Justice sought for those who can no longer speak
By John Joyce
Published in News on April 1, 2018 3:05 AM
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Top left, Shandrea Milhouse, 21, and Tyrone Beamon Jr., 27, unsolved since 2013 (Wayne County Sheriff's Office). Top center, William Braswell, 36, unsolved since 2017. Top right, Tyreek Moody, 18, unsolved since 2017. Center, Shiheem Raiford, 23, unsolved since 2017. Right of center, Machelle Renea Wynn, 17, unsolved since 1995. Center right, Sharon Wheeler, 18, unsolved since 2002. A'Tiya Maddox, 19, unsolved since 2016. Versean Jenkins, 21, unsolved since 2016. Gustin Hinnant, 18, unsolved since 2013.
A fresh new set of fliers hangs taped to light poles throughout the city.
The photo printed on each is grainy, indistinguishable when viewed through the passenger window of a car idling at a stoplight.
For Eddie Wynn, however, it's an image he can never erase ---- the photo of his daughter Machelle, killed 23 years ago at the age of 17.
Her murder, along with dozens more in the city since, remains unsolved.
"They left her completely nude," Eddie said.
Her body was found on the side of the road on a side street off of North George on Aug. 29, 1995. She'd been strangled to death.
Initially he was told that was where she'd been murdered.
"Chances are, that's not what happened," he said.
He has since come to believe she was killed at another location, her body moved to where it was found.
The biggest thing he wants to know is why. And someone out there knows. If not the killer, then someone who can identify him; someone who can put the name to the last face his daughter ever saw.
"They looked her dead in her eye, and she was looking right back at 'em."
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Tiffany Maddox firmly believes someone knows who killed her daughter.
A'Tiya, too, was just 17 years old ---- shot inside a car at the corner of Olivia Lane and Slaughter Street on July 22, 2016. The story she was told is that A'Tiya was killed in the crossfire between two vehicles exchanging gunfire.
Rumor. Speculation. Doubts abound.
What unquestionably is known to the Maddox family, to Eddie Wynn and to the scores of families of the victims of unsolved murders in the city of Goldsboro and county of Wayne is the void.
The unanswered questions and the lack of information is just the surface of what the bond these families share looks like. That trench is as long and as deep as the Mariana.
This Tuesday, in a protest spearheaded by Maddox who will be accompanied by Wynn and, by her count, 17 or 18 other families of murdered sons and daughters, will convene in downtown Goldsboro.
The common goal among the group is to confront both the police department for its perceived inaction, and the community members who might know but so far refuse to say who took part in the killings of Machelle, A'Tiya and the stolen lives between them.
"We want action. We want these murders to go ahead and start being solved," Maddox said.
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Grief morphs into anger. Anger melts into frustration. The cycle results in exhaustion.
For the parent of a murdered child, there is no encapsulating the range of mixed emotions endured from one hour of the day to the next. And no day is exempt.
"Losing your child alone is the worst thing that can happen. That's the worst. People always say, 'I can't imagine what you're going through.' It's the worst thing you can imagine," Maddox said.
Not knowing the who, the exact how or the why only adds to the burden. Finally, there is the lack of justice to contend with.
She said there are really no words to describe the feeling. Anger doesn't capture it. "No justice" is just another way of describing the gulf.
"It's just not fair. Even down to, me personally, my spiritual life. My spiritual life has taken a turn. It's horrible. There are really no words. I mean, I can't put into words how it feels."
The protest will convene at the fountain on Center Street in downtown Goldsboro.
It will move from the fountain to the steps of the Wayne County Courthouse at the intersection of North William Street and Walnut. There, participants will hold a moment of silence. Families and guest speakers will address the audience.
The protest will then move from the courthouse to the Goldsboro Police Department where a call for action will be laid at the door of the officers tasked with solving these terrible crimes.
The casework
Maj. Anthony Carmon heads the Goldsboro Police Department Investigative Services Division.
While he understands the frustration expressed by the families of murder victims, he said the police department does all it can to solve every case that comes across the desks of its investigators.
"There are a lot of reasons why murders go unsolved. There is no one reason," he said.
Each case is unique. Every murder has its own set of circumstances that have to be sussed out, and despite what crime dramas on television suggest to viewers, real life seldom plays out as it is presented on TV.
"Part of it is understanding the legal limitations placed on law enforcement. There are a lot of limitations," Carmon said. "It's not like it is on TV, we can't just hold someone for 48 hours because we think they know something," he explained.
That said, there are standard practices police apply to any investigation, not just to murders.
"Number one is the preservation of life. Next is preservation of the crime scene," he said.
Then there is the identification of the victim and identifying any potential witnesses, Carmon added. "That's standard for any investigation."
Throughout an investigation, the police department also does all it can to keep the family informed, Carmon said. But again, there are legal limitations on what information can be shared.
"We try to keep the family informed as much as possible without jeopardizing the case," he said.
For instance, the police can't tell a family member, "hey, look, we think John Jones did this," he said. "That's an accusation," he explained.
Police, like anyone else, are subject to legal action such as libel suits for making public allegations against someone that cannot be substantiated.
"We would need proof of that," he said.
Proof
Wynn has sought answers ever since the moment he learned of his daughter's death, he said.
He still drives through the area where her body was found, he said, hoping to notice something he hasn't before or to maybe speak to someone who knows something they haven't before told anyone.
He tells stories of people he's spoken to, a cousin who might have known more, a hitchhiker he picked up once who might have previously confessed to the killing but who had nothing to say once the passenger and driver, Wynn, realized who one another were.
He said the community's silence is what the criminals rely on.
"This is how these people get away with it. This why Goldsboro ---- Goldsboro has no business having gangs, but they do. And this is why," he said.
Wynn said he carries a weapon with him most of the time. He said he has witnessed crimes and called the police. He even claims to have been shot at in his own back yard and to have returned fire, saying he "dumped 13 rounds into the ground to let them know,' he said," he wasn't the one to play with.
"I send 'em to jail. I have sent them to jail and I will always send them to jail," he said, adding that he is willing to testify no matter the threat of retribution. Yet he is speaking, of course, about the people he said he has seen commit the crimes he has witnessed. He said he can't speak for those who've witnessed or know of murders in the area. But he hopes the protest will inspire someone to speak up.
"We've got a lot of people dead. They won't go and tell it."
Unsolved
Despite law enforcement's best efforts, sometimes cases go unsolved.
There isn't enough evidence available. Witnesses are reluctant to come forward or to testify. Police can sometimes know what happened, how it unfolded and who is responsible, but without that crucial piece of evidence or a witness willing to stand up and say what he or she saw, charges cannot be filed.
Still, Carmon insists that investigators do not "give up" on cases.
"We're doing everything we can legally, within the current climate. We employ all of the technology that is available to us. We don't shortchange any investigation," he said.
A case is worked until all leads are exhausted, Carmon explained. When the leads run dry, there are no more steps to take until some new bit of information comes to light.
"If we get a new lead, we will work that lead until it can't be worked anymore."
No cold cases
The Goldsboro Police Department does not have an administrative classification for what are commonly called "cold cases."
Once a case is exhausted and filed, there is a process called administrative review. Every so often, the case is pulled out and reexamined.
Carmon said the department is currently reviewing a case from 1993. He declined to discuss the particulars of the case, but did outline the process for the administrative review.
"We will pull the file, look at the statements, what the investigator said about the case and why, why he ran out of leads," he said.
If there is no new information, or if nothing further can be done with the case, the investigators move on. If there is more that can be done, the investigators will work the case until the leads are exhausted or an arrest can be made, he explained.
Carmon said he understands why the protest is being held. He, too, hopes the demonstration brings awareness to the community.
Hopefully, someone who has information regarding an unsolved murder will be moved to come forward and share that with the police, he said.
"I hope it does raise awareness. I'm all for raising awareness."
He is also compassionate toward the family of victims. He said he never tells a family not to lose hope because he understands that, over time, those feelings can creep in.
"It is natural for that sense of hopeless to set it in, especially when something has gone on for years," he said.
That doesn't mean the family should ever give up on the case, he said.
"We don't give up on cases."
Answers
Maddox says she doesn't speak for other families of murder victims, but she is aware of certain sentiments that are common among them.
"My thing is, I and I'm pretty sure the other parents will agree, we need exposure as far as the Goldsboro Police Department. It needs to be known, other than just in Goldsboro, that there are these unsolved murders," she said.
"It needs to be ---- I can't say nationwide ---- but it needs to be known as far as possible that Goldsboro is having too many unsolved murders."
As for her daughter's case, Maddox has been told either by police or by people in the community that there are people out there who know what transpired the day A'Tiya was killed. But, as of yet, those people have been reluctant to come forward.
"(The investigators) say they don't have ---- they have people that are not wanting to talk. I don't know their processes as far as what they do to get them to talk. I don't know the policies. I don't know.
"But based on what they are telling me is they don't have enough people talking. I guess they are worried about what they call snitching," she said.
Part of the protest is that families aren't informed enough about what happens next in an investigation, she said, when it is determined that witnesses or perhaps participants in the crime won't talk.
"And basically, I am hoping that's not the only way they are solving these murders. I don't know if they are actually going out doing the footwork."
Wynn expressed the same concern. He said initially the police seemed to be working on his daughter's case, the State Bureau of Investigation even got involved. But despite the media reports that have been done over the last two decades as the case has grown colder and colder, Machelle's murder isn't any closer to being solved.
"The SBI, the police department ---- I haven't heard from them," he said.
He's even taken to investigating the case on his own, making and updating his daughter's fliers, asking questions of friends and family members who might have seen her before she died, even questioning the same people over and over again, years apart looking for discrepancies in the stories they tell.
Mostly, he said, he is joining the protest to inspire some new action by the police.
"I hope it gets them off their hindparts and gets them working on it," he said.
Maddox wonders if there isn't another way. If the community is either too afraid or too unwilling to speak up, might there be something in the evidence collected that points to A'Tiya's killer.
"They have my daughter's laptop, they have her cellphone, they have someone that failed a lie detector test the worst you can fail it based on what one investigator told me," she said.
She said that the physical evidence should be examined, as it was explained to her by officers that it would be.
"They have the ballistics, or the bullet is still, you know, I was told at the time when it first happened that they were sending the bullet to Fayetteville because they usually get it back quicker than when they send it to Raleigh."
She said the time frame police gave her on when results from the ballistics testing was between two and three months.
"Here it is a year and a half and we still don't have any information on that. So just saying based on people talking, what are they doing with the evidence they do have?"
Editor's note ----
A complete list of all homicides committed in the city since 1995, with a breakdown of the number of cases solved versus those unsolved, was requested from the Goldsboro Police Department but was not received by press time. A follow-up story is planned covering the protest and to expand the story to include homicides that have taken place in the surrounding county. For information regarding Tuesday's event, contact Tiffany Maddox at 919-344-3145.