CURRENT THEORY - SUMMARY SCENARIO
In the Matter of the Murder of Harold Eugene Vest
on 27 Jun 1946 in Gainesville, TX

This document is strictly confidential.  It is designed to document an independent assessment of the facts and theories surrounding the death of Harold “Buddy” Eugene Vest on June 28, 1946 in order to discover the truth.  This document necessarily includes a significant amount of personal information – some of which may not be accurate – in order to analyze investigative leads.  This document and its information are not designed to impugn anyone.  Readers must understand that many of the statements in this summary are not factual, but rather are opinions, impressions and speculations based on assumptions and interpretations of existing and necessarily incomplete information.  Further, the information contained in this summary is not warranted to be accurate and we assume no responsibility for damages arising from the publication, distribution, use of, or reliance on any such information.  This document is being provided confidentially in order to further the investigation.  It is a living document, and as such remains subject to change without notice. 

JUNE 27/28 1946

Weather:  The high Thursday, 27 Jun 1946, was 93; the low was 72. Barometric pressure was 30.10. It was partly cloudy on Friday. Gainesville was not on daylight saving time in 1946. Sunset was at 7:43 p.m. and civil twilight ended at 8:13 p.m. (source: Gainesville Register)

The moon set at 5:12 p.m. and did not rise again until 4:40 a.m. on 28 Jun. Phase of the moon on 27 Jun 1945: waning crescent with 3% of the moon’s visible disk illuminated (source: aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl). It was a dark night.

At about 5 p.m., Reece Lance departed the shop to go home. He reports that Buddy was in good spirits and good health at that time.

The Gainesville Register reported that Buddy was seen by local police officers “laughing and talking to several friends” in front of his shop between 6:30 and 7 p.m. The Gainesville police had only one car. Before the shift change at 7 p.m. a day shift officer would pick up the two night shift officers at their homes. Night shift Officers Barnett and Goldston both lived east of the shop. Accordingly, the police officers mentioned in the paper were Barnett, Goldston, and a day shift officer. Since they were going back to the police station, the time was probably close to 7 p.m.

At the Vest home, Ruth prepared a dinner of roast beef and squash and had it on the table sometime between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. (Ruth states that it was still light outside.)  Since it was a hot meal, she obviously expected her husband at that time. She then lay down with her 22-month-old son to await Buddy’s arrival, and fell asleep.

At about midnight, Ruth awoke to find that Buddy was not at home. Alarmed, she tapped on the bedroom window of the house next door, which belonged to Ms. Lawanna Howard (still living; her sworn statement has been obtained), and asked her to drive them to the shop to check on Buddy. The two women traveled south on Culberson Street, took a left on California Street and proceeded east to the shop They noted that there was no motor or pedestrian traffic at that time of night.

As they approached the shop from the west, they saw a sailor, dressed in whites and a sailor’s cap, standing under a tree. The sailor had no luggage. He was standing away from the curb, across the street from the shop, at about a 10-degree angle (east) from the front door. From his position, the sailor had a view of the front and east side of the shop building immediately across the street, and of the full length of California Street.

Ms. Howard angled the car into the curb on the opposite (north) side of the street in front of the shop, and the two women exited the vehicle. The shop was dark and the front door was padlocked. Ruth unlocked the front door and they entered. They turned on the main light switch located near the front door. As they moved around the partition separating the front office from the shop area, they saw a light coming from the crack in the restroom door. Ruth tried the door and found that it was latched from the inside.

They exited the shop, approached the sailor on the south side of the street and asked for his assistance. The women and the sailor entered the shop. The sailor, Aviation Electronics Technicians Mate 1st Class James Louis Casey, pulled the restroom door out at the top and peered through the resulting crack. Without moving his head, the sailor turned his eyes toward Ruth. “From his expression, I knew that Buddy was dead,” Ruth recalls. Ms. Howard also recall that the sailor did nothing to enter the restroom, check to see if Buddy might be alive or try to resuscitate Buddy.  The sailor told the women to leave the shop, but he stayed inside.
Both Ruth and Ms. Howard are positive that no soldier was present at the scene while they were there. Both women state that the sailor had no luggage.

When the two women left the shop, they proceeded to the police station, a few blocks away (4/10 of a mile, estimated time 2 minutes). Ms. Howard informed the policeman on duty, whom she described as a fat man (probably Asst. Chief of Police and Night Chief Lewis Theobald) of the death. Officers John Barnett and Cecil Goldston immediately ran out of the police station to respond. Ms. Howard’s estimate is that it would have taken less than 10 minutes from the time the women exited the shop until the responding officers arrived back at the shop.

Ms. Howard then took Ruth to the Seright home, located at 1206 North Clements St. When they arrived, Ruth’s brother-in-law, Herbert Aaron Seright, who had been asleep before she arrived, put on his pants and went to the cabinet shop. Much later -- in the 1980s – he told his daughter that when he arrived at the shop, he removed a bra from Buddy’s body, apparently before the justice of the peace arrived. My estimate is that Herbert would have arrived back at the shop about 30 minutes after the women originally left. Ms. Howard then proceeded back to her own home on Culberson Street. She reports that she did not notice any suspicious activities in the neighborhood after she returned home.

When the officers arrived, both the sailor, James Louis Casey,¹⁵ and a person dressed as a soldier, Howard L Pen(d?)ley ¹⁶ were present on the scene. Both Ruth and Ms. Howard definitively state that the soldier was not present when they left for the police station. Dan Flint, the first funeral home employee to arrive, states that the soldier and sailor were there when he arrived.

The son of police officer John Barnett told Dan Bierman (an investigator hired by me in this investigation)that his now-deceased father mentioned the incident to him twice. He remembers that his father said that the soldier appeared very upset.

The probable order of appearance on the scene

Herbert Seright called Ruth’s father, Gus Blakely, sometime in the early morning. Gus traveled to Gainesville from Henrietta and apparently spoke with Justice of the Peace Henry. Ruth returned to Henrietta with Gus arriving at about noon. She did not go back to Gainesville for many years. Apparently, Gus handled the sale of the shop equipment, home and home furnishings.