Reward amount bumped up in unsolved slaying

By Bill Hanna
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
June 29, 2005

Reward amount bumped up in unsolved slaying By Bill Hanna Star-Telegram Staff Writer Fifty-nine years after Harold "Buddy" Vest was found strangled to death in a Gainesville cabinet shop, his millionaire son is offering a $100,000 reward in hopes of finding out who killed his father.

"We're just not getting any leads out of Gainesville," Dallas businessman Herb Vest said Wednesday. "We're hoping the upping of the reward (from $25,000) will cause some people to come forward."

Herb Vest was an infant when his father was found strangled to death on June 28, 1946.

A belt was wrapped around his neck, a gag was stuffed in his mouth and he was wearing women's underwear.

The death was quickly ruled a suicide and became a family secret for nearly a half-century.

It stayed that way until Herb Vest hired a private investigator who began finding evidence of a cover-up.

There were two death certificates on file. One version -- a copy that was sent to Herb Vest's mother, Ruth Vest -- had few details.

The other version contained information about Buddy Vest's clothing and it was clear the justice of the peace's signature had been forged.

The justice of the peace's signature was also torn out of an inquest report about Buddy Vest's death.

These revelations, along with a letter from a mysterious woman calling herself "M Smith," led the current justice of the peace to exhume Buddy Vest's remains in 2004.

An autopsy concluded that Buddy Vest had suffered a broken nose and a broken tooth -- two injuries that were not present when he left for work on the last day he was alive. The ruling was changed from suicide to homicide.

Then there were the tantalizing details from the "M Smith" letter.

She claimed to be an eyewitness to the crime. She described herself as a flirtatious woman who was spurned by Buddy Vest, only to have her jealous boyfriend, a married Gainesville police officer, follow her to his cabinet shop. The lawman showed up with two friends she dubbed "Tom" and "Charlie" and decided to teach Buddy Vest a lesson by forcing him to dress in her undergarments.

She claimed the killing was accidental but it was made to look like a suicide.

Now, more than a year after receiving the letter, Herb Vest isn't sure what to believe.

"The letter is becoming more and more suspect all of the time," Herb Vest said. "We're not sure, but it could have been a decoy letter to throw us off track."

Herb Vest still believes the letter's account of his father's death is largely accurate but wonders if it was designed to hide who really responsible.

He has created a Web site (murderingainesville.com) that provides details of the death, a list of possible suspects and theories about why his father might have been killed.

"I'll get to the bottom of it if I live long enough," Herb Vest said.

Anyone with information should contact Patricia Bellows at (972)402-4806.

Bill Hanna, (817) 390-7698 billhanna@star-telegram.com