Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Former deputy charged in 1964 slayings

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 25, 2007

A white former sheriff's deputy who was once thought to be dead was arrested on federal charges Wednesday in one of the last major unsolved crimes of the civil rights era - the 1964 killings of two black men who were beaten and dumped alive into the Mississippi River. James Ford Seale, a 71-year-old reputed Ku Klux Klan member from the town of Roxie, was charged with kidnapping hitchhikers Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, both 19. The victims' decomposed bodies were found in July 1964. Seale is suspected of kidnapping the two victims in a klan crackdown prompted by rumors that black Muslims were planning an armed "insurrection" in rural Franklin County.

Abducted woman's code tipped family

A man accused of abducting his former girlfriend and their four children allowed her to call her family during the ordeal, and she used a code word to let relatives know she was in danger, police said. The ex-boyfriend, Jerry White, is accused of bursting into Kimberly Walker's home Saturday, shooting one man and kidnapping Walker and the children, ages 16 months to 9 years old. On Tuesday, police found the family safe at a motel near Walker's home and arrested White. White had been convicted of attacking Walker in the past, so when Walker contacted relatives, they knew by a code word established before the abduction that she was not all right.

Workers guilty of rigging recount

Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county. Jacqueline Maiden, elections coordinator of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee. Prosecutors accused Maiden and Dreamer of secretly reviewing preselected ballots before a public recount on Dec. 16, 2004. They worked behind closed doors for three days to pick ballots they knew would not cause discrepancies when checked by hand, prosecutors said.

[Last modified January 25, 2007, 01:28:30]