Murder in the Rag Business

I was a plant manager at a men's knit shirt manufacturer. The year was 1984. It was early summer at about 6:30 am and I was in my office preparing the agenda for the day. 

Suddenly one of the service girls rushed into my office and told me I needed to get to the back parking lot right away. From her demeanor and shocked look I knew this was serious. I jumped up and hustled to the employee entrance to the back lot. As I cleared the steps up to the parking lot I saw from my peripheral vision a white car parked properly but a pickup truck was pulled up at it at a strange angle. Then I saw one of my employees laying face up near her car and could see she had a bleeding wound in her head. About 4 feet away a guy was laying face down in a pool of blood at his waist area. As I rushed to the employee another one there shouted that he had shot her! My mind kicked into overdrive and immediately I noticed no gun was visible. I called out for someone to call 911 and very cautiously approached the two bodies. No gun in sight and the guy is laying face down. Will he jump up or roll over and start shooting again? 

As I walked to the employee, her name was Glenda, I keep a keen eye on the mystery shooter. I squatted down and could she that she was barely breathing but noticed that he was breathing hard. About this time I heard sirens coming in fast and told everyone to stand back and away from the lot entrance. EMT, police and ambulance vehicles started in one after the other and all toward the crime scene. I motioned for the employees to go inside. I noticed one of the EMT guys rolling the guy over and the gun was still in his hand. One of the cops rushed over and took it away. 

Glenda was airlifted to the Trauma Center in Fayetteville were she died later that day. The guy was taken to the local hospital were he survived. 

Now the back story.         

Glenda and her twin sister Brenda worked in the plant as auto hemmers. I had heard through the jungle drums (rumors) that Glenda was involved in an ongoing adulterous affair. As it turned out the drum beaters were right. The guy in the parking lot was her husband. 

He was a probation officer and had borrowed the pick up from a friend the night before so that Glenda would not recognize it when he pulled in the next morning and jumped out as she was locking her car up and shot her fatally in the head.  

What came out in the trial was that he had warned her that if she did not break off the affair he would take drastic action. He had left a note in his sons room that morning that he was going to hurt his mother because she would not listen to him.  

It turned out that it was the service girl that had called me out that faithful morning was the one that saw him shoot her. We testified at the trail, her for what she saw and me to verify that no one had touched anything before the cops arrived.  


He was tried before a judge. He had been a probation officer for many years and seemed to be well liked and respected by his peers and the others in the legal system there. He received a seven year sentence. Seven years for premeditated murder!!! 

And they say the justice system is blind.............