KFDX NewsCenter 3

The Spirit of Texoma

KFDX, Channel 3-NBC, Wichita Falls , TX

Friday, April 23, 2004

HALF-CENTURY OLD SUICIDE CASE REOPENED

58 years after a Gainesville man's death was ruled a suicide, officials have reopened the case, and today exhumed his body from a Henrietta cemetery. Harold "Buddy" Vest was found hanging in a room of his cabinetmaking shop in 1946, but, Vest's son says he remained suspicious of the death. He hired a private investigator in 2002 and put out an ad for information in a Gainesville newspaper.

Months later he received a letter from a woman called Smith who claimed her boyfriend and two accomplices had killed Vest. That information was enough to convince authorities to reopen the case. Only one of the three men the son thinks were involved is still alive and he says he is ready to forgive him.

Herb Vest, the son of Harold Vest says, I do want to forgive him. I have forgiven him in my heart, but I do want to talk to him. As long as I'm alive, I will find Smith and I will find the perpetrators.