On January 3rd, 1980, Verlin Roberts arrived at her home in the Mars Hill Community of Cleburne County, Alabama from a trip to Cedartown, Georgia around 2:00 p.m. As she walked to the front of the house, she noticed that the screen door was opened and the rug had been bunched up, propping the door open. Against her better judgement she walked into the house and entered the kitchen. She immediately noticed that the kitchen drawers had been pulled out and the items thrown to the ground. She told herself she needed to leave but her instincts to check on her family were to strong.
Verlin turned into one of the bedrooms and discovered her two sisters, Maebell, age 77, and Floy, age 64, dead on the floor, laying side by side; they had been shot and Floy had evidence of being hit on the head at least twice. One of the sisters still had a thimble on her thumb from sewing. There was still food in the oven, cooling down from lunch. As she checked her brother, Mack's room, she found the 72 year old man draped over the bed, still breathing, he had been shot 5 times. Two times in the neck and face area. A little over 3 days later Mack would die as a result of his injuries. Verlin raced to her other brother's bedroom and found her 79 year old brother, Columbus, dead he had been shot in his bed, as he was bedridden from advanced stage cancer; Columbus had been hit in the head, just as Floy was. Verlin fled the home, jumped into her car, and raced to a nearby home where they called the police. These murders were dubbed the Mar's Hill Murders.
Police quickly suspected that is was a robbery, however, the only thing that was missing was a 50 year old trunk that only held around $1,500 and some clothing. However, local folklore stated that Columbus kept his lifesaving's in that trunk, well over $40,000; what many locals did not know was that the Robert's family had begun using a bank some years previous and did not keep much cash on them any longer.
Police investigated many leads, including one involving U.S. Marshal Olbert Hiett in which he confiscated a saw offed 12 gauge shotgun from his brother, Charles Hiett, at a family reunion. Olbert kept the gun locked up and didn't think much of it until years later when his brother and nephew were in jail on an unrelated arson charge. Charles contacted Olbert and asked him to get rid of the gun as it may be related to the Mars Hill Murders. Two of the three guns that were used during the murders were discovered in the possession of the Hiett family; however, they were unable to link the guns to any of the individuals that were questioned, it was all speculation. In 1983, the reward for information that could lead to an arrest and conviction quadrupled to $40,000.
Comments
Post a Comment