Mary Ann Higginbotham was a sweet young woman who got mixed up with a rowdy young man who was in trouble with the law. Because of this, she would end up shot execution-style, and her body stuffed into a barrel. At least she was found. 46 years later, her boyfriend’s body is still missing. This case was bungled from the beginning, and this poor family still doesn’t have justice.
On June 6, 1978, Mary Ann Higginbotham, 22 hadn’t shown up for work for three days in a row. This was completely out of character for Mary Ann, so her boss called the police. No one takes too much notice of the missing young woman. she was of age, and she had run off to California with her boyfriend once before. so an officer goes by the house, knocks on the door, and waits in the driveway for a few minutes, but Mary Ann never appears and they leave. they do not look inside the house or they would have found a crime scene.
Almost a year later a 55-gallon barrel washed up on the shore of White Lick Creek twelve miles away. Inside they found the body of Mary Ann Higginbotham. She had been shot in the back of the head, rolled up in blankets and carpet, bound around the feet and chest, and stuffed into a barrel.
At first law enforcement thought her boyfriend Timothy Willoughby was the prime suspect in her disappearance. Maybe he had killed her and skipped town, but no trace of Tim was ever found. Three more years would pass and finally, an informant would come forward with some disturbing information. Timothy Willoughby would never be found. In reality, he was the target of the hit and Mary Ann was collateral damage.
Willoughby was involved in a car theft ring and they ended up chopping up the last car in Tim’s garage. The job was bungled and the police ended up on Tim’s doorstep for the car theft. The informant said two men killed Tim and Mary Ann and she knew about it because one of the murderers was her ex-husband.
Ronald Tomasik and James Kellam were running a stolen car ring. They would take the cars and dismantle them partially either in Tim’s garage or in a body shop owned by a family member. Then they would take what was left of the dismantled car, and haul it away and torch it. This time they got caught and Timothy wasn’t going to take the rap for the group and told them he wanted money to disappear. If they didn’t pay, he would snitch on the whole group.
The informant claimed they killed Mary Ann first in the house. She was home alone and let them in to wait for Tim to get home. They killed her and stuffed her in the barrel and then caught Tim as he came home. They convinced him to go for a ride with them and shot him about a mile from his house. The informant says they put him in a barrel as well and both barrels were buried in a gravel pit 22 miles upstream from where Mary Ann would eventually be found.
After the one barrel was jarred loose from the flood waters after a freak snowstorm, the two men supposedly panicked and dug up Tim’s body. They took him back to the body shop and dismembered what was left of him. Then to make sure he would never be found they drove north and began scattering pieces of his remains along the road. They literally tossed him out like a cigarette butt along the back roads across several counties.
The woman claimed the two men came home that night upset and made her wash the blood out of their clothes. She gave the police several rings that had belonged to Mary Ann as proof.
The two men were arrested and it looked like this case was closed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone was shocked when the prosecutor let them go. He said they demanded a speedy trial and that was enough to let these two men go free. That was over forty years ago, and this case is still right where it was left. If it weren’t for one advocate/friend the case would have been completely forgotten.
What can be done now? In reality, not much. They had their case handed to them on a silver platter and bungled it. Now one of the alleged killers is dead and most of the evidence is gone. Only a few people are still around. Maybe the new prosecutor and the cold case detectives can get something together before it’s too late.
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