Category: True Crime Stories

A Hitchhiker’s Trail of Mystery

On May 11, 1989, 20-year-old Charles Horvath faxed a letter from Roche Stationers in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, to his home in Yorkshire, England, saying he was looking forward to seeing his mother and stepfather on August 21, to celebrate both his and his mother’s birthdays. The day was to be a little extra special as it was a milestone birthday for both. Charles was turning 21; mum was turning 40.

Charles and his mother, Denise Horvath-Allan, planned to rendezvous in Hong Kong to celebrate their birthdays. Charles was to fly in from Canada, where he was visiting his biological father, while Denise would make the trek from her home in England. As the date drew closer, Charles wrote he would call his mum to finalize arrangements. The call, however, never came; it appears there may not be a mother and child reunion.     

Charles Horvath was born in Canada. After his parents divorced, he and Denise remained in England while his father Max returned to Canada. For several years, Charles had returned to his native country to visit his father, often hitchhiking across the Great White North.

After receiving no further word from Charles throughout the summer of 1989, Denise contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police several times asking that they search for him. Charles had told several relatives he planned to hitchhike across Canada and the RCMP received hundreds of reported sightings of him doing so in eastern Canada after May of 1989 when he was last seen in western Canada. It was not until August that Charles was officially listed as missing.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police determined Charles had camped at the Tiny Town Campsite at the Royal Bank Orchard Park in Kelowna, a city of about 190,000 people in British Columbia, in May of 1989. The Tiny Town campground manager said that Charles had left abruptly in May of 1989, abandoning his tent and all of his possessions, most of which had been disposed of by the time the Mounties investigated. The few items that remained were given to Denise but provided no clues to Charles’ whereabouts.

The last confirmed sighting of Charles was on May 26, when a video recorder showed him cashing a cheque at a bank. However, a fellow camper believes he saw Charles shortly afterward at an all-night campground party.

After the missing person flyers of Charles were posted throughout Kelowna, Joanne Zebroff came forward, saying she had met Charles during his stay at the Tiny Town Campsite and that he had stayed for a time at her home.

Joanne said the last time she had any contact with Charles was when he came to her apartment unexpectedly. At the time, Joanne and her visiting brother were having dinner, and she refused Charles’ request to enter the apartment. She thought the event had occurred in May of 1989, the same month Denise had last heard from Charles. In the course of their investigation, however, the RCMP concluded Joanne was mistaken, saying the visit was in July of 1989, two months after Charles had last contacted his mother. The Mounties say during this time Charles contacted two relatives in eastern Canada telling them he intended to disappear.

Denise made yearly trips from England to Kelowna to search for Charles. On March 17, 1992, she found an unsigned letter at the door to her hotel room. It read, “Seen your ad in the paper looking for your son. I saw him on May 26. We were partying and two people knocked him out. But he died. His body is in the lake by the bridge.”

The lake the writer referred to was Lake Okanagan, just outside of Kelowna. Local divers searched for Charles’ body but found nothing. However, the letter writer was apparently watching them. Shortly after the search was called off, Denise received a second letter, claiming the divers were looking on the wrong side of the bridge. Equipped with a submersible camera, the divers searched on the other side of the bridge. One day later, they found a body, but it was identified as that of a 64-year-old man whose death was ruled a probable suicide. Police concluded the anonymous letters were hoaxes and the discovery of a body was only a coincidence.

The RCMP initially believed Charles disappeared of his own free will because they say he told several relatives of his intention to do so, and because of the hundreds of reported sightings of him hitchhiking in eastern Canada after May of 1989. The sightings continued until April of 1992 but could not be confirmed.

The Mounties have since changed their sentiments. In 2010, the Serious Crime Unit of the RCMP listed Charles as “presumably deceased.” His case remains open.

Charles Horvath would today be 50-years-old.

Denise Horvath-Allan continues searching for her son. She says she has information that Charles could have been murdered by members of a biker gang staying in Kelowna at the time he was camping there.

In 2017, Denise appeared on Britain’s Got Talent as a part of the “Missing People Choir”. I am so glad Denise is part of our group. “Murders, Missing People, and More Mysteries” echo her thoughts. We will do our part to keep Charles’ story active in the hopes that she will learn the fate of her son.

Link to the Missing Person’s Choir on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Further Reading:

• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Digital Journal
• Global News
• Unsolved Mysteries

More About Our Wonderful Guest Blogger:

Ian Granstra is a writer and a native Iowan now living in  Arkansas.Growing up, he enjoyed watching real-life crime shows and further researching the stories featured. He wrote about many of them on his personal Facebook page, and several people suggested he should start a group featuring his writings. Ian founded the Facebook group “Murders, Missing People and More Mysteries” in August of 2018 he writes about many cold cases. The group also features many current criminal cases in the news. When Ian isn’t writing, he enjoys exercising, traveling and collecting sports cards. He’s also a big animal lover (his Facebook nickname is “beagle lover.”)

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What would you do to protect your baby girl?

Lt. Dan Anderson would be 97 years old today, but his life was cut short by members of the Dixie Mafia. His story ties into some of the most infamous Dixie Mafia murder cases. His daughter has been fighting for justice for over half a century. When the FBI busts this case wide open it will change history forever.

Since the first time I wrote about this case, a series of witnesses have come forward to verify and clarify many things. Phyllis is working with a forensic investigator and her work has furthered the case tremendously. Here is the story as we have it now.

SILENCED BY THE DIXIE MAFIA – PART 1: BUFORD PUSSER STORY

The movie Walking Tall tells the Hollywood version of the real-life story of Sheriff Buford Pusser’s war with the Dixie Mafia. A two-hour film cannot possibly explain the entire story, nor can it relate the stories of all the secondary characters. Unfortunately, the story of murder, betrayal, and cover-ups didn’t end with the death of Sherriff Pusser.

1967:

The Dixie Mafia was known as the State Line Mob and was led by Carl Douglas “Towhead” White. White was in prison when his lover, Louise Hathcock pulled a gun on Sheriff Pusser and was killed. Upon hearing the news, White called his friend Kirksey Nix, Jr and ordered the hit on Sheriff Pusser and his wife, Pauline.

August 12, 1967:

Sheriff Pusser received a disturbance call in the wee hours before dawn. Pauline Pusser decided to ride along with her husband as she had done on many occasions. The pair drove out to New Hope Road to check it out. The disturbance was a ruse to ambush the young sheriff and his wife.

Pusser passed the New Hope Methodist church looking for the reported disturbance but continued driving when he found the place quiet. A black Cadillac pulled out from behind the church and followed the sheriff with its lights off. As the two cars reached a narrow bridge, the Cadillac flashed its headlights and came racing up beside the officer’s car.

The Cadillac’s passenger opened fire hitting Pauline in the head. The sheriff ducked stepped on the gas. The engine roared to life, and the car lurched ahead of the assassins. He sped up the road a couple of miles until he was sure he had lost his tail, and then pulled over to check on Pauline. Moments later the assassins again found their mark and gunshots rang out hitting Sheriff Pusser in the face and jaw blowing it apart. Somehow the sheriff would survive the attack, but Pauline was killed.

At first, Pusser declared he knew precisely who was responsible and named Towhead White, George McGann, Gary McDaniel, and Kirksey Nix. After 18 days in the hospital and a dozen surgeries to repair his face, Pusser declared he couldn’t tell who had shot him. His story started out with two Cadillacs and ended up being just one. Some people have built a conspiracy theory out of this. In reality, with the new witness statements, we know that there were two Cadillacs.

WAS IT THE TRAUMA THAT CAUSED HIS AMNESIA OR WAS THE HARD-NOSED POLICE OFFICER GOING TO EXACT HIS OWN REVENGE?

Time would witness the deaths of three of the conspirators, but Kirksey Nix would remain on the loose. Legends would be told about the great Buford Pusser, but the story didn’t end with his death in a 1974 car wreck. Kirksey Nix continued and became the head of the Dixie Mafia. By 1987, Nix would be embroiled in another major hit.

Here is where the side stories start creeping into this case. The Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob were prevalent in the area due to the payoffs of local officials and the coverups by local police departments. This allowed the mob to rule without much interference. Although a few shady officers corrupted the police departments, other lawmen were threatened into silence. At this point in the story, I would like to interject one officer named Lieutenant Dan Anderson of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

Six weeks after the ambush of Sheriff Pusser on New Hope Rd, Lt. Dan Anderson’s son, Ronnie Anderson was shot and killed in his apartment. The case was immediately ruled suicide despite massive evidence to the contrary.

What happened to this 17-yr-old polio victim in leg braces?

What kind of threat could he really have been?

SILENCED BY THE DIXIE MAFIA – PART 2: CRIPPLED INNOCENCE – MURDER OF RONNIE ANDERSON

Six weeks after the ambush of Sheriff Pusser and his wife on New Hope Rd another death was reported to police in Gulfport, Mississippi. 17-yr-old Ronald Anderson was said to have committed suicide in an apartment he shared with another teenager. Anderson’s body was transported to the Lang Funeral Home in Gulfport, then transferred to Faith Chapel in Pensacola, before being taken to Vernon, Florida for burial. No Autopsy was performed, and no one in law enforcement questioned the suicide ruling by local coroner Frank Hightower.

The life-shattering event for the family barely caused a stir amongst the locals and only generated one small article about the death inquest. No one seemed to care that this crippled teenager could have been gunned down. It was more convenient to label it a suicide and go on.

What I’m about to relate is highly controversial. I have researched and studied this case trying to provide evidence. I have uncovered some compelling facts and some disturbing theories. In the 25-page Sheriff’s Investigation report into this case, I have discovered a few more tidbits of questionable behavior by law enforcement. I have struggled to remain unemotional in this case, but I will try to relate the story to you with logic and reason. I will let you decide what happened to Ronald Anderson for yourself.

Before getting into the case, I must explain to you that I was raised with extreme respect for law enforcement. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who is willing to put their life on the line to protect someone else is a hero in my book. I am currently running a Blue Lives Matter Too campaign with my events. So, when I mention something derogatory in this article, please don’t think I’m attributing the actions of a few shady officials to the entire law enforcement community. I bleed blue for our guys and gals in uniform and don’t wish anyone to think otherwise. Like every position in any organization, there are a few shady characters, but that doesn’t mean the entire system is corrupt.

Ronald “Ronnie” Anderson had a rough life from the start. He contracted Polio at the age of three and would have to wear a leg brace for the entirety of his life. One leg was smaller than the other, so buying shoes was a difficult task. He would need two different sizes, and one shoe must be mounted onto his braces. Ronnie was a beautiful, sweet child with large brown eyes. His sister remembers how he would cry when his friends would go play and leave him behind. He wanted so desperately to fit in, and family members think that’s what led to his death.

September 26, 1967:

Ronnie had gotten a job working at McDonald’s and decided to move out of his father’s house with an older boy named Jeffery Bass. He was so excited to be starting out on his own and had even gotten a little “friend” named Cathy. Ronnie finally felt like he belonged, but this wouldn’t last. Two months after moving out he started having trouble with Bass. Bass was older and rowdy and is rumored to run with a shady crowd. On this morning, Ronnie’s sister Phyllis offered to let him come to visit her for a while. Ronnie was excited to go. His parents had divorced when he was quite young. Phyllis had practically been a surrogate mother while their own mother was working trying to provide for four children.

Ronnie’s father, Lt. Dan Anderson went to see the teenager that morning and to take him some new shoes. The teenager was busy packing some clothes and ironing his shirt. His sister would arrive from Pensacola, Florida in a few hours and he wanted to be ready. Dan Anderson returned home only to receive a phone call within the hour. Ronnie was dead.

The distraught father raced to the hospital only to be met by his ex-wife Rose. Rose was also the roommate’s aunt. Instead of calling an ambulance, he had called his aunt since she was supposedly a registered nurse. Rose cleaned up Ronnie and changed his clothes before calling the ambulance. Why? No one could give an answer to that question.

So, what happened to Ronnie?

The roommate told the police that he was sitting on the bed playing with a .410 shotgun and it accidentally went off shooting him under the chin. He said, it was a shock because they thought the gun didn’t have a firing pin. Could Ronnie have been toying with the weapon thinking it was inoperable and accidentally shot himself? If so, why would the aunt come racing in and wash the teenager and change his clothes?

If that wasn’t unusual enough to cause investigators to question this case, the other witness had a different story to tell. Cathy claimed that she and Ronnie had argued and then he went upstairs and shot himself. That’s what she told the police, but that’s not what she said in her frantic phone call to Phyllis the night before Ronnie was buried.

The inconsolable sister had been given sleeping pills by her doctor and had turned in for the night. The phone rang with a frantic woman insisting on talking to Phyllis. Her husband assured the woman that Phyllis was out cold and couldn’t come to the phone and asked to take a message.

“He killed him. We killed him,” was all Cathy said before disconnecting.

Phyllis took all these discrepancies to the police and tried to get her brother’s case re-classified, but she couldn’t find anyone who would help her. Every time she decided to call and ask questions she would receive a call from her father telling her to let it alone. Phyllis couldn’t leave it alone and wondered how her father could. She didn’t realize the trouble she was causing by asking questions. Phyllis was an innocent sister grieving the loss of her precious crippled little brother. So she kept digging.

More discrepancies:

The funeral director for Faith Chapel Home in Pensacola was friends with Ronnie’s stepdad and mother. This gentleman confided in the family saying he didn’t think it was suicide because there wasn’t any gunshot residue around the wound. Could that just be because Rose washed him, or could it mean that he was shot from a distance by someone else?

Rumors say that Ronnie’s relationship with Cathy was one-sided. If this is true, could Cathy’s real boyfriend have shot Ronnie? Witnesses claim it was more.

The local coroner has come under some scrutiny after many claims he rules cases as suicide too quickly and too often. Some locals even referred to him as “Suicide Hightower.” After researching, I couldn’t find any official charges brought against the coroner. Could they be just rumors, or could those stories be based on facts? Who knows?

Little did Phyllis know that some of her local law enforcement officials and government officials were arm and arm with the Dixie Mafia. This wouldn’t come out publicly for decades. Did Ronnie hear something he shouldn’t have? Could Bass and his friends have silenced the boy forever?

Phyllis continued to press the police department for answers until one day her father called.

“Leave it alone before you get someone else killed,” he demanded.

Shocked, Phyllis backed off and tried to investigate a little more quietly. This inner turmoil wondering what happened to her brother and why her father wasn’t pushing the issue continued for 36 long years.

It was November 2002, and Phyllis always came into town to visit her father to celebrate Thanksgiving and her father’s birthday. The two went to the local Waffle House as usual. During their meal, Dan Anderson’s entire persona changed, and he mumbled “That Son of a $&*&^” under his breath. Surprised, Phyllis turned to see who he was referring to only to be reprimanded by her father.

Dan waited until the man was out the door and his car pulled out onto the road before he said anything else to his daughter.

“Do you know who that was?”

“No, but I can tell you don’t like him, Daddy.”

“That’s the old boy who killed Ronnie.”

Phyllis about fell out of her chair. For thirty-six years her father had reprimanded her for saying the very same thing. He claimed his son’s death as suicide for nearly four decades, and now he just pointed out the man who killed his son. Of course, Phyllis had questions, but her father clammed up about the subject and wouldn’t speak another word of it.

After her father went out to his car, Phyllis hung back and talked to the waitress that knew all the local gossip. That’s when she was given the name of her brother’s murderer. Low and behold it was the roommate.

Unfortunately, years later during the Sheriff’s investigation this waitress and the other surviving witnesses would change their stories or conveniently forget it entirely. Were they intimidated into silence or did they really forget?

Sadly, Lt. Dan Anderson would be dead a short time after pointing out his son’s killer. Surely the police would stand up and take notice. Nope. I’ll get into that and the revelation of the Dixie Mafia in the famous case of Judge Sherry’s murder. Can all these cases be linked by an unlikely string of coincidences or are they tied together by the Dixie Mafia? I will leave it up to you to decide.

SILENCED BY THE DIXIE MAFIA PART 3: A JUDGE IS MURDERED

According to an article on the FBI’s website, in 1983, federal authorities designated the entire Harrison County Sheriff’s office as a criminal enterprise. Sheriff Leroy Hobbs was hand in hand with the Dixie Mafia. In 1987, a prominent judge and his wife were murdered in their home and some of the local corruption would be exposed. Now 30 years later the rest of this story will be told. Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margret were murdered in their home on the evening of September 14, 1987. The official report states that Pete Halat and Charles Lager “discovered” the bodies on the morning of September 16th. The popular tv show “The FBI Files” even states this as fact. This, however, is merely another coverup perpetrated by this group of people. One lone woman knew the truth for decades and now everyone will know. Pete Halat had been to the house the day before with one honest cop bound by a gambling addiction and his name is Lt. Dan Anderson.

Can someone be honest and be a gambler? Yes. Can someone be bound by an addiction to gambling? Of course. We see this every day. Is it too far-fetched to assume this man could be forced into silence because of his addiction? What if his son had already died of suspicious circumstances? I will let you ponder those questions as I relate to you the story of September 15, 1987.

Lt. Dan Anderson worked as a court bailiff for Judge Vincent Sherry and considered him a friend. On the morning of September 15th, Anderson arrived early to the courthouse to get the building ready for the day’s legal wranglings. He turned on all the lights and adjusted the thermostat and made the coffee. Strangely, the judge never arrived. Judge Sherry hadn’t missed one court date in his entire career. As the clocked ticked past his first appointment his bailiff began to worry. Anderson made a phone call to the judge’s house but there wasn’t any answer. Finally, Anderson called the judge’s legal partner Pete Halat and asked if the judge happened to be in the office with him. The answer was negative. Concerned, Anderson told Halat that he wasn’t waiting any longer. He was going to drive over to the judge’s house and see what was going on. Halat immediately told the bailiff that he would meet him at the judge’s house.

Together they approached the door of the house and Dan Anderson noticed it was partially opened. He called out “Sherry,” a nickname for the judge and there wasn’t a response. Anderson carefully pushed open the door and found the body of the 58-year-old man lying on the floor. Continuing through the house, Anderson found the body of Mrs. Margret Sherry in the bedroom.

Struggling to keep his emotions in check, Dan Anderson told Pete Halat what he found. This is where the case gets even stranger. Instead of calling for backup, Pete Halat sends the bailiff home claiming that he would handle the situation. Supposedly, he didn’t want the media to find out about this until he could get the police on site and figure out what happened to the judge.

Lt. Anderson returns home distraught after seeing the corpses of his friends. Before he could get himself together, his daughter Phyllis happened to call. On this rare occasion, Dan Anderson poured out his emotional story to his daughter giving details of the crime scene. Phyllis listened and tried to console her father and promised to call and check on him later that evening. When evening came, her father was back to his tight-lipped self and refused to speak of it again. Phyllis had no way of knowing that her father was being forced into silence. She assumed it was his quiet way of dealing with trauma.

The next day Pete Halat makes a big deal of the judge being late for court and persuades his junior law partner, Charles Lager into driving out the judge’s house with him. This is where the “official” report begins. Halat barely steps into the house and steps back out onto the porch to report the two were dead. Later in trial Lager would confess that Halat didn’t seem shocked by their death. Also, he stated that Halat didn’t go all the way into the back of the house where Margret’s body lay. How did he know they were both dead? Well, you and I know the truth.

An investigation was launched and eventually, a partial truth came out. Pete Halat and a few others had been in league with the infamous Kirksey Nix, Jr on a big money-making scam. The FBI labeled it “The Lonely Hearts” scam. Basically, Nix had found a way to con hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the local gay community. He would post pictures of good-looking men in the paper along with a tear-jerking ad. This poor handsome gay man was looking for love, was being wrongfully accused, and needed money to help with his legal fees. Trying to help out, these victims would send in their money and their love letters. Then the criminal scumbags would turn around and blackmail these good-hearted men. In the 1980’s most of these men weren’t open about their sexuality and Nix found it easy to blackmail them. By September they were raking in six figures. This is when Halat begins to get greedy. Why did he have to put all the money back in a safe deposit box for Nix? Instead, he transferred $100,000 to a safe deposit box he shared with Judge Sherry. When Nix found out about the theft, Halat blames it on the judge. Nix hires a hitman to kill the couple and Halat wins all the way around. You see, Halat wanted to run for mayor and one of his biggest political rivals was Margret Sherry. Now Halat had the money, the Sherrys were gone, and two years after their death he becomes the mayor.

The FBI investigators had to keep the case close to the chest for fear of tipping off the corrupt mayor, but in October 1996 Halat’s charade was over when he was arrested and tried for his involvement in the murder of Judge Sherry. Nix and the hitman would get life in prison, but Halat only received 18 years.

Phyllis knew about the case, but her father tried to keep her from paying too much attention to the news. Living two states away in Georgia, it was easy to get distracted by her own life and not follow the case too closely. It would take a chance meeting in a restaurant before Phyllis would get her father to speak of the case again.

Fast forward to 1997. Phyllis and her husband were having dinner when she overheard the people behind her say something about the Sherry murders. Phyllis is a good ‘ole southern gal and has never met a stranger and can talk to anyone. She turns around and innocently asks the man if he were talking about the murder of Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margret. To her surprise, the man glared at her and without saying a word he stood up with his woman and left the restaurant. Phyllis was taken aback and glanced at the table and noticed they hadn’t even eaten their dinner. When she returned home she phoned her dad and told him about the strange encounter.

Dan exploded on the phone demanding to know what the man looked like. Phyllis described the man she had seen, not understanding her father’s outburst.

“That was John Ransom. He’s the S.O.B. who killed Sherry and Margret.” Dan also told of Pete Halat’s involvement and then demanded that she never speak of this case to anyone again.

I wish I could say that this is the end of this story, but we have one more murder to cover next week. Lt. Dan Anderson would be killed. Guess what? His death was ruled suicide. Surely, by this point in this story, you won’t believe that for a moment.

SILENCED BY THE DIXIE MAFIA: FINAL CURTAIN

He had held their secrets close for decades to protect his loved ones, but now the man who killed his son was sitting right behind his lovely bright-eyed daughter. At the age of 80, Lt. Dan Anderson was tired of keeping secrets. Phyllis watched her father’s demeanor change rapidly. Anger seeped from every pore until “that son of a &$#@” fell from his lips. Shocked she turned to look at the man who caused such a reaction but was quickly reprimanded by her father.

“Don’t you look at that son of a $@#% Phyllis.”

Phyllis did what she was told and stared down at her plate until the man got up to leave. He seemed to slowly pass her table on purpose. A menacing smirk was plastered across his face. Phyllis analyzed the stranger as he walked out the door. Dan refused to mutter a word about the man until he was well out of the parking lot. He knew his feisty daughter would tear after the man if she could.

“Do you know who that was?”

“No, but I can tell you don’t like him Daddy,” was her innocent reply.

“That’s the Son of a %$@&$ that killed Ronnie.”

Phyllis sat there shocked. This admission came from the very man who had spent the last 36 years telling her that Ronnie’s death was suicide. Every time she called the police department, she would get a call from her father demanding that she “cease and desist.”

She tried to get more details from her father, but he wouldn’t speak another word. Frustrated, she let the conversation slip onto other topics, but when they stood to leave Phyllis stayed behind to get a refill on her drink. After her father walked outside, Phyllis went to Trudy. Trudy had worked there for decades and was up on all the town gossip. Trudy told her the man’s name was Jeffery Bass. She even went as far as to give Phyllis the directions to his house.

Four months later, Lt. Dan Anderson was dead in his driveway from a gunshot wound to the head. The coroner immediately ruled the death suicide. I am here to dispute otherwise, but let’s back up a couple of weeks before this tragedy and see what happens.

Phyllis gets a call from her father one evening asking for her help. A woman named Cherry Learn had moved in with him as a housekeeper, but she wasn’t doing anything around the house, and he wanted her to leave. Phyllis was recovering from surgery and was in a cast but promised to throw her out as soon as she could. Phyllis wouldn’t get the opportunity.

April 18, 2003:

Around 4:30 pm, Lt. Dan Anderson supposedly walked out to his driveway and shot himself in the head with his service revolver. Anderson lived on a busy street, yet there weren’t any witnesses during rush hour traffic. Years later the police somehow drag up two people who say they heard a gunshot sometime in the afternoon, but no one can find these witnesses to re-question them. It seemed they appeared just in time for the FOIA request but disappeared again afterward. Who knows? All of that is merely speculation. I will let you speculate on your own time. Here are the facts of this case as I can prove from interviewing the victim’s family and working through the official autopsy.

Cherry Learn told the police that Dan had sent her to the store to buy cigarettes and when she returned she found him in the driveway. The FOIA documents clearly state what she told the police. Cherry told the investigator that she parked right behind Dan Anderson’s Cadillac and she confirmed that this car was still there when she moved out of the house later that day after the death of Anderson. I will tell you why that is significant.

Around midnight Phyllis received a phone call from her father’s attorney stating that Dan Anderson had committed suicide. She fell to the floor devastated and screamed, “not again.” She packed up and went to Gulfport. When she got there the coroner, Gary Hargrove wouldn’t allow her to see her father’s body. Instead of showing some compassion for the grieving family, he chose to be rude and arrogant. Since she wasn’t getting anywhere with the coroner, Phyllis drove over to her father’s house. She expected to see some evidence of a crime. Instead, the house looked like nothing had happened. There wasn’t any crime scene tape, the driveway was clean, and there weren’t any bloodstains. She walked into the house looking for evidence but found no evidence of violence. It was as if time had stopped and this was a bad dream.

Dan liked to keep everything neat and tidy, but the house looked as if it had been detailed. There wasn’t a speck of dust in the place. To make matters worse, Cherry Learn had lived there for a month, and there wasn’t any evidence of her left. Phyllis said she couldn’t even find a bobby pin. In the FOIA papers Cherry Learn said she only lived there four days, but Phyllis had received a phone call about her two weeks before her father’s death, so we know that’s a lie.

As Phyllis slowly took in her surroundings, she noticed something odd. On the nightstand by her father’s bed was a carton of cigarettes with four packs in it. She walked into the den where her father spent a lot of time, and there were two more packs on the end table. One pack was full, and the other was only missing four cigarettes. Why had Cherry Learn gone out for cigarettes when there were so many packs laying around the house?

She also noticed that her father’s valuables had been taken. He was a 33rd degree Mason and had beautiful rings, but they were nowhere to be found. All the china and crystal in the house had been thinned out and the remaining pieces spaced out on the shelves so their removal wouldn’t be obvious. The more she looked, the more she noticed things missing. Also, the Cadillac wasn’t in the driveway anymore. Police would later claim that it had been sold months before her father’s death but remember the FOIA papers said that it was IN THE DRIVEWAY on the day of Anderson’s death.

Now let’s move on to the autopsy report. If you aren’t already questioning this case and its suicide ruling the first few lines of the autopsy report will force you to question it.

The autopsy diagnoses dated 4-19-2003 states the following:

1. One recent gunshot wound of the head entering the right temple, contact, exiting the left temple through the brain (no bullet in the wound)

2. blood spatter and powder particles on BOTH HANDS

Ok. It also states that his pants were unbuttoned and the zipper down. His socks were covered in dry plant material. It also states that his fingernails and toenails were neatly clipped and clean.

Ok. Here goes the rant…

Dan Anderson was a tidy person, and I’ve been told that he wouldn’t go outside in his sock feet. If he wanted to, there was a driveway and a sidewalk to walk on. He was particular enough to have nice nails, but he ran outside with his pants undone?

The documents say one hammerless Smith & Wesson 38 service revolver, 4 bullets, 1 shell casing, and one leather holster was recovered from the scene. No one recovered the spent bullet. The autopsy said it was a through and through wound, so why wasn’t it recovered in the grass? No ballistics testing was done to prove that this gun was the weapon used to kill Anderson. To make it even worse, the FOIA request shows the police department destroyed the bullets and shell casing four days after Anderson’s death. They sent Phyllis a copy of this release that she supposedly had signed. Phyllis swears she has never seen the paper before and the signature on the bottom of it was not hers. Who signed Phyllis’ name?

Dan Anderson was 80, but he was a strong man and didn’t suffer from Parkinson’s disease. Why then would he have to use both hands to fire his service revolver? Remember the autopsy said there was gunshot residue and blood spatter on BOTH hands. Anderson showed no signs of suicidal tendencies.

Now here comes the outline of the wounds found on Dan Anderson’s body, excluding the gunshot wound. To reconstruct these wounds I got help from my son. I drew all the markings on his hands and legs with a washable marker and photographed them. This is what I found.

Left index fingertip anteriorly (meaning the palm side) there was a fresh wound. The left middle finger dorsally (meaning the backside of the hand) over the proximal phalanx was another wound. Proximal Phalanx means the backside of the hand down between the base of the finger and the first knuckle.

The autopsy also states he had a large wound on the FRONT of his RIGHT shin and on the top of the right big toe. Lastly, it states he had an abrasion on the back of the left-hand side of his head just above the hairline. Dan Anderson had male pattern baldness.

If Lt. Anderson somehow shot himself with both hands and fell BACKWARD that would account for the wound on the back of his head. If this is the case, then why the scrape down his right shin and his right toe? If he fell FORWARD, he might receive a small abrasion on his knee, but not a large scrape, and he wouldn’t have a wound on the back of his head.

My armchair conclusion is Lt. Anderson’s death should not be ruled suicide. It is highly unlikely that this man would suddenly decide to send off his housekeeper, undo his pants, walk out in his front yard and shoot himself using both hands on his snub-nosed revolver. He wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t suicidal, and he cared about neatness enough to keep both his fingernails and toenails groomed.

The officials would like to make you believe this is what happened, and to add to the fairytale, he must have shot, then fell forward, dragged himself around the yard scraping his leg up, then dropped down upon his back hitting the back of his head. If all of that makes sense to you, then I must add all the details of the missing items and the missing Cadillac. If you believe all of that, then I have some oceanfront property in Kansas that I would like to sell to you.

Phyllis’ 50-year battle:

If this wasn’t enough to concern you, then one must also add in the battle Phyllis Cook had fought over the last half a century. She has continued to call trying to get help for her brother’s case and her father’s case. It took fifty years for someone to tell the poor woman that there wasn’t an autopsy performed on her brother. All these years she had been calling asking for an autopsy report and information on her brother, and it took a true-crime writer to point out the truth. When I received a copy of the death certificate, it clearly stated there wasn’t an autopsy. Why couldn’t they tell the grieving family this?

The FOIA documents outline the police department’s investigation to verify Phyllis’ claims. You read this document and find the investigator ties up the story with a pretty little bow, but half of it is untrue, and the other half is conjecture. If I went into every discrepancy within this report, I would need another entire blog post, but I will relate one more incident with you.

February 5, 2013:

Phyllis again calls the Gulfport police department and speaks with a cold case investigator that I will leave nameless. When she starts relating the story to this man, he tells her that he is 99.99% sure that her dad and brother were killed by members of the Dixie Mafia. Up until this point, Phyllis had never heard about the Dixie Mafia. Now as she looked back over the years, things were starting to make more sense. All of these cases weren’t random acts of violence. They were all connected to one organization. Her brother was murdered six weeks after the Dixie Mafia ambushed Sheriff Pusser on New Hope Road. Did Ronnie overhear something he shouldn’t have from his roommate?

There’s another entire story around Bass. Police gave Phyllis a photo lineup, and she pointed out the man she seen in the restaurant. The police say that the man couldn’t be Jeffery Bass and has tried to convince her to pick another picture of a man named Jimmy Johnson. Phyllis even went back to Trudy who firmly states that she said his name was Jimmy Johnson and then tells Phyllis to leave it alone before she gets hurt.

It’s hard to fit this entire story into a blog but believe me, if Phyllis ever decides to write a book about this case she could fill it with all the discrepancies, and it could make a series.

Four months after Dan Anderson’s death the Dixie Mafia’s hitman John Ransom was released from prison and former mayor Pete Halat would be released in October 2012. Phyllis believes her dad was killed because he was starting to talk. If all the secrets were out, Halat and Ransom might have to spend life in prison along with their buddy Kirksey Nix. Is this why Lt. Anderson was killed? We may never know for sure since all the evidence was destroyed and everyone refuses to look into this case.

Since this article was first written, witnesses have come forward with more information. Yes, Dan Anderson’s Cadillac was used in the ambush of Sheriff Pusser. The target was actually Pauline and “the little crippled boy” was forced to ride along.

The original plan was to wait until Buford left on the call then to have Ronnie knock on the door. Pauline wouldn’t be intimidated by him and open the door. The others planned to kill her. When she went with Buford it messed up their plan, so they ambushed them both.

Ronnie was an unwilling participant and was killed because they were afraid he would talk. Witnesses claim he was lured to the boat dock by Cathy. There his roommate and a crew of his Dixie Mafia friends ganged up on the crippled boy and beat him almost to death. Then, according to the witness, the roommate took it one step further and shot him.

Years later after carrying the guilt for his son’s death, Dan Anderson would be killed after pointing out Ronnie’s killer. Witness statements and forensic evidence points to a completely different story than the so called autopsy.

Anderson was killed elsewhere and transported back to his driveway. Evidence shows he was on his knees when he was shot. Of course, every finds it easier to claim the Anderson deaths were suicide, but sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find the truth.

How deep are the Dixie Mafia ties? I believe they are as long as the Mississippi River and twice as dirty.

Synova’s Youtube Video:

He agreed to be the pawn in a drug sting after his mother received threatening calls over the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, drug stings don’t always turn out like they do in the movies, and Randy’s brothers watched in horror as the car sped away out of the reach of law enforcement. 42 Years later and the family still doesn’t know what happened to Randy Brosius.

Randall B. Brosius, 22, had a rocky past that involved drugs, but he was getting his life together by the Christmas holiday in 1976. Christmas cheer was in the air, the shopping season was in full swing, and everything was bliss. That’s what Christmas is supposed to be, anyway. During the festivities, the Brosius family was being terrorized by an unknown blackmailer.

Randy’s mother received a demand for $500, saying that Randy was involved in a big drug deal. The blackmailer threatened to cut Randy up in pieces and send him to her if she didn’t pay. Terror-stricken, the poor mother, found the money and tried to deliver it to the dropzone in Williamstown, Pennsylvania. She had one hour to get there. Although she made it well within the allotted time, the blackmailer never arrived.

After all of this, Randall went to the police for help. He agreed to a “meet up” with the police waiting in the shadows. His brother and father were there, as well. He had nothing to fear. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned, and somehow by some terrible twist of fate, Randy was taken.

The newspaper accounts make it sound so innocent. They claim Randy was last seen in a car driving away from Mace’s Fountain Blue Motel with two men. Richard Green, 31, and Kenneth H. Lenker, 25. In reality, that was the last time his family or the police ever saw him. The two men were later found in Florida and questioned, but no arrests were ever made.

What happened to Randy Brosius?

INSERT: Disco Dan

A John Doe was found in Hewett, TX, on April 3, 1978. The twenty-something male had been shot in the back of the head and dumped in a culvert. His height and weight closely match that of Randy. The clothing wasn’t a match to what Randy was last seen wearing, but we’re talking 15 months later.

The man’s flamboyant clothes are what lead investigators to call him Disco Dan. Unfortunately, the Hewett police department only had two officers, and the John Doe case went cold rather quickly.

The family wonders if this could be their long lost Randy. There’s a possibility since one of the men he was last seen with ended up in Texas. At the time of his disappearance, Randy had long shoulder-length brown hair and a mustache. He was around 5′ 7,” and his weight was approximately 140lbs. All of these things closely match Disco Dan.

I noticed when comparing the two photos; the nose seems really similar to me. Who knows. We will have to wait for the DNA results. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you know anything about the disappearance of Randall Brosius or the John Doe known as Disco Dan, please call in a tip. These families need answers.

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