The Execution of Michael Eugene Thompson

The Lady in the Well

By Robert A. Waters

Maisie Gray was pushed into the abandoned pit. Arms flailing and her screams piercing the silence, she fell. She couldn't see beneath her because of the darkness, but within seconds, she landed with a jolt on a rock-hard surface. The bottom of the well held three feet of water and had a strange toxic smell. 

She must have known she would die in this pit.

Above, the man who'd shoved her into the abyss yelled, "I know you're still alive." Then he leaned into the opening in the well and began firing gunshots down at Maisie. Some of the bullets rocketed straight into her body, while others ricocheted off the centuries-old stone walls. An autopsy later revealed she'd been hit with multiple rounds in the head and "all over her body."

Did she have time to think of her son and daughters? Or her husband? Did she pray to God? Whatever thoughts she had couldn't have lasted long.   

Because of an evil stranger, she died alone in that poisonous well.

At about 2:30 A.M., December 10, 1984, a customer stopped at the Majik Mart in Attalla, Alabama. Finding the store empty and the cash drawer open, she called the Etowah County Sheriff's Office. Thus began a month-long search for the missing 57-year-old clerk.

Maisie had been working there for only three weeks. During that time, she'd sold more beer and soft drinks than she ever knew existed. A friendly country girl, the Gadsden Times reported "she liked nothing better than sitting down with a couple of friends and draining a coffee pot while they talked."

Maisie was alone when Michael Eugene Thompson walked into the store. He looked around, making sure no one else was there. Then he pulled a long-barrel .22-caliber pistol out of his pants and stuck it in Maisie's face. Quickly complying when he demanded she empty the cash register, she handed him exactly $72.23.

She'd done what the company had trained her to do. "Don't fight," she was told. "Give the robber the money in the cash drawer and he'll leave. That way, you won't get hurt." 

Instead of leaving alone, however, Thompson demanded that Maisie go outside with him. Keeping the gun trained on his victim, he marched her to his car and forced her into the trunk. For more than an hour, he drove randomly through the countryside.

Thompson had grown up in the hills in nearby Blount County. He knew many places to hide a body. Before he got hooked on dope, he'd hunted and fished the area. Those were the few pleasant memories he had of his childhood. Now he couldn't go more than a day without getting stoned. The cash Maisie had handed over should get him what he needed. At least for a few hours.

But he had to get rid of her. He finally thought of a place where her body would never be found. Thompson recalled several abandoned wells located in the desolate woods he used to roam. He later confessed. "I left [the store] and went to Blount County," he told investigators, "where I pushed her in the well and shot a bunch of shots down in the well, and I run out of [bullets]."

The Birmingham Post-Herald wrote that Gray's "body was found a month later when Etowah County Sheriff Roy McDowell received a tip that Mrs. Gray's body was in a 24-foot well about 5 miles north of Snead. McDowell testified he learned of the location after Shirley Smith Franklin, who had lived with Thompson, called his office and later talked to him in person."

Franklin explained her involvement. After getting some "shells," (as she called the bullets) for the pistol, she informed cops that Thompson grabbed a burgundy-colored housecoat off the bed. According to Franklin, her boyfriend dragged her out of the house and forced her to go with him. While driving to Blount County, he told her about kidnapping the clerk, throwing her in the well, and shooting her. 

Franklin said they stopped in front of the well. Then he set the housecoat on fire and forced Franklin to hold it down in the well so he could see the bottom. She later testified that he reloaded the gun and began firing again into the well. After eight or ten shots, they left and went home.

One month after her murder, because of Shirley Franklin's confession, several agencies, including Blount County Sheriff J. C. Carr, arrived at the well.

The Post Herald reported that that it took four and a half hours for the Oneonta Fire Department and a representative from the State Forensic Science Lab to remove Maisie's body from "the 24 foot well in the middle of a small orchard on a one-lane dirt road. Rescuers entered the well numerous times in the effort, which was interrupted at times so an exhaust fan could be used to remove gases from the well. Carr said methane gas was found in the well and rescuers initially had to use air packs when going in."

Sheriff McDowell said "the body was lodged against the side of the narrow well, just above the water, which was three feet deep."

Michael Eugene Thompson was tried in Blount County. At trial, he tried to convince the jury that even though he kidnapped Maisie and threw her down the well, his girlfriend had done the actual shooting. The jury didn't buy it. Convicted of capital murder and kidnapping, he was sentenced to death. 

Then the seemingly endless appeals began. After nearly two decades, Maisie's children had gotten fed up with it all. Evelyn Elliott, the victim's daughter, told reporters that "he's been found guilty of kidnapping and killing her. He took a life. There's got to be a penalty for doing things like that. I would like to tell him to be a man. To admit his sins and face the consequences like a man."

On March 13, 2003, Thompson drifted off to his final sleep after being administered a lethal injection. After the execution, James Rodgers, Maisie's son, said, "I don't feel sorry for him. It was his actions that brought all this about." 

Evelyn Elliott said, "He died a very painless death. I wish my mother had a chance to feel no pain."

The Life and Death of Tom T. Hall

"The Homecoming"

By Robert A. Waters

As a life-time lover of country music, I still remember the first time I heard the "The Homecoming." It would have been in the late 60s. Having grown up listening to Hank Williams and the Grand Ole Opry, I was always on the lookout for meaningful tunes. This song, about an estranged son coming home, fit the bill.

I don't remember if I had heard of Tom  T. Hall before hearing this song. I think it was one of his first to be played on the radio. Over his lifetime, Hall penned some of the finest and most successful songs ever written. 

Hall was born and raised near a small town, Olive Hill, Kentucky. He grew up listening to Bluegrass music, the hardscrabble cousin of  country music. In his youth, Hall had been influenced by a young guitar picker from the hills who had made a name for himself in Ohio. He later wrote a song about his hero, "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died." In the song, he wrote, "I'd give a hundred dollars if he could only see now."

All of Hall's lyrics were meticulously written, some using irony, some pathos, some humor. Most of the tunes were simple, just the way they should be. (Complicated tunes often squeeze the life from profound lyrics.) "The Homecoming" didn't use electrified instruments, just acoustics.

Over the years, I listened to Hall on the radio, and owned a couple of his albums. One of the songs from those records that had several twists of irony was "The Little Lady Preacher." Another of my favorites was "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs?"

Even though he became part of the Nashville establishment, Hall seemed aloof. Of course, no one can really tell what's going on in someone else's life. I won't name any names, but dozens, if not hundreds, of actors and singers we once thought were admirable turned out to be well...jerks.

I never got that vibe from Hall. He was married twice and had one son, Dean, from his first marriage. He and Dean and Dixie, his second wife, played music together. He and Dixie were married for 47 years. They wrote Bluegrass songs together, and by all accounts, were close. So, when she died, to many in the outside world, Hall seemed lost. (Again, we don't really know other people, but that's the way I took it.)

NBC News reported that "after being one of the biggest country stars of the 1970s, and certainly one of the most revered for his artistry among country cognoscenti to the present day, Hall had long since retired from performing and recording. Performing only sporadically after the mid-1990s, he delivered his last performance in 2011, saying he preferred enjoying life on the farm with his wife, Dixie Hall, and thought newer generations should have their day."

On August 20, 2021, Hall passed away. He was 85. PEOPLE wrote that "country star Tom T. Hall's death has been ruled a suicide. Hall, who was found dead at his Franklin, Tennessee home...died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to an autopsy report obtained on Wednesday by PEOPLE."

Many of Hall's tunes are considered "standards" of country music. "Harper Valley PTA," written by Hall, became a monster hit for Jeannie C. Riley. Her version alone sold over six million copies. Many others recorded it and the song is still one of his most played songs today. Tom T. Hall had been inducted into the prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Hall of Fame, and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.  

There are many rumors as to what made him commit that final act. But since I don't know, I won't speculate. Whatever the reason, Tom T. Hall left a body of work that will stand the test of time.

"The Homecoming," stays on my mind. A great song paints a picture. I can envision the father and son awkwardly sitting on the porch trying to make small talk while avoiding conflict. Finally, the son stands up to leave. "Got a dance to play in Cartersville tonight," he says.

The Florida Rebellion

Review of A Wilderness of Destruction: Confederate Guerillas in East and South Florida, 1861-1865

By Zack C. Waters

Mercer University Press

Reviewer is Gary Lee Hall

Recent published works about The [Civil] War have departed from the broad, general history and have been centered on smaller, less universal facets of the times. Biographies of less well-known officers, the story of men in the field on the front lines, and regional studies have replaced the thick volumes presenting The War as a whole. Those earlier volumes are/were necessary and many excellent [books] are available to the person interested in getting the total picture; however, many students of the War Between the States find a smaller picture just as valuable and full of stories left out of the earlier general histories.

In his acknowledgements, Waters speaks of a historical marker he and his father read on an ordinary trip along the roads of Florida. This marker told him of "the story of Capt. J. J. Dickison's cavalry company capturing a Union gunboat on the St. John's River." Waters shares..."that simple five minute tale sparked a fire in me that time has not quenched."

Florida during The War was sparsely settled. The 1860 U. S. Federal Census listed just under 79,000 free inhabitants and slightly less enslaved at 62,000. Initially the Confederacy intended to protect every part of the new nation, but the realities of war eventually left Florida lightly protected from Yankee soldiers and gunboats. Florida Governor John Milton said. "One thousand men, divided into small companies [and] well-armed--acting as Guerillas or Rangers and ably commanded--can do more to defend Florida from the enemies than thousands in regular service."

Waters wrote, "Almost without exception the state's Rebel combatants went into each engagement outnumbered, and outgunned, but they used ambush, rapid movement, and 'hit and run' tactics to level the field." Waters also points out, "The first rule of guerilla warfare has always been, 'Never attack where the enemy anticipates--attack where least expected.'" Throughout 1861-1865 these methods delivered Confederate successes.

Florida numbered few citizens but was very important to the Confederate war effort as it supplied cattle to feed the Rebel armies outside the state.

Chapters are divided by date and subdivided by region, battle and town. This approach allows the reader to experience The War just as it happened; hit and run. The subject matter is perfect for this division. So little researched and discussed, Waters has presented the interesting contribution of Florida to the Confederacy.

Back to the historical marker which started this volume. "Gen. George H. Gordon led the naval expedition to evacuate the Union detachment at Volusia. His troops boarded the gunboat Ottawa, and armed steam tug Columbine,... The Columbine made it past the Confederates as it moved up the river; however, the trap was laid and the return trip was not successful." A Union participant [said] the "Columbine approached Horse Landing where the river is quite narrow. They [the Columbine's sailors] shelled the wood, as they did when they were ascending but when directly opposite [the Landing] the rebels opened with grape and canister from a battery they had placed there. Our party returned the fire as well as the could, but a [Rebel] shot cut the tiller rope, leaving the boat unmanageable, and it went aground with the stern [pointing] directly at the rebels, so their batteries could sweep the entire deck... The captain of the boat, finding it useless to attempt to defend the boat, surrendered; five of our men and two of the crew escaped by jumping overboard and swimming ashore; the rest were taken prisoner or drowned in attempting to escape."

The reviewer thoroughly enjoyed reading Waters' volume and it is one of my favorite books on the conflict. Newly revealed and interesting events are throughout.

This well-written book ends with the observation, "As General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, cattle from Florida were nearing their destination at Petersburg. The state the Confederacy had abandoned in early 1862 continued to serve the Rebel nation to the bitter end."

NOTE: In addition to being an outstanding historical document, A Wilderness of Destruction should appeal to genealogists with Florida ties. To order a copy, check out www.mupress.org 

Charlie Kirk's accused killer arranged his own arrest because he was afraid of being shot

Will Tyler Robinson Face a Firing Squad?

By Robert A. Waters

Sometimes irony cuts deep.

Tyler James Robinson, the accused shooter of Charlie Kirk, worked out a deal with cops to surrender peacefully because he didn't want to be shot.

How nuts is that?

Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby emphasized to reporters that the suspect was "fearful of being shot" by a SWAT Team.

Most of the world has seen the horrific video of Kirk's death. (I watched it once and never want to see it again.)

Within about 30 hours of Kirk's assassination, Robinson's mug was on every television set in the universe. At that point, he knew it was over. So he called a former Washington County detective his family knew and arranged to surrender. 

Can you imagine that conversation? "I want to give myself up because I don't want cops busting down the door and 'unaliving' me with their guns." 

Utah is one of the few states that administers the death penalty by firing squad. 

Killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad on June 18, 2010 for murdering attorney Michael Burdell during an attempted jailbreak. 

The New York Times described Gardner's death: "He was seated in a chair in front of a wooden panel and in between stacked sandbags to keep the bullets from ricocheting around the room. 

"After a black hood was slipped over his head, a small circular paper was attached to his heart.

"Five anonymous executioners were lined up roughly 25 feet from the chair, four of them with real rounds in their .30-caliber Winchester rifles and one with a dummy round, so that none of the five would know whether they had carried out the fatal shot.

"Following a quiet countdown, a series of shots in two short bursts was heard...[Gardner] clinched his fist and then let go. And then he clenched it again."  

Robinson did loads of research about Charlie Kirk and his whereabouts on that fateful morning. According to the FBI, he climbed up on a roof, aimed his gun and took the life of a man who was exercising his right to free speech.

But being afraid to die by gunshot himself, maybe he should have done more research on the death penalty in Utah. Reading the above Times article might have deterred him.

If he's proven guilty, I believe it would be fitting for Robinson to face the firing squad.

The Vine City Serial Killer

Court Records Reveal How a Woman With a Gun Survived an Attack by Serial Killer Lyndon Pace

Compiled by Robert A. Waters

NOTE: Details of rapes and murders are graphic

"On September 24, 1992, Sarah Grogan, age sixty-nine, woke up to find that someone had broken into her home in the Vine City area of Atlanta. Ms. Grogan left her bedroom and found a man in her kitchen. As the man chased her back to her bedroom, Ms. Grogan slammed the bedroom door in the man’s face. Ms. Grogan got her gun and shot through the door, but the man wasn’t there when she opened it to see if her shot had hit him. As she left the bedroom, the man 'took a shot at [her], but she ran to the front door and got out.' Police discovered that the burglar had broken into Ms. Grogan’s house through a rear kitchen window where the screen had been ripped from its frame. Investigators took fingerprints from the rear window and from other items that the man touched."

NOTE: The above paragraph comes from a court document that runs over 100 pages. The record describes four similar accounts in which elderly women were raped and murdered by a serial killer. Other court documents about the serial killer and his  victims  stretch into thousands of pages.

The reason I emphasize this is because I could find no other place on the internet where the case is mentioned. Just in passing, this small  paragraph tells the story of a woman who survived a serial rapist/killer because she had a gun.

Here is a verbatim description of what the court says about Lyndon Fitzgerald Pace's other victims. 

"In seven months, Lyndon Pace (pictured) raped and strangled to death four women, three of whom were more than seventy-eight years old. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 

"On August 28, 1988, Lula Bell McAfee, age eighty-six, was found dead in her home in Atlanta. She was naked and lying face down on her bed, with a pillow underneath her stomach that pushed her pelvis up, exposing her vaginal and rectal areas. Blood was pouring out of her mouth and her bra and a strip of cloth were tangled around her neck. Her bathroom window was open and the window screen had been removed and left lying on the ground. Her bedroom was 'completely ransacked' and a briefcase, car keys, and money were missing. Ms. McAfee’s autopsy established that she had been strangled to death. The presence of lubricant on her vaginal and rectal areas suggested that she had been sexually assaulted. Swabs from her breasts revealed the presence of saliva, and vaginal and rectal swabs revealed the presence of sperm. Ms. McAfee had known Pace 'since he was a baby.' 

"On September 10, 1988, Mattie Mae McClendon, age seventy-eight, was found dead in her home in the Vine City area (pictured) of Atlanta. She was lying in her bed with bloodstained sheets pulled over her body. Her bathroom window was open, the window screen had been torn apart from the outside, and a tree limb just outside the window was broken. Ms. McClendon’s autopsy showed that she had been strangled to death and suffered 'a very large' vaginal laceration 'with a large amount of hemorrhage coming from it.' Rectal swabs taken from her body revealed the presence of sperm. 

"On February 4, 1989, Johnnie Mae Martin, age seventy-nine, was found dead in her home in the Vine City area of Atlanta. She was lying on her bed with a pillow over her head. Her bloodstained nightgown was pulled up around her breasts, a shoelace was wrapped around her neck, and the rest of her body was naked with her legs spread open. A side window was open, the window screen had been pushed back, and a ladder was just under the window on the outside of the house. The house was 'ransacked.' Ms. Martin’s autopsy established that she had been strangled to death and suffered a vaginal laceration and other injuries in her vaginal area. Rectal swabs taken from her body revealed the presence of sperm.

On March 4, 1989, Annie Kate Britt, age forty-two, was found dead in her home in Atlanta. Ms. Britt was lying naked in her bed with a sock knotted tightly around her neck. Someone had pried open a back window, the window screen was lying on the ground, and a pipe underneath the outside of the window was loose and detached from the wall. The house was 'ransacked.' Ms. Britt’s autopsy established that she had been strangled to death, and a broken fingernail, bruises, and scrapes on her body were 'consistent with her fighting with her attacker at the time that she was strangled.' Her autopsy revealed multiple tears in her anus that appeared as if they had occurred after she died, and rectal and vaginal swabs revealed the presence of sperm."

The document describes many other cases in which elderly women had been victimized (but not murdered) by Pace. It took several years, but DNA and fingerprints eventually placed him at all the crime scenes, including that of Sarah Grogan.

I wish to emphasize that if Sarah had not had a gun, she would likely have ended up being a victim of rape and murder. I also wish to emphasize that, as far as I can tell, this case never made the news cycle.

Pace was sentenced to death and has been on Georgia's death row for 29 years.

Death Row and Roy Lee Ward

The Worst of the Worst

by Robert A. Waters

"If ever a case called for the death penalty, this is it." Jon Dartt, Spencer County prosecutor.

On  October 10, the state of Indiana plans to execute Roy Lee Ward. 

The Indiana Supreme Court drafted the following statement about the case: "In July, 2001, Ward went to the Payne residence in Dale, Indiana, where he convinced fifteen-year-old Stacy (pictured) to let him inside. Stacy's younger sister, Melissa, was napping upstairs and awoke to Stacy's screams. From the top of the stairs, Melissa saw a man on top of Stacy while Stacy screamed and pleaded with the man to stop. Melissa ran to her parent's bedroom and called 911."

At trial, prosecutor Jon Dartt said, "Roy Lee Ward brutally murdered and raped Stacy Payne in her home. He beat her with his fists, he hit her with a barbell, he tied her up, he stabbed her and he cut her."

The Jasper Herald reported that "one doctor described her wounds as a 'carving.' Another said she was almost cut in two." She was partially paralyzed because Ward cut her spinal column. According to the Herald, "EMTs said she was conscious and tried to push them away because she thought it was Roy Lee Ward coming back to attack her again. She endured ten minutes of being attacked and it was forty-four minutes later at the hospital before she was given anything for pain."

Stacy, a freshman at Heritage Hills High School, was an honor student. She ranked in the top 10 in her class. In the 7th-grade and 8th-grade, Stacy had been a cheerleader and a member of the student council. At her high school, she had recently made "Patriot Student of the Month." She was a member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church and the youth group.

Roy Lee Ward (pictured) was the complete opposite of Stacy Payne.

The Corydon Democrat reported that "Dale Town Marshall Matt Keller, who was the first to arrive at the Payne home, went in the house and saw Ward standing inside the door with blood all over his clothing and  holding a knife in his hand." The marshal cuffed Ward then found Stacy "lying in a pool of blood, naked from the waist down, conscious, with her intestines exposed." Stacy's injuries were too severe for the local hospital to treat, so she was airlifted to University of Louisville Hospital. She died there five hours later.

Ward admitted his guilt to police and even wrote a letter carried by news outlets in which he denied raping Stacy but admitted killing her.

In 2002, a jury convicted Ward of four counts, including rape and murder. He was sentenced to death. However,  one of his appeals stuck, and the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that publicity in the small town before the trial prejudiced the jury. Granted a new trial, he was convicted once more. A new judge again sentenced him to death.

For twenty years, Ward's attorneys launched appeal after appeal, none of which were successful. His latest, arguing that Indiana's lethal injection process is unconstitutional, failed. 

In the decades before murdering Stacy, Ward had served twelve years in prison for dozens of sexual offenses and an occasional burglary. The Henderson Gleaner wrote that "he would reportedly order pizza or flowers just so he could expose himself to the delivery person. He was charged with public indecency multiple times and was on probation at the time of Payne's killing for a burglary conviction in Missouri."

Ward was a complete stranger to the Payne family. When he approached Stacy at her door, he used the ruse that he couldn't find his dog. She had pity on him, and let him inside, likely to use the landline telephone.

When, or I should say, if, Ward is placed on the gurney to receive a deadly dose of drugs, I hope he'll spare us the usual lecture about the cruelty of capital punishment. We really don't care to hear from someone who committed the mind-numbing crimes he did.

History of the Roman Republic

The Roman Republic, History, Myths, Politics, and Novelistic Historiography

By Dr. Miguel A. Faria, Jr.

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published 2025

Review written by Robert A. Waters

In his introduction to The Roman Republic, History, Myths, Politics, and Novelistic Historiography, the author, Dr. Miguel A. Faria, Jr., writes: "Rome laid the foundation for the system of jurisprudence that later formed the basis of civil law in Latin nations like France, Spain, and Portugal and in countries of North America (Mexico) and Central and South America. Even English-speaking countries, such as the United States, England, Australia and New Zealand, whose laws were based on evolving English common law, were influenced by the Roman civil system."

Rome is credited with beginning in 753 B.C. with the founding of the city. While many myths are included in writings about Rome's early beginnings, the fact is that Roman writers and historians also included great swaths of actual history. Archaeology has proven the accuracy of much of those writings. The Etruscans, a former culture, and ancient Greeks had a significant influence on Roman government and language. 

The author states that "Romulus was...responsible for forming the Roman Senate, the Roman army, and the initial cults of Roman religion." In the very beginning, Rome needed men and women to populate the city. "To attract men to the new city, Romulus created an asylum where fugitives, slaves, or even freemen from other areas could take refuge." To get women, the Roman army raided and conquered smaller tribes.

Rome's military might was necessary for the country to survive for as long as it did. Dr. Faria writes, "The military remained disciplined and strong, able to ward off the barbarians at the frontiers and capable of enforcing peace within the empire." Although the republic was shaken numerous times, it lasted 500 years, long enough to influence the founders of our country, the United States of America. (By contrast, the American Republic has lasted about 250 years.)

Instead of establishing a monarchy or democracy, "ancient Rome created the res publica ('in the public interest') form of governance." Rome developed an executive branch that managed the military and the government; the senate, whose leaders  debated and passed legislation; and the judicial branch made up of judges. Most Roman government officials were voted into office, an unusual practice during that era.

Over time, Rome fought hundreds, if not thousands, of battles and wars against outside forces, but the Republic was brought down from within. In the decades before Jesus Christ was born, a brutal civil war doomed the Republic.

Both Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (i.e., Pompey) and Julius Caesar were successful military leaders. The author writes, "Pompey was a popular youth. In his younger days, he was often compared in appearance to Alexander the Great because of his fine features, golden hair and limpid eyes." 

Although Julius Caesar was born into an aristocratic family, his longing to be dictator of Rome caused friction between him and Pompey, who aligned himself with the Senate.

In 48 B.C., Julius Caesar's military destroyed Pompey's army at the Battle of Pharsalus. In describing the horrific conflict that ended the Republic, the author writes that Caesar's infantry was ordered not to throw their javelins (as was normal) at the charging Republican army but "to thrust them at the heads of the enemy horsemen in an effort to gouge out their eyes, puncture their throats, or cause other dreadful wounds." In the battle, the Republican army suffered 15,000 casualties and 24,000 of its soldiers were taken captive. Pompey fled to Egypt, but was murdered by associates of Ptolemy VIII, the thirteen-year-old boy-king. (NOTE: the author's description of these events reads like a novel and is guaranteed to keep the reader in suspense.)

Julius Caesar became the ruler of Rome, but was famously assassinated a few years later, in 44 B.C. The Republican form of government never recovered as Octavian assumed power and transformed the Republic into the Empire. 

Most Romans believed in "natural law." Cicero, well-read and highly educated, taught the concept. Dr. Faria writes that "Natural Law and Natural Rights theory assert that the rights of the individual were unlimited as long as they do not impinge on the rights of others and do not disturb the peace and tranquility of the community. On the other hand, the power of the state upon the individual was limited." While writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson followed the tenets of Cicero and other more modern thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.

There are so many great stories in this book. We all know about Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Here is a quick biographical sketch of Marc Antony and his wife Octavia: "All of Rome knew that Marc Antony had been consorting with Cleopatra. Yet Octavia, his devoted and long-suffering wife, remained loyal to him despite his shameful treatment of her. She took care of his business affairs during his long absences from Rome, all the while residing in Antony's house and not returning to her brother Octavian's home as a scorned and mistreated wife." The real story (not Hollywood's version) shows Antony as a not-so-great general and a cad of the worst sort. During his last battle, he abandoned his post in the midst of the fighting to follow Cleopatra to Egypt. Needless to say, his rudderless navy (and army) were quickly destroyed.

So many of the true stories in the book bear little resemblance to the romantic notions of Hollywood. Most are even more interesting than some modern made-up dramatic tale.

The Roman civilization, particularly the Republic, influenced the formation of our own country and, as such, should be studied by American citizens. The author (pictured) describes many heroes and villains. The writing is fast-paced and exciting. The characters had many of the positive traits and negative flaws that we have today, and that makes their stories even more readable. The book has 263 high-quality B/W pictures and 33 color photos in high definition. I highly recommend The Roman Republic, History, Myths, Politics, and Novelistic Historiography written by the avid scholar and clear-thinker, Dr. Miguel A. Faria, Jr.

"Tesla terrorist will not be charged with any crime"

Minnesota State Employee Keyed Six Tesla Automobiles

By Robert A. Waters

I don't know if any of my readers are still following the Tesla terrorism cases. My interest is in learning what punishment, if any, each perpetrator will receive. Dylan Adams (pictured) keyed six Teslas in Minneapolis. According to police records, the vandalism amounted to "more than $20,000 in damages."

Adams, who works in the financial compliance department for the Minnesota Department of Human Services, seems to have kept his job. 

This statement is from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office: "We want to make sure we are very clear. What Mr. Adams did was wrong and we are holding him accountable for keying the cars. The HCAO did not reject or decline this case. We offered diversion as we often do with property damage cases when the person has no record. Mr. Adams will have to complete the requirements of the program. He will also have to pay every penny in restitution to the victims. If he does not meet those requirements, we will proceed through the criminal legal system."

The following rebuttal was issued by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "The Minneapolis Police Department did its job. It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified, and arrested a suspect, and presented the case file to the Hennepin County Attorney Office for consideration of charges. The case impacted at least six different individuals and totaled over $20,000 in damages. Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Hennepin County Attorney should be directed solely at her office. Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same."

Adams' attorney, Robert Paule, sent out the following statement: "My client is very remorseful for his actions and is beginning the process of making sure the victims are made whole financially. We are grateful for the Hennepin County Attorney's Office exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and apologize to the victims and law enforcement."

So there you have it.

What do you think?

"This ain't Jesus, This is Satan"

Killer Executed

By Robert A. Waters

The sand track lay invisible in the black night, but Dorothy Lewis stumbled along. Her torn dress snagged the limbs of trees as her eyes tried to focus on what lay ahead. Rattlesnakes, alligators, panthers--she didn't know what could be waiting out in the Florida swamp to attack her, but she did know that a wild animal couldn't be any worse than the human predators who had left her to die.

Dorothy's wounded right knee barely functioned, and her head ached. She'd been shot in the leg, neck, mouth, and forehead. Before that, she had been repeatedly raped by two men. But now, staggering through the darkness, her heart ached worse than her body because Dorothy had no idea where her children were. When the men had shot her and stolen her car, they took Jamilya, 7, and Jasmine, 3 (pictured).  

Several miles later, she spotted a light in the distance.

It's been called the worst crime in the history of Lake County, Florida. 

On January 30, 1993, Lake County was home to only a few small towns. Much of the county was made up of farmland and wooded areas. The building boom in the town of Eustis had not yet begun. With a population of less than 12,000, many who lived there worked in agriculture. Other residents fought the traffic jams to drive the 30 miles to work at Disney World in Orlando.

On that cool day, eighteen-year-old Richard Henyard (pictured) woke up and stole a handgun from a relative. He met up with one of his usual cohorts in crime, Alfonza Smalls, 14. Henyard informed Smalls that he planned a robbery that day. In the late evening, the friends sat on a bench outside the Winn-Dixie grocery store. Watching. As Dorothy and her children walked to their car, they followed.

Florida court documents provide the following narrative: "When Ms. Lewis left the store, she went to her car and put her daughters in the front passenger seat. As she walked behind the car to the driver's side, Ms. Lewis noticed Alfonza Smalls coming towards her. As Smalls approached, he pulled up his shirt and revealed a gun in his waistband. Smalls ordered Ms. Lewis and her daughters into the back seat of the car and then called to Henyard. Henyard drove the Lewis car out of town as Smalls gave him directions.

"The Lewis girls were crying and upset, and Smalls repeatedly demanded that Ms. Lewis 'shut the girls up.' As they continued to drive out of town, Ms. Lewis beseeched Jesus for help, to which Henyard replied, 'This ain't Jesus, this is Satan.'"

After driving for about 20 miles, Henyard stopped near Hicks Ditch Road, in an isolated field of orange groves surrounded by swamps. As the girls watched through the back window, Henyard raped Dorothy on the trunk of the car. After he finished, Smalls also raped Dorothy. While he was assaulting her, he laid the pistol down on the trunk. Dorothy reached for it but Smalls was too fast for her. Snatching it, he shouted, "You're not going to get this gun, bitch."

Henyard took the pistol from Smalls and forced Dorothy to sit in a ditch alongside the road. When he thought she was moving too slow, he fired the gun, hitting her in the leg. The girls continued to scream, begging the men not to hurt their mother. Dorothy pled with Henyard and Smalls not to kill her children. 

After being shot, Dorothy blacked out. Henyard and Smalls thought she was dead and left.

The girls in the backseat continued to scream for their mother. Regardless of how many times Henyard and Smalls yelled at them to shut up, they wouldn't stop. "Mommy," they screamed. "Mommy. I want my mommy." Henyard drove for a few more miles, then stopped again.

Henyard yanked Jasmine out of the back seat while Jamilya got out on her own. According to court documents, "The Lewis girls were then taken into a grassy area along the roadside where they were each killed with a single bullet fired into the head. Henyard and Smalls threw the bodies of Jasmine and Jamilya Lewis over a nearby fence into some underbrush."

Later that day, Henyard bragged to his friends and family about the rape and murders. No one contacted police to report Henyard's confessions.

Finally, nine days after the murders, Henyard went to the Eustis Police Department and told detectives that Smalls and a friend had killed the girls. It was thought he hoped to get the reward money, which by now had reached a meager $1,000. 

Investigators quickly uncovered his schemes and Henyard confessed.

On September 23, 2008, more than fifteen years after having been convicted of two counts of first degree murder, as well as kidnapping and rape, Henyard stumbled into the death chamber at Raiford. According to police reports, he had never shown a bit of remorse. Clinical-like, prison officials stuck his arm with a needle and he quickly drifted off to an eternal sleep. 

A Christian, Dorothy Lewis said she had forgiven Henyard and did not attend his execution. 

Alfonza Smalls was convicted of the same crimes. Because of his age, he received a sentence of life in prison. According to prison records, he is still incarcerated.

The Great Convenience Store Stickup

Please don't ever start doing dope...

By Robert A. Waters

Back in school, you and your buddies used to make fun of Nancy Reagan's slogan, "Just say no." So simplistic, you said, snickering with all your friends. 

Since then, you've been in jail a half-dozen times, and you just got out of prison a few hours ago. You've never been able to hold a job. You beat up every girlfriend you ever had when she attempted to leave your sorry ass. Your dad tried helping when you were young. He'd been in Nam and knew what real problems could be. Now every time you look into his sad old eyes, you feel utterly ashamed.

But that craving is still there, and it's only getting worse. The few dollars you got when you were released from prison have already vanished. You need more money. If you don't score some meth, you feel like you'll die. 

Your old prison buddy, who got out a few days before you, loaned you a beat-up little .22-caliber Saturday Night Special. It seems fragile, like it's missing a couple of pieces. 

It's only four in the afternoon, but you walk across the street from your dad's house and enter the store. Chips, candy, beer, you're not interested. You also don't notice that the surveillance video is state-of-the-art and covers every square inch of the place, inside and out.

A girl stands behind the counter. Got on a green jacket with the business logo. Straight brunette hair, can't be more than twenty. You walk up and stick the pistol in her face. "Gimme the money," you snarl. Her face drains white and she fumbles with the register. "Don't shoot," she whispers. You sweep the gun down, the barrel pointing at the till. She's panicking now, banging the keys with her fingers when all of a sudden the drawer pops open. Sounds like a gunshot. 

The girl grabs a bunch of bills and hands them to you. "That ain't enough," you say. "Open the safe." 

"It's time-stamped," she murmurs. "Please don't shoot me," she says. "I got a little boy. My husband..." 

"Gimme the rest of the money. Now!" 

"I can't."

You point the barrel at her face and cock the gun. Now you feel that same rage you felt when your girlfriends tried to leave. The clerk whimpers out one more word. "Plee-eease...."

When you squeeze the trigger, the gun barely makes any sound. A faraway car backfires. The girl staggers back, a smear of blood on her shirt. Her face looks like she can't believe this is happening. Then she drops like a stone onto the floor.

Oh Jesus, what am I gonna do now?

You finally notice the video behind the counter. You point the gun at it and try to fire at the camera. But your pistol disintegrates. Half of it drops to the floor, you're just standing there holding the grip.

Finally, what little mind you have left tells you to leave.

But as you rush out, a young couple walks in. They nod at you, they're friends with your dad.

You don't have long. You race to your dealer who lives around the corner and hand him the wad of cash. 63 bucks. He places a baggie in your hand. "Get out!" he screams.

You run back to your old man's house. He's lying on the couch, not moving. It's like he's either dead or zoning you out--like he doesn't want to even think about you and your perpetual crises...You run into your bedroom and lock the door.

You've got to get that rush before police arrive.

Suddenly, the door crashes in and someone kicks that baggie out of your hand. That fat cop you hate the most yanks your arms behind your back and cuffs you. Then he wrenches your shoulder up until you scream. 

He laughs.

You never even got that last high.

This is a composite of many convenience store robberies I've studied. With the exception of a couple of cases that were sexually motivated where the robbers kidnapped a female clerk, all were drug-related. In most cases, the robber does something stupid, like having a decrepit gun that disintegrates. He's almost always caught within a few hours. 

Dope has infiltrated our culture so that a large percentage of the population think it's cool to get high. More than 100,000 Americans OD every year. These are real lives, real people who died senseless deaths. And real families that will forever live with the heartache of needless loss.

It's only getting worse.

I'm afraid for my country.

I'm afraid for my grandkids.

If you believe in prayer, pray hard that this curse can be eradicated.

If you don't pray, teach your kids to "just say no." Yeah, it's kinda hokey. But it just might save someone's life.

The Case That Was So Horrific It Could Never Go To Trial

Was Justice Served for Madeline Soto?

By Robert A. Waters

"I'm pretty sure this was all an accident. I'm not sure that any one person [is to blame]. Maybe no one's to blame or everyone's to blame a little bit." Stephan Sterns speaking about how Madeline Soto (pictured) died. NOTE: Sterns murdered her.

It's hard to say who was running the asylum in Kissimmee, Florida.

There was Jennifer Soto. She rarely worked and when she did, she had to make sure she didn't earn enough so that her disability payments would be revoked. The asylum was a pill dump--everyone in the "family" of three seemed to be overly-medicated much of the time. Jenn, as she liked to be called, took sleeping pills for comfort. If she didn't want to face a problem, why not gulp down a benzodiazepine or two? She also had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. That required additional meds. Drugs were everywhere in the home.

The "family" lived in a 2200 square foot townhouse. It had four bedrooms. Jenn's father owned the place and even his daughter was forced to pay rent to live there. There were two female renters in the rooms upstairs. There was one kitchen that everyone used and a bathroom on  each floor.

The whole situation invited chaos.

Madeline Soto, Jennifer's daughter, had a make-shift bedroom she rarely used. A teenager, she still slept with Jenn, and sometimes Jenn and Stephan. On the night she was murdered, Jenn sent Maddie upstairs to sleep with her boyfriend while she (Jenn) slept. So what could go wrong?

Maddie's father lived a thousand miles away in Texas. So she had gown up in the chaos. Maddie had fought her way through 13 years, being force-fed pills just to exist. Like mother, like daughter. Jennifer claimed that Madeline had ADHD--attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Due to the drugs Jennifer gave her, Madeline sometimes could not stay awake in class. 

On Sunday, February 22, Madeline went to her grandmother's house to celebrate her 13th birthday. (Her mother had to work that day and couldn't attend.) Maddie came home in the late afternoon to find her mother's boyfriend waiting.

Stephan Sterns, 37, was a snake. He lived upstairs in Room 4. Like Jenn, he almost never worked. He bragged to her that at any time he could manipulate his parents into giving him money. And if they wouldn't hand over the cash, he would steal it, he said. He had actually stolen his father's Rolex watch. Sterns' parents lived two hours away. Sterns loved vaping, and playing Warhammer games and wearing his cap backward like a 1980s teenaged nerd. He seemed to think he looked cool. He collected trading cards and figurines, Tamagotchis and Battletech. He was so creepy that almost everyone of Jenn's friends who met him warned her to get him out of her life.

But for some reason, she ignored the advice.

Like Jenn and Maddie, Sterns took medication to sleep and for anxiety.

He had a secret. A dark deadly secret that had festered for years inside Room 4. The room was equipped with several inside door locks so no one would find out the secret. For at least five years, Sterns had been raping Maddie. Sometimes he doubled her sleeping pills so he could molest her while she was unconscious. Other times, he blackmailed her into succumbing to his dark desires. Or he would tell her he loved her, playing on her naivete to form an emotional pathway for sexual exploitation. 

Shortly after Maddie returned from her party, Sterns strangled her to death. Panicking, he drove her body around for hours looking for a place to dump it. Eventually, he found a row of out-of-the-way bamboo trees on private property off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County. Five days after Maddie went missing, cops found her remains there.

In this era of amateur YouTube detectives, millions of viewers across the world learned details about Maddie's case. (I'm not putting the YouTubers down, just stating a fact.)

After recovering Maddie's body, Kissimmee PD took the lead in the investigation. Detectives had already arrested Sterns on 60 counts of sexual battery, molestation and child pornography. In addition to 1,700 images of Maddie being violated in every way possible, cops found a hard drive owned by Sterns that contained 35,000 images of random sexual acts with children. While the original charges consisted of Sterns raping Maddie, the 35,000 images on the hard drive were likely picked up off the internet. Cops think those images may have been bought and sold. Since Sterns rarely worked but always seemed to have cash to buy expensive figurines, many have conjectured that he sold those vile images via the internet.

A few weeks after Maddie's body was found, Sterns was charged with first degree murder. Prosecutors said they planned to seek the death penalty.

But the court cases never got that far. The prospect of 12 jurors watching 1,700 images of Maddie being raped was too much even for Sterns. Had he allowed those images to be seen, he wouldn't have a chance in prison. His lawyers persuaded him to plead guilty. In that way, he could avoid the death penalty and no one else would view the horrific things he did to Maddie.

On July 21, 2025, Sterns pleaded no contest to the murder charge and guilty to the sex abuse charges. He was sentenced to 21 life sentences with no chance for parole.

One major question remains. What caused Sterns to murder Maddie? Even after pleading "no contest" for her murder, he never told the reason.

Many theories have emerged. Some analysts say he "outgrew" her. According to this theory, molesters have a certain age preference. Maddie no longer looked like a child. She was a teenager fast becoming an adult. Did that turn Stephan off? Possibly. Would it have made him kill her? I doubt it.

It's more likely that Maddie threatened to expose her abuser. She had told friends that when she turned 13 she planned to go "live in the woods." That may have been a coded way of saying she wanted to end the abuse. I can imagine a scenario of Maddie confronting Sterns. Social scientists who study domestic violence have determined that ending a relationship can be a very dangerous time. What if Maddie informed Sterns that she planned to tell her mom about the hell she had suffered over the years. He knew the end of Maddie's silence would mean he would be imprisoned for life. In his mind, that could never happen. So the only viable alternative for him to continue his life as he knew it would be to murder his long-time victim.

One other scenario strikes me as plausible. What if Maddie was pregnant? Or maybe she thought she was pregnant? It is possible that Maddie had been brainwashed into thinking she was in a romantic relationship with Sterns. While this is despicable to think about, it's happened before. 

According to one of Maddie's girlfriends at school, they kept track of their periods together. They had started menstruating about the same time so they talked about it occasionally. Approximately two months before she was murdered, her friend told detectives that Maddie's periods had stopped. She may have told Sterns she was pregnant with his child. While she might have been ecstatic about having his baby, he would have been crushed. He knew the end had come. Murder, as Sterns saw it, was the only option.

One other fact supports this theory.

Cops found emails on the phones of Maddie and Sterns in which she pressured him to buy "mom," "dad," and "baby" tokens.

If Maddie was indeed pregnant, the information isn't likely to be released any time soon. But those tokens are certainly intriguing.

Some of the YouTube channels I used while researching this story:

The Fish Tank: Gavin Fish

Grizzly: Gisela

Nancy Grace

Vinnie Politan: Court TV.

Facing the Firing Squad

Victim Maurine Hunsaker

40 Years Later, It's Finally Time to Pay

By Robert A. Waters

Ralph Menzies looks like anyone's grandpa. Slightly overweight, maybe a little sickly, but probably nice enough. If you saw him in Walmart, you might nod.

You wouldn't know that from his youth Menzies could never stay out of prison for more than a few days at any given time. For his final crime, he kidnapped, tortured, robbed and murdered a completely innocent woman.

So now this kindly-looking old man faces a firing squad.

A lot of people say he's too old to be shot to death. Not only that, he had a crappy childhood. And he might have mental issues. And, even worse, he may have dementia.

Others say it's been a long time coming, that 40 years is too long for a family to have to wait for justice to be served.

On February 23, 1986, Maurine Hunsaker, 26, went to work at the Gas a Mat service station in Kearns, Utah. As a clerk, her job was to see that customers got gas in their vehicles and bought candy and cold drinks and beer if they wanted to. She may never have even realized that working in such a business is one of the most dangerous jobs in America.

The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that "Menzies is accused of killing Mrs. Hunsaker the morning after she disappeared from her job at a Kearns area self-service gas station February 23. A hiker found her body February 25 near a picnic area on Storm Mountain in Big Cottonwood Canyon."

Menzies had been out of prison for just three days. Instead of trying to find work, he decided to rob a store to get a few bucks for drugs. It was just the luck of the draw that he chose the place where Maurine worked.  

A staff writer for the Tribune wrote that "convicted killer Ralph LeRoy Menzies is an incurable psychopath who should die not just for the murder of Maurine Hunsaker but for his life of crime, prosecutors say."

As a juvenile, Menzies had a rap sheet five pages long. In 1976, just hours after being released from custody for other crimes he robbed a 7-11 convenience store. Two years later, he shot-gunned a cab driver. Had he been jailed for the rest of his life for either of those crimes, Maurine Hunsaker would likely have been able to live her life.

Instead, Menzies played the system. After he kidnapped Maurine, he allowed her to call her husband and tell him that she would be released later. Then Menzies used a long-bladed knife to stab her to death.

Menzies is scheduled to die September 5. 

Maurine's son Matt, who was just ten-years-old when his mother was killed, has long complained about the length of time it takes for an execution to take place. Betty Sudweeks, Hunsaker's mother, recently stated that she is bitter at the system for the dozens and dozens of delays. "Maurine had a very lovely family," Sudweeks said, "and a husband she adored. She had everything to live for."

Ralph Menzies got $116.00 for the robbery.

Who Murdered Eddie Gaedel?

Midget Played in the Major Leagues

By Robert A. Waters

In 1951, baseball was still king. Every day in the summertime, massive crowds showed up to see the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, and other great teams. But there were also ne'er-do-well organizations such as the St. Louis Browns, teams that had never gotten a whiff of a pennant or, God forbid, a World Series. Since he was unable to hire a team of winners, Bill Veeck, owner of the Browns, turned to promoting stunts to gain paying crowds.

His most successful stunt featured a 3-foot 7-inch midget named Eddie Gaedel. On the scorching hot day of August 19, 1951, the Browns were playing a double-header with the Detroit Tigers. As usual, the Browns lost the first game 7 to 2. In between the first and second game, Veeck's ground crew rolled a massive papier-mache cake onto the field. The 18,000 fans in attendance suddenly became excited--another wild feat was coming, they could feel it in their bones.

As the Tigers began getting ready for the second game, catcher Bob Swift took warm-up tosses from pitcher Bob Cain. Umpire Ed Hurley stood behind Swift ready to call the balls and strikes.

Then it happened. As the two bottom-dwelling teams got ready to play, a door in the papier-mache cake popped open and out stepped Eddie Gaedel. Half the size of most players, wearing an official Browns uniform with the fraction "1/8" written across the back, manager Zack Taylor walked to the umpire and stated that Eddie Gaedel would pinch hit for the scheduled number one hitter, Frank Saucier.

Gaedel, a showman, strutted toward home plate holding a child's bat.

The crowd, throbbing with excitement, erupted in laughter.

Umpire Hurley called Veeck and manager Taylor to him. This man is not a professional player, Hurley said. He will not be allowed to hit. Veeck quickly pulled out documents proving Gaedel was a member of the team. The doubtful umpire had no choice, the diminutive batter could play.

Gaedel stepped up to the plate. Veeck had warned him not to swing, to just crouch down and hold the bat on his shoulder. The crowd was standing now, ready to see the stunt play out. Pitcher Cain reared back and threw a fastball to the catcher. "Ball!" roared the ump. Too high. A second pitch was also a ball. Every time Hurley yelled "Ball," the crowds screamed. 

After ball four, Gaedel began jogging toward first base. He stopped twice and curtseyed for the crowds. Pandemonium set in. Gaedel reached first base and stood there. Manager Taylor then put in a pinch runner for Gaedel. As the midget headed to the dugout, the crowds gave him a prolonged and raucous standing ovation. 

Then it was over. As usual, the Browns lost the game. But nobody cared. Each fan would remember this game for the rest of their lives.

Eddie Gaedel was born in Chicago to a poor family. Whether it was due to people making fun of him because of his height, or a Napoleanic complex, he developed a surly personality. That, along with a yearning for juke joints and booze, made the little man a target for bullies. Even though he never won, our one-day hero always seemed to be itching for a fight.

Gaedel fought his last bout on June 18, 1961, ten years after he made baseball history. The Chicago Times reported that "an inquest has been ordered into the death of Edward Gaedel, the only midget ever to play baseball in the major leagues. He was 36 years old. The inquest was ordered after police noted bruises around the knees and on the left side of Mr. Gaedel's face after his body was discovered in the bedroom of his South side apartment Sunday." In addition to the wounds suffered by Gaedel, an autopsy showed that he died of a heart attack.

Rumor suggested that Gaedel was last seen at a bowling alley being followed by four ruffians. Reporters speculated that these men robbed him.

This story disappeared from the newspapers faster than Eddie Gaedel disappeared from major league baseball. While searching many newspapers, I could never find additional information about the murder investigation into his death. Did the cops drop the case after learning of Gaedel's heart attack? That might make it difficult to convict an assailant, so investigators may have decided to deep-six the case. 

The only major league player to attend Eddie Gaedel's funeral was Bob Cain, the pitcher who walked him. "I felt obligated," Cain told reporters.

Blue Monday--The Day Fats Domino Disappeared

Rock 'n' Roll Legend Went Missing for 3 Days

By Robert A. Waters

On August 23, 2005, a storm formed near the Bahama Islands in the Bermuda Triangle. It moved fast, striking just north of Miami on the evening of the 25th. The roiling clouds and driving rains screamed across Florida with winds of 80 miles-per-hour. Twenty inches of rain soaked the Sunshine State. The storm kept drifting west, into the Gulf of Mexico. Once there, winds rose to 175 miles per hour and became a waterlogged thorn in the side of weathercasters. Where would it land?

On the night of Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina stopped playing games with the news crews. It smashed up on the southern shore of Louisiana. With winds now at 140 miles per hour and a storm surge of 27 feet, much of the city of New Orleans was doomed. Dikes broke, flooding obliterated thousands of homes and businesses, and more than 1,500 residents of Louisiana died. Twenty-four hours later, as the storm rolled out of the "Big Easy," it left a massive hole of devastation behind.

Many people disappeared, some never to be seen again. Among those who vanished was the famous singer, Antoine "Fats" Domino.

The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation wrote that "New Orleans' biggest musical export since Louis Armstrong, [Fats] Domino, sold more records from 1956 to 1963 than anyone but Elvis Presley and could have lived anywhere. He chose, when not on tour, to stay in the neighborhood he grew up in, holding court over heaping pots of red beans and rice in a living room with a grand piano and a couch made from the back of a vintage Cadillac. Musicians, neighbors, relatives, and visiting dignitaries were in and out the door over the decades." (Domino's home is pictured below.)

As the storm blew in, Domino called his agent. The singer stated he planned to "ride out" Katrina with his disabled wife, Rosemary.

Then he went silent.

Antoine Dominique Domino, Jr. was born February 26, 1928 in New Orleans. He learned the piano as a child and started playing local clubs in his teenaged years. In 1949, he released his first record, "The Fat Man." It sold over a million copies. Fats was on his way to fame and fortune. Hits such as "My Girl Josephine," "Blue Monday," and the classic, "Blueberry Hill," continued to chart. 

Domino lived in the Lower Ninth Ward at 1208 Caffin Avenue. His home lay directly in the path of Katrina. Throughout the night, winds roared and rain shot like volleys of bullets in the  darkness. The Domino home began taking water early. As the water rose in the house, Fats and Rosemary clambered upstairs to the second floor. 

Six feet, eight feet, ten feet, the flood continued to rise. By now, Fats and Rosemary feared they would die. Looking below, the world-famous musician could see his possessions floating around his home. His expensive white Steinway piano lay on its side, covered by the flood. It's legs and keys were never found.

When morning broke, the streets surrounding the Domino home were empty, except for floating corpses. Ten feet of water sloshed through the neighborhood, drowning many homes in the area. Late that afternoon, the United States Coast Guard began sending rescue crews out in small boats and helicopters.

No one could get hold of Fats. For three days, he remained missing. Fans of the singer grieved, sure he'd perished. Someone even painted "RIP Fats You Will Be Missed" on the front of his home.

Major news outlets, including CNN and Fox News, reported that the famous singer was missing and feared dead. His agent told reporters he had not heard from Fats for three days.

Finally, on September 1, CNN reported that Fats and his wife had been rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. This was confirmed by his agent. The couple had climbed onto the roof to escape death. They were currently staying in a safe part of the city with their daughter's boyfriend.

Fats lost all his gold records and his National Medal of Arts award in the storm. 

One of the earliest members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fats was also inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Hall of Fame. Over his career, it is estimated that the much-loved artist sold almost one hundred million records.

After Katrina, Fats never rebuilt his New Orleans home. He and Rosemary moved to Harvey, Louisiana. He died on October 24, 2017. He was 89-years-old. His beloved wife had preceded him in death.

His world-famous Steinway was restored and is currently on display at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.