James
Mills - husband to Eleanor Mills.
According to Mr. Mills, his activities were pretty close to
normal on the Thursday night before the bodies of his wife
and lover were discovered. At 5:45 he was sweeping up at St.
Johns church. He was late getting home for supper, reaching
his home at about 6:15. After supper he went out on the couples
front porch while his wife left the house to call Reverend
Hall. She came back shortly only to leave again. When James
questioned her as to where she was going, she dared him to
"follow me and find out". He continued to work on
the porch until about 9:45, then read the paper. At 10:30
he went to the church to look for his wife, stopping for soda
and arriving back at home at about 11:00. She wasn't there
so he went to bed. At 2:00 a.m. he went back to the church
and again failed to find her.
The next morning, he failed to report his wife missing and
went to work as usual. At about 8:30 he encountered Mrs. Hall
who mentioned that her husband had not come home the previous
night. He questioned her as to whether she thought they had
eloped. He claims that she stated, "God knows. I think
they are dead and can't come home." He claims that she
contacted him several times throughout the day and repeatedly
told him she thought they were dead. He learned of the
discovery of his wife's body Saturday morning and headed straight
for Mrs. Hall's house. |
William
Stevens - brother to Francis Hall
He lived with his sister and her husband (Reverend Hall) due
to a mental disability which prevented him from living on his
own. Willie was explosive, impulsive and somewhat reckless,
but usually had a sunny disposition. He claimed to have been
in his room on Thursday evening and was awakened by his sister.
The two of them walked to the church at about 2:30 a.m. and
past the Mills' house, then went back home. He admitted to owning
a .32 caliber gun which hadn't been shot in over 10 years. Three
fingerprint experts testified that at least one of the fingerprints
left on the calling card found at the murder scene belonged
to Willie. Another note, the morning after the murders, Willie
gave his suit to a delivery boy to be dry cleaned and found
spots, which could have been blood spots. The suit was later
turned over to police, but the suit had already been cleaned. |
