John Robert Williams

Background

John Robert Williams was a long-haul trucker. He was held in a “supermax” unit of the Parchman, Miss., prison.

Investigators described the case as spanning cross-country killings involving truck stop prostitutes and other victims. Authorities interviewed Williams after he had already been sentenced in Mississippi.

The offence

Authorities said Williams killed Buffie Rae Brawley, a 27-year-old Toledo woman. Her partially clothed body was found March 24, 2004, in a desolate parking lot about 10 miles outside Indianapolis.

Investigators said the killing was particularly cruel. They said duct tape was pressed over her face and her killer bashed in her head and strangled her.

Williams also confessed to the murder of Casey Jo Pipestem, a 19-year-old woman, and authorities linked him and Rachel Cumberland to other killings they believed were part of the same pattern.

Williams and his girlfriend, Rachel Cumberland, admitted to killing a 20-year-old woman they met at a casino in 2004. Cumberland also pleaded guilty and received a 20-year prison sentence.

Authorities said Williams and Cumberland were suspected in other killings, including the slaying of Jennifer Hyman of Oklahoma City, the killing of Samantha Patrick in Yukon, Okla., and the death of Pipestem.

Authorities also said Williams and Cumberland were wanted in connection with the discovery of the body of Nikki Hill of Shuqualak, Mississippi.

Investigation

Indiana investigators said their interview with Williams was triggered by a meeting last month in Reno where federal and local law enforcement gathered to exchange information on unsolved crimes, especially victims of suspected serial killers.

An investigator from Grapevine, Texas, told Captain Clarke Fine that Williams confessed that he was responsible for killing a woman and throwing her off a bridge in Texas. Captain Fine said the woman was Casey Jo Pipestem, 19, who was last seen alive at a truck stop in Oklahoma City.

Indiana investigators said they were suspicious Williams might be confessing to crimes he did not commit, but they believed he knew details that only the killer might know, including when Brawley died and how her body was left.

Captain Fine said Williams remembered Brawley’s rose tattoo with the name “Ebony” over it, and said it was the name of her daughter.

Grapevine investigators said a relative watching true-crime television led to a breakthrough. A tip was linked to an episode of “America’s Most Wanted” detailing the death of Casey Jo Pipestem, whose body was found in Grapevine.

Grapevine Detective Larry Hallmark said the relative called the show’s 800 phone number and said the killing sounded like one that Williams bragged about when the relative had talked to him.

Hallmark said: “As much work as all the investigators had done on these cases, I just knew that one day we would get a break,” and added: “That tip was it.”

Hallmark and Grapevine police Sgt. Bob Murphy interviewed Williams and Cumberland for 11 hours, with eight hours with Williams and three hours with Cumberland. Hallmark said: “They were very talkative,” and said the interview persuaded officials that Williams was involved in Pipestem’s death.

Hallmark said: “You have to be careful because when you get someone that talkative you discover that 30 percent is the truth and 70 percent is not.”

A Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman, Warren Strain, said Mississippi authorities declined to make additional comments, although they had filed charges in a second murder case.

Senior intelligence analyst Terri Turner at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation built a database of murder victims, many of them prostitutes, and said she could not comment on the specifics of the investigation and could not say how many other victims might be linked to Williams and Cumberland. Turner said: “it’s still an ongoing investigation.”

Arrest

John Robert Williams and defendant Rachel Cumberland were arrested in Mississippi in 2005 after a year-long investigation by federal and local authorities investigating cross-country murders.

A Mississippi Bureau of Investigation director, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Berthay, said an investigation led to Ms. Cumberland, and that she was charged with capital murder and kidnapping. He said a warrant for John Robert Williams was issued as the investigation progressed.

Agents said 28-year-old John Robert Williams, originally from Carthage, was armed and considered dangerous.

Trial

Mississippi (Nikki Hill case)

Williams pleaded guilty July 5 to kidnapping and murder in the Hill slaying.

He was sentenced to life in prison. On the same day, Cumberland pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and received 20 years in prison.

Mark Duncan, the Neshoba County District Attorney in Mississippi, said: “He claimed he shot her by accident and decided, 'Well now I've got to go ahead and kill her,' which makes no sense,” and said: “Exactly what their motivation, nobody knows.”

Indiana (Buffie Rae Brawley interview; charging not clearly stated)

Indiana investigators visited Williams in prison and said he confessed to killing Buffie Rae Brawley and knew details that only the killer would know.

Whether Williams would be charged with Brawley’s death was described as not clear.

Sentencing

Williams was serving a life sentence, plus 20 years, for the crime.

He was lodged in “Unit 32,” a super-maximum security facility on the Parchman prison campus.

Captain Fine said the American Civil Liberties Union called the unit filthy, unsafe, and one of the least humane in the country. Captain Fine said: “He spends 23 hours a day [in a small cell] with no TV, no radio, no air conditioning, and nothing to read but religious tracts,”

Appeals

No appeal information appeared in the provided material.

Outcome

Williams admitted to killing Buffie Rae Brawley. Investigators said he knew details, including her death timing and the rose tattoo naming “Ebony” over it.

Indiana investigators said the interview and confession brought relief because they believed the information was consistent with details only the killer would know.

Mississippi authorities declined additional comments, but the material indicated charges in a second murder case were filed.

Prosecutors in Texas were described as possibly seeking the death penalty.

Aftermath

Buffie Rae Brawley’s family described ongoing hardship. Her mother, Nadine Fechtner, died of cancer Aug. 20, 2006.

The material said Fechtner had been raising her granddaughter, Ebony, after her own daughter was murdered.

It said Fechtner spent much of the year following her daughter’s death fighting with her son-in-law, convicted Toledo pimp Derek Maes, to have her daughter’s body returned to the family. Eventually, Maes relented, and he was described as in a Pennsylvania prison awaiting sentencing on unrelated pimping convictions.

Local authorities appeared at 6:30 a.m. at Brawley’s niece’s house in Portland, asking for Ms. Fechtner. Linda Lyons said her aunt had died, and an officer handed her Captain Fine’s phone number.

Mrs. Lyons said: “As soon as we saw the area code, [my husband] said, ‘Hon, it’s about Buffie,’”

Williams was moved from the Neshoba County jail to the Lafayette County Jail in Oxford, Miss.

Other details

Buffie Rae Brawley background and case details

Investigators said Brawley’s body was found March 24, 2004, in a desolate parking lot about 10 miles outside Indianapolis.

Authorities said duct tape was pressed over her face, her killer bashed in her head, and she was strangled.

Lieutenant Call said: “He said, ‘She tapped on the cab of the truck,’”

Casey Jo Pipestem case details

Authorities said Pipestem’s nude body was found Jan. 31, 2004, in Big Bear Creek.

The material said her body had been dropped from a Texas 360 bridge, and that she had last been seen three days earlier at an Oklahoma City truck stop.

The material said a Grapevine detective described the tip from the “America’s Most Wanted” episode and said it sounded like a killing Williams had bragged about.

Nikki Hill case details (Mississippi)

The material said agents and local authorities believed Williams and Cumberland were involved in the discovery of Nikki Hill’s body.

It said the body was found July 18 at approximately 11:00 a.m. off Neshoba County Road 2606 near MS 16 West in Philadelphia.

Neshoba County Sheriff Larry Myers said: “She was fully clothed and appeared to have been shot several times,”

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Berthay said: “Our investigation led us to Ms. Cumberland who was subsequently charged with capital murder and kidnapping. As we progressed with the investigation, a warrant for John Robert Williams was issued,”

Myers said: “This cooperative effort between our office, the Leake County Sheriff's Office and MBI shows what can be accomplished when we work together with a comprehensive approach to an investigation,”

Other suspected cases mentioned

The material listed other cases in which the couple were suspects:

• The slaying of Jennifer Hyman of Oklahoma City. It said a railroad engineer found her nude body Aug. 20, 2003, below a Tallahatchie River railroad bridge near Oxford, Miss.
• The killing of Samantha Patrick. It said charges were expected to be filed against the couple in Patrick’s slaying in Yukon, Okla., about 12 miles west of Oklahoma City.
• The death of Pipestem, described above.