April 23, 2004

Death in 1946 investigated

By J OSBORNE

Register Staff Writer

The truth is out there, some believe.

In the case of Harold E. Vest's death, ruled a suicide in 1946, it took almost 58 years for some of the truth to surface.

The story, according to his son, Herb, didn't ring true since he found his father's death certificate when Herb was 11 years old.

"I never believed for 1 minute he committed suicide," Herb said.

His father was found, "hanging -- wearing ladies panties and girdle. In 1944 auto-erotic asphyxiation wasn't known -- especially in a little town like Gainesville ," said Danny K. Williams, president of D.K. Investigations of Addison.

Later last year, the family received a letter. A woman sent them a 3-page, single-spaced letter, signed "M. Smith," detailing what happened that night. Smith wrote that she was infatuated with Harold Vest and went to his shop to flirt with him. She said that there was a boy, sometimes there, who worked there.

She wrote that her boyfriend and 2 other men burst into the shop a few minutes later. She said her boyfriend went into a jealous rage and forced Harold to strip and put on the woman's underwear.

The boyfriend, she claimed in the letter, took Smith home and threatened to kill his 2 friends if they let Harold escape. When he nearly did, the pair tied him up in the bathroom.

Smith wrote that she heard of Harold's death the next day. Her boyfriend told them that if they spoke of the matter, they would all go to the electric chair. She said one of the men told her what happened.

The victim's widow, Ruth Blakeley Vest, said, "I hunted for answers for over 60 years, and maybe I'm finding one now."

Herb Vest said, "Living with suicide is not easy and it hasn't been easy for my mother. Mother was raised in Henrietta and her father was mayor of Henrietta at the time."

Herb said that Williams is a long-time friend and it was just natural to hire him to check into the letter.

Williams said as he looked into the case and began uncovering things, "I realized suicide was physically impossible. His feet were tied and the rope was tied to the wall, tethering his feet. There was a rope around his waist and his left arm was tied to his waist. His right arm was free -- I hypothesized that he got his right arm free -- and there are scratches from his fingernails around his neck. There was a machinery belt around his neck and the belt was nailed to the door."

Williams said he went to the Cooke County Courthouse to search the old records.

Justice of the Peace Dorthy Lewis said, "It's unusual for a request for ... 57-year-old information (to come through). Part of a page was missing and it (the page containing the JP report) wasn't indexed. I didn't know what they were going to find."

She said that was in September 2003 and Williams had continued to stay in touch.

Lewis said they finally got back to her and asked, "... What it would take to exhume the body. Because the death occurred here, I told them they would have to bring me probable cause to give me reason to reopen the case."

They did that, she said, and included a request from Herb Vest to exhume the body. "They got all that information together and I thought there was enough substance there. I took it over to Janelle (Haverkamp, the Cooke County district attorney) and she thought three was enough probable cause. Then I issued the order to exhume the body. I told him about a forensic anthropologist in Denton , Dr. Killking and they got in touch with him. I have to take the order to Henrietta so Dr. Killking can transport the body."

Williams said that the JP at the time was L.B. Henry who had a very distinctive handwriting. He said they verified that the report of the death was not in his handwriting, and the bottom half of it was missing.

Pud Albert was instrumental in helping D.K Investigations, Williams said. She provided information so the firm could track down the (then) 13-year-old boy that worked in Harold's cabinet shop.

CABINET SHOP COLD CASE ----- Herb Vest (left to right) presents a check to Pud Albert for information leading to the location of the "boy in the cabinet shop" referred to in the letter received by the family claiming Harold E. Vest was murdered and did not commit suicide. The letter referred to the boy and D.K. Investigations was hired to look into the matter. Danny K. Williams of the investigative firm is on the right and looking through the glass of the door is Vest's wife Kerenzia. (© Staff photo)

Albert said she had talked with Williams. She said, "I told him I was 80 years old and I couldn't remember everything. This was 50 years ago. So I started talking with people (who I knew then). At that time, we were all in our 20s. The funeral home had a station wagon type ambulance (to transport bodies).

"I called Dan Flint -- who worked for the funeral home then and he said he had picked the body (of Harold Vest) up and it was weird."

Betty Buttolph of Gainesville said that Albert, "... back then had a hamburger stand down on the creek near the cabinet shop. She became a teacher later."

She said she continued to talk with others and finally got back in touch with Williams.

Herb said, "What we are giving Pud the award for is -- she found the information about the boy who worked at the cabinet shop.

"We are going to talk with him after we get back from Henrietta."

"What comes next depends on what is found," Haverkamp said in the Denton Record-Chronicle. "There is the possibility that a criminal investigation could be reopened. There's no statute of limitations here."