recovered. There's little physical evidence to go on. The detective knows of two people who could give him information that would let him lock up the killers. But he hasn't been able to persuade them to talk, he said.

``One of these people is a mother, herself,'' he said. ``I'd just like to know how she would feel in Diane's position, if it was her child that had been killed and nobody would come forward.''

Leomie Ellison of Hephzibah isn't convinced anyone other than the killer knows what happened to her 17-year-old son Leon, but she's hopeful someone may have seen something - and will come forward.

Leon, a quiet high school junior who spent most of his time with his family, disappeared March 29, 1994, when he never returned home from a restaurant job interview. Eleven days later, his badly decomposed body was found in a wooded area in the 4400 block of Peach Orchard Road, a gunshot wound to his head.

``He wouldn't have just disappeared without saying something - I knew he hadn't run away,'' Mrs. Ellison said. ``He wasn't the kind of kid that got into trouble, he wouldn't pick a fight. He was quiet and liked to watch TV. He just got a new girlfriend - his first girlfriend.''

But the naive boy was too trusting.

Leon tried to convince his mother ``everybody is not out to hurt you'' when she warned him not to pick up hitchhikers and to be wary of strangers. Now, she believes it was his trusting nature that ended his life.

``I think he picked up somebody on the street and something happened,'' she said.

The case has seen little progress in the last few months, said Richmond County Sheriff's Lt. Jack Francisco.

In the one open case solved by the Richmond County Sheriff's Department in the past year, an arrest was based on physical evidence, not witness testimony. The family of Chandra Vann Byrd waited eight months before her nephew, Kevin Wesley Vann, was arrested.

Mr. Vann pleaded guilty to murder in the death of his aunt, who was brutally stabbed and strangled during an argument just hours after a birthday celebration with her family on March 17, 1996. He was sentenced to life in prison in February.

Police made the arrest after receiving new hair and fiber evidence from the state crime lab, Chief Deputy Ronald Strength said when Mr. Vann was sentenced.

But in cases that have dragged on for years, physical evidence is exhausted. The best hope police have is for someone to come forward with new information.

``If anybody has information, no matter how insignificant they think it is, They have to come forward,'' said Capt. Randy Mosley of the North Augusta Department of Public Safety. ``It may be important to us. It may lead us to someone who can help us. But they need to come forward. We'll try to keep their names confidential.''

Like Mr. Bunton and Mr. Courtney, Capt. Mosley says he is certain someone out there has information on at least two of the three open slayings in North Augusta: a double shooting near a known crackhouse on Boylan Street on Jan. 27, 1992. Joseph Nathan Tillman and Leroy ``Leo'' Roosevelt McCoy, both 29-year-old North Augusta residents, made it inside Mr. Tillman's nearby home before they collapsed and died.

``I think there are people out there who know exactly who did this,'' Capt. Mosley said. ``They just won't come forward.''

In some cases, time may be on the detectives' side: Most people can't keep secrets forever, Mr. Bunton said. In the case of Mr. Hale and Ms. Warren, he's confident someone's silence will break soon.

``It takes time for people to muster up the courage to come forward,'' he said. ``Or sometimes people need to get angry.''

Here is a list of the unsolved homicides in the Augusta area:

RICHMOND COUNTY (since 1991)

Delphine Brown, 36, a black female, found beside Laney-Walker Boulevard on July 13, 1997. Cause of death was determined to be trauma to the head and chest when she was thrown from a moving car.

Albert ``Buddy'' Pendrey, 66, died of head trauma during a struggle with a burglar at his trailer home on Windsor Park Road behind Mack's Kuntry Store on June 6, 1997.

Lena Arkansas Toole, 87, a white woman who died of a brain hemorrhage after a boy riding a bike tried to snatch her purse Feb. 28, 1997, in the 1500 block of Whitney Street.

Todd Gerald Winkler, 33, a white male, in the bathroom of his home in the 3000 block of Mabos Road near Fort Gordon Feb. 6, 1997.

Kenneth Bush, 23, found shot in the 500 block of Ponte Vedra Street on Oct. 22, 1996.

John Holliday, 68, found beaten and strangled in the 2200 block of Milledgeville Road on Oct. 17, 1996.

Bridgette Benita, 35, a black female, found stabbed in the 1100 block of Summer Street on Feb. 18, 1996.

Michelle Denise Walker, 26, a black female, found on River Watch Parkway at Alexander Drive on April 29, 1996. Cause of death is unknown.

Thomas H. Cochran, 64, a white male, found shot in the 1600 block of Arthern Road on May 10, 1996.

Henry Sturgis, 42, a black male, found shot on the railroad tracks at Wilkerson Road on Aug. 1, 1995.

Lawrence Barnett, 45, a black male, found shot in the 2800 block of Highpoint Court on Sept. 13, 1995.

Alvin Harrington, 29, a black male, found shot at Olive Road and Wharton Drive on Oct. 20, 1995. The shooting is believed to be drug-related.

Timothy Hale, 23, and Rhonda Warren, 28, a white couple, found shot in the 2900 block of Eidson Drive on Nov. 6, 1995. The shooting is believed to be drug-related.

Norman Palmer III, 42, a white male, found shot in the 3000 block of Old McDuffie Road on Feb. 15, 1994. The shooting is believed to be drug-related.

Leon Ellison, 17, a black male found shot in the 4400 block of Peach Orchard Road on April 10, 1994.

Karen Elizabeth Williams, 36, a black female found stabbed in the Daniel Village parking lot April 11, 1994.

Lowell Marion Henry McCoy, 17, a black male, found shot in the 2300 block of Cummings Road on April 24, 1994.

Edward L. Taplin Jr., 36, a black male, found shot in the 2400 block of Yates Drive on Sept. 10, 1994.

DeCarla Lashea Harris, 23, a black female, found stabbed during an apparent robbery in Williamsburg Apartments on Oct. 5, 1994.

Ural Dion Beck Jr., 23, a black male, found shot at Gravel Pit Road and New Savannah Road on Dec. 16, 1994. The shooting is believed to be drug-related.

Barbara Chivers Lamb Deep, 44, a white female found shot during an apparent robbery in the 1500 block of Central Avenue on Jan. 6, 1993.

Melvin Thompson, 35, a black male, found shot at Sunset Avenue and Lucky Street on Jan. 9, 1993.

Kent Johnson, 29, a black male, found stabbed in a vacant lot on Hall Street on Feb. 13, 1993.

Loretta Dukes, 24, a black female, found shot in a field off Columbia Nitrogen Road on June 8, 1993.

Robert Donald Sellars, 26, a white male, found on Lumpkin Road on July 23, 1993. Cause of death is unknown.

Julian Hawes, 65, a black male, found shot in the 1800 block of Gordon Highway on Aug. 27, 1993.

Jimmy Harper, 62, a black male, found shot in the 200 block of East Hancock Drive on Nov. 30, 1993.

Michael Frails, 28, a black male, found stabbed on Richmond Hill Road West on June 17, 1992. The stabbing is believed to be drug-related.

Mary Lizzie Glen, 69, a black female, found stabbed in the 1600 block of 12th Street on Aug. 1, 1992.

Richard Williams, 22, a black male, found shot in the 2000 block of Old Savannah Road on Nov. 13, 1992.

William Bentley, 50, a black male, found shot during an apparent robbery in the 300 block of Colorado Street on Nov. 25, 1992.

Margaret Pickett, 82, a black female, found beaten during an apparent robbery in the 1100 block of Turpin Street on Jan. 1, 1991.

Priscilla Wilson, 21, a black female, found strangled in the 1400 block of McCauley Street on April 2, 1991.

Josephine Delores Lawrence, 30, a black female, found shot during an apparent robbery in the 600 block of Cedar Street on May 2, 1991.

Eddie Willie Bracy, 35, a black male, found beaten in the 1400 block of Greene Street on July 9, 1991.

Kevin Collette, 25, a black male, found shot on U.S. Highway 1 at Fort Gordon Gate on June 26, 1991. The shooting is believed to be drug-related.

Pam D. Hill, 22, a black female, found shot in the 200 block of Magnolia Drive on Sept. 1, 1991.

Juanita Johnson, 80, a white female, found stabbed in the 1900 block of Gordon Highway on Sept. 17, 1991.

Ernest Turner, 61, a black male, found shot in the 1400 block of Roulette Lane on Oct. 24, 1991.

Alvin Howard, 19, a black male, found shot on Sand Bar Ferry Road on Oct. 27, 1991.

Matthew Martin, 61, a black male, found shot during an apparent robbery in the 1400 block of O'Keefe Lane on Nov. 26, 1991.

Jarvis Carson, 21, a black male, found shot at Barton Chapel Road and Melody Drive on Dec. 15, 1991.

Thelma Hankins, 69, a black female, found strangled during an apparent robbery in the 900 block of Seventh Street on Dec. 27, 1991.

AIKEN COUNTY (since 1991)

Paul Edward Griffin, 58, a white male, found beaten to death in the 100 block of Eula Helen Street on April 2, 1995.

Dianne Boatwright, 48, a white female, and Glenn Boatwright, 43, a white male, found shot, floating at the South Fork of the Edisto River, near the Rocky Springs Boat Landing on New Holland Road, on Nov. 10, 1994.

Lawrence Cornell Breaker, 21, a black male, shot outside the Baby Grand Club on Jack Jones Street on July 31, 1994.

An unidentified black female, in her 20s, whose skeletal remains were found in a wooded area off South Carolina Highway 191, near Shaw's Creek and the Edgefield County line Jan. 25, 1993. Cause of death was undetermined.

Riskteen Durden, age unknown, a black female, was found shot in a wooded area off Uncle Duck Road on Nov. 16, 1992.

An unidentified black female, in her 20s, whose skeletal remains were found in a wooded area off South Carolina Highway 191, near Shaw's Creek and the Edgefield County line March 22, 1991. Cause of death was undetermined.

AIKEN

Christopher Pollin, 20, a black male, found shot in the Jewish portion of Bethany Cemetery on Laurens Street on Oct. 6, 1994.

Dewey ``Red'' Johnson, 68, a white male, found beaten to death at his grocery store in the 300 block of Morgan Street on Jan. 3, 1983.

NORTH AUGUSTA

Leroy ``Leo'' Roosevelt McCoy, 28, a black male, and Jospeh Nathan Tillman, 28, a black male, shot in the 600 block of Boylan St. Jan. 27, 1992.

Gloria Ann Dickinson, 44, a black female, found strangled in Room 11 of the Downtown Motel in the 100 block of Georgia Avenue on Oct. 30, 1990.

COLUMBIA COUNTY

Patricia Ann LaBrant, 43, a black female, found bludgeoned to death on Old Blythe Road near Georgia Highway 221 on May 4, 1996.

Faxton Lamar Powell Jr., 29, a white male, found shot on Georgia Highway 223 near Lewisville Road on Sept. 27, 1992.

Wanda H. Huggins, 27, a white female, found shot on Georgia Highway 221 near Strom Thurmond Dam on Dec. 31, 1987.