by BobA. Troutt
*****
The Fall of Autumn
Hide-and-Seek
The prison guard’s keys jingled as he unlocked the cell door of inmate Gary Russell. It was three o’clock in the morning, in 1968, at Eddyville State Prison in Washington County, Kentucky. Gary Russell was being escorted to the county jail for a new trial. Gary had been sentenced to prison for two counts of first degree murder from a bad drug deal. It had been raining earlier that night but it had slowed to a steady drizzle when he was put in the prison van. New supporting evidence that was not allowed at his first trial had paved the way for a new trial. When the evidence was presented at his first trial, it wasn’t believed to have a strong bearing on the case considering the overwhelming evidence they already had against him. In the process of transporting him to the county jail, a tractor trailer truck lost control, not far from town, and hit the van. The wreck happened about three miles from Camp Hickory Falls. The van ran off the road and down an embankment; the crash killed the two guards and the truck driver. After the investigation of the crash, it was determined the truck driver suffered a heart attack before the crash. Gary survived the crash with only a few minor cuts and bruises. He escaped and disappeared into the woods just as the van exploded. A person in an oncoming car that witnessed the crash went to a nearby market and called the authorities. By the time the police arrived on the scene, Gary was long gone. They found the bodies of the truck driver and the two prison guards but there was no sign of Gary. The police immediately notified the prison of the accident and put out an APB on Gary Russell, an escaped and dangerous convict. Prison officials sent the police a picture of him and his description (height, weight, tattoos and scars). They informed the police that he was originally from Tennessee and was serving a fifty year sentence. And, during his time at Eddyville, he’d only had a few visitors and one of them was his ex-girlfriend, Martha Farris. A massive search for him was immediately started by the county police and the Kentucky state police. The biggest concern for the police was Camp Hickory Falls. It had opened for the season and there were a lot of children there. With a convicted murderer on the loose, they had to act fast to insure the safety of the children.
Camp Hickory Falls was about eight miles out of town along the Barren River; it wasn’t too far from Elizabethtown, Kentucky. It was an ideal place to hide since it was located back off the road in a wooded area with plenty of hills and brush which made the search even harder for the police. The camp was a summer retreat for children. It had plenty of cabins, a cafeteria, a recreation room, tennis courts and a lake. There were plenty of activities for the children to participate in which included horseback riding, canoeing, archery and other fun things. Each year, children from everywhere attended the camp. The camp was a perfect paradise for children in the summer. But, three years ago, a tragic incident happened at the camp.
In the summer of 1965 a fourteen-year-old boy, Dale Russell, committed suicide at the camp; he was found dead in the woods. Two brothers, Billy Ramsey and James Ramsey, and their friend, Sammy Carter, bullied and teased Dale of being gay but he wasn’t. Two of the camp counselors, Phillip Henson and Donny Hill were aware of the bullying but didn’t do anything about it. Apparently, the night Dale committed suicide, the children were gathered around the campfire roasting hotdogs and marshmallows. Afterwards, they played spin the bottle and told ghost stories before thy decided to play hide-and-seek. Supposedly, that night, the three bullies followed Dale into the woods when he went to hide. They teased him, made fun of him and called him a queer and a faggot. The next day, when he didn’t come for breakfast, two of the counselors went looking for him and found him dead in the woods. They ran back as fast as they could and reported it to the camp supervisor who immediately called the police. The police investigated his death but ruled it a suicide. Dale’s mother, Gail, did all she could to get justice for her son’s death. She was sure Billy, James and Sammy were responsible, in some way, for Dale’s death. However, their parents were very influential people in the county. She felt that hush-hush money and politics kept her son’s death a low priority case which resulted in them ruling it a suicide. Plus, if the police had investigated it as a homicide it would have destroyed the camp’s good reputation because no one would have wanted to send their child there for the summer and it would have also impacted the economy of the nearby town.
Immediately, after the wreck, the police launched a full blown search for Gary Russell. They knew every minute counted but after several hours of searching there wasn’t any sign of him and they hadn’t found any clues that would lead them to his whereabouts. Since Camp Hickory Falls was located in the vicinity of the wreck, the police sent officers to the camp to search for him and to also notify the camp supervisor and counselors so they could have their guard up and keep a close watch on the children. The children were immediately put on lockdown. They were sent to their cabins and told to stay in, lock the doors and not come out until they were told. The officers searched the camp but found no sign of him. It was like he had disappeared off the face of the earth. With no sign of him at the camp, they broadened their search around the site of the crash.
Since they had been unsuccessful in finding Gary on their own, two detectives were sent to Martha Farris’ house. The detectives told her about the escape and asked her if she had heard from him.
“No, I haven’t,” she said. “The last time I saw him was at the prison which was a couple of months ago. We broke up when he went to prison.”
“Well, why did you go visit him?” one of the detectives asked.
“Because he begged me to come,” she replied. “I only went a few times and that was it.”
“Thank you for your time ma’am. If you hear anything from him, we would appreciate it if you would give us a call,” one of the detectives said as they got up to leave. “Here’s my card, just give me a call.”
Other than two police officers being stationed at the camp, everything had gone back to normal. The lockdown was lifted and the children were able to come out of their cabins. As night fell, the children along with the camp counselors sat around a bonfire and played games before it was time to turn in for the night. All of the campers and counselors were asleep in their cabins when they were awakened at three o’clock in the morning by some gunshots. Quickly, all the cabin lights came on across the camp. As the officers on duty rushed to the cabins to make sure everyone was okay, they found two of the counselors, Phillip Henson and Donny Hill, dead in their cabin; they had testified against Gary at his first trial. They radioed in for assistance. The officers cautiously looked around the cabin and noticed the back window of the cabin had been broken out. But, there was no one in sight. The counselors gathered all the campers in the cafeteria so they could keep a close eye on them. The officers came in and questioned the campers to see if they had seen or heard anything before the gunshots were heard.
“When I was going to the bathroom, a little earlier,” one of the campers spoke up, “I saw three shadowy figures in the front window of their cabin. And, there was arguing inside the cabin before the shots. When I heard the shots, I got scared and ran back to my cabin.”
“Did you see who fired the shots?” one of the officers asked.
“No, I didn’t see anything but the three shadowy figures.”
It only seemed to be a matter of minutes before the police arrived at the camp. The darkness of the night made it almost impossible for a thorough search of the thick woods which was a perfect hideaway place for the killer. There was not much they could do at the time. As soon as morning broke, they searched the area. They hadn’t found much of anything until an officer found a gun. It appeared to be a prison issued gun; they assumed it belonged to one of the guards who was killed in the wreck. Once the gun was found and in the best interest of the children, the camp was closed for the rest of the season. All of the children and counselors were sent home.
&nb
sp; The police were still on the lookout for any sign of the killer. There were stumped until a call came in at the police station. A strange man had been spotted at a farm not far from the camp. In minutes, the police surrounded the area around the farm and found the escaped convict, Gary Russell, hiding in the barn loft. They were able to take him in to custody without incident. That afternoon, the detectives questioned Gary about the killing of the two camp counselors. But, he denied that he had anything to do with their murders.
“I admit I was at the camp,” Gary said. “But, I was only there looking for food and I needed a place to hide. That’s all. I wasn’t there to harm anyone. When I heard the gunshots, I took off because I knew if I was caught I would be the one blamed.”
“Why did you run away from the wreck?” one of the detectives asked.
“I wanted to try to prove my innocence. I’m tired of being in prison for something I didn’t do.”
“Well, you were going to have a new trial,” the detective stated. “Why did you want to jeopardize that?”
“No one believes I’m innocent,” he answered right before his lawyer entered the interrogation room.
“Don’t you answer another question,” his lawyer said. “Detectives, may I please speak with my client alone?”
“Sure, we’ll be right outside.”
“Gary, what were you thinking? This could really jeopardize your case. You know that, right.”
“I know, but…”
“But, nothing,” his lawyer stated. “Tell me about the counselors that were just killed. Did you have anything to do with that?”
“No, sir. I promise I didn’t. I was only looking for some food and a place to hide when I heard gunshots. When I heard the shots, I ran and hid in the barn loft. I didn’t kill those counselors.”
“You know you just made your case a little more difficult for me to defend. But, I’m going to represent you to the best of my ability. Whatever you do, don’t answer any more questions if I’m not here. Do you understand?”
“I won’t,” he replied.
About that time, the detectives opened the door and told them their time was up. They had Gary escorted back to his cell and he was later released back to the prison.
The detectives were sure Gary Russell murdered the two camp counselors. They believed his motive stemmed from his first trial when they testified against him. Their theory was that Gary went to the camp to confront them and they ended up getting in to an argument which led him to kill them. According to court records, the two counselors testified they saw Gary leave with the two victims the night they were killed. The next morning, they heard the two victims were found dead and immediately reported what they had seen to the police. Gary disputed their claims. He had insisted they were lying because he didn’t leave the bar that night with them; he left alone. The detectives believed that was what the argument was about. However, they couldn’t prove it.
For the next few days, the detectives investigated the camp murders. Unfortunately, they didn’t come up with any substantial leads. The detectives hadn’t received the results of the gun found near the scene of the murders so all they really had was circumstantial evidence. They were hoping to find some concrete evidence to charge Gary for the murders. The detectives contacted the camp counselors to see if they remembered seeing or hearing anything that night but none of them had. There was no one who could place Gary at the camp at the time of the murders and they couldn’t get anything on him. A couple of days later, the detectives received the gun report. The gun didn’t belong to either of the guards. It was registered to a Herbert Russell. But, Gary’s fingerprints were lifted from the gun. The report proved it was the murder weapon. The detectives went to the prison to question Gary about his fingerprints being on the gun. He told them he found the gun in the woods when he was on his way to the barn to hide and without thinking picked it up. When he realized what he had done, he tossed it to the side and left. When the detectives left the prison, they went to Russell’s house. His wife, Gail, informed them Herbert had passed away in 1966 from a heart attack. She speculated that her husband sold the gun before he died; she wasn’t sure because he never told her he had sold it. Actually, she didn’t realize the gun was gone until the detectives asked her about it because she never bothered any of her husband’s things after he died. Now, the detectives were really puzzled. They knew the gun in question was the murder weapon. But, who did it was the million dollar question.
All the time the detectives were investigating the camp murders, Gary’s lawyer was preparing for his new trial. Within days, he would present the new evidence to the court with hope that it would get his client released from prison. The new trial was finally in session and the lawyers on both sides battled the case with the new evidence. Although the new evidence allowed for a new trial, the evidence from the old trial still hindered the new evidence. However, the first two days of the new trial did open up a shadow of doubt to the jury and created some new twists in the case. But, Gary’s lawyer still wondered if the new evidence would be strong enough to get his client acquitted. Unexpectedly, at the end of the second day of the trial, Gary’s lawyer received a call. After leaving the courthouse, he went straight to the LaGrange Prison; he arrived within a few hours. He spoke with the inmate who called him about the case. The inmate wanted to make a deal in exchange for information regarding the case. Gary’s lawyer told him he couldn’t make any promises but he would see what he could do based on the information he received. The inmate told him the information he was going to tell him would turn the case around.
The next day, at the trial, everything was still basically even as the lawyers battled back and forth as witness after witness testified. That was until Gary’s lawyer called Mark Mason, the inmate from LaGrange Prison, to the stand. After he was sworn in, Gary’s lawyer approached the witness stand.
“Mr. Mason, please tell the court what you know regarding the case,” Gary’s lawyer instructed.
“I was there the night the drug deal went down,” he stated. “Gary was not there that night. He did not murder those two men,” he said as a loud gasp filled the courtroom. “Gary never left the bar that night. Gary’s girlfriend’s stepbrother, Barry Farley, shot and killed the two men and framed Gary for it with the help of a crooked cop. I was at the bar when Gary got in a heated argument with the two men. He basically went berserk because they had stolen some drugs and drug money from him. The two men left the bar and Barry followed after them. I ran after Barry to try to keep him from doing something he would regret. But, I wasn’t able to stop him. He pulled out his gun and shot them both. Not wanting to go to jail, we both took off. Barry contacted his friend, the crooked cop, and told him what happened. He assured Barry he would take care of everything; he set Gary up to take the fall for the two murders and he paid Phillip Henson and Donny Hill, the two counselors, a substantial amount of money to testify they saw Gary leave the bar that night with the two men.”
“Why didn’t you come forward with this information during the first trial?” Gary’s lawyer asked.
“Because I feared for my life,” Mark replied. “Plus, I was afraid I would get charged with the murders, too. And, the crooked cop threatened me. He told me if I ever told anyone he would kill me and my family including my mom and dad. So, I left town and moved to California. A few years later, after the cop died, I came back to E-town to take care of my parents who were sickly,” he explained.
After his testimony and cross-examination, the lawyers gave their closing arguments. The judge gave the jury their instructions for deliberation. As the jury deliberated, the courtroom cleared out. It didn’t take long for the jury to reach a decision. Once everyone was back in the courtroom, the judge asked the jury foreman if they had reached a verdict.
“Yes, we have, your honor,” the foreman stated.
The bailiff took the verdict and handed it to the
judge. The judge read it and then sent it back to the jury foreman.
“Mr. Gary Russell, please stand for the reading of the verdict,” the judge instructed.
“On count one, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. On count two, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.”
Gary hugged his lawyer and let out a sigh of relief. He was so happy he had been freed.
“Mr. Russell, you are a free man. You are free to go,” the judge said and then dismissed the court.
Gary’s troubles were still not over. The detectives were still trying to build a case against him for the camp murders. Luckily for him though, they uncovered new evidence that turned them toward a new suspect. They arrested Gail Russell for the murder of the two camp counselors. After her interrogation, she signed a written confession admitting to the counselor’s murders but her case still hasn’t gone to trial. The motive went back to the death of her son; her motive was fueled by revenge. For years and years, she blamed the two counselors for the death of her son because they knew about him being bullied and teased but didn’t do anything about it. So, all through the years, she believed they were getting away with the murder of her son. She took her husband’s gun and killed them. After she killed them, she ran through the woods, fell and lost the gun. She tried to find the gun but couldn’t because it was too dark for her to see. She panicked and left, hoping no one would find it.
Mark Manson received immunity for his testimony for his involvement in the bad drug deal that led to the two murders. But, he is still serving time at LaGrange Prison for unrelated charges. Gary Russell was a free man. Herbert and Gail Russell and their son, Dale, were not related to Gary. They all had the same last name but they were two different sets of Russells. Barry Farley was arrested in Florida and extradited back to Kentucky; he was charged with the murder of both men. He was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to life at the Eddyville Prison.