Extracted from The Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, MS)
Rolling Fork Man Slain By Hitchhiker
PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) -- A jive-talking teenager has cooly admitted to pumping four bullets into the head of Wade H. Strickland, 28, of El Paso, Tex., police say.
Sheriff's investigators Bob Dorn identified the youth as Lewellyan McGee Jr., 19, of Riverside, Calif., and Montgomery, Ala. He was booked on a charge of murder.
“Man, when you shoot somebody in the head three or four times they just don't say too much,” McGee was quoted as replying when Dorn asked if the victim said anything after being shot.
Officers picked up McGee, from Riverside, Calif., and Montgomery, Ala., less than 12 hours after a motorist found Strickland's body beside U.S. 50-70 about 50 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Strickland, from El Paso, Tex., but a native of Rolling Fork Miss., was working for the National Cotton Council of America. He was a graduate of the University of Mississippi law school.
McGee departed from Bakersfield, Calif., Monday to drive to Phoenix.
Shot Through Head
Officers said McGee told them he was hitchhiking near Banning, Calif., when Strickland picked him up. McGee said he was driving when he shot Strickland four times through the head. He said he drove a short distance, then dumped the body and continued to Phoenix.
When Strickland was found, he was clutching three facial tissues in his right hand. He had been shot just over the left eye and twice in the neck.
McGee said he took $22 from Strickland's wallet. Officers said they found a .38 caliber automatic pistol in a hotel room where McGee was staying.
At Riverside, Calif., the sheriff's office said McGee is wanted on a kidnaping complaint based on statements by a college student, Barbara Katherine Hewson, 19.
She accused McGee of forcing her at gunpoint to go with him in her car to San Diego and El Centro, Calif., for several days.
The body of Mr. Strickland will arrive in Greenville Friday at noon. Funeral arrangements will be made this afternoon.
Extracted from The Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, MS)
Charge Hitchhiker In Slaying Of Rolling Fork's Strickland
WICKENBURG, Ariz. (UPI) -- A first-degree murder charge was filed last night against Lewellyn McGee Jr., 20, of Riverside, Calif. for the fatal shooting of Wade Hulon Strickland, 29, of Rolling Fork, Miss., who had picked him up hitchhiking.
Investigator Robert L. Dorn of the Maricopa county Sheriff's office at Phoenix filed the charge before Justice of the Peace R. L. Westall.
McGee confessed the slaying “in anger” and the kidnapping of a Riverside coed.
Westall said McGee probably would be arraigned today. He is in jail at Phoenix.
McGee's mother, Mrs. Frances Stravrakis of Riverside, talked with investigators yesterday. She wept frequently and refused to discuss her son's plight with reporters.
Strickland, an official for the national Cotton Association was shot four times in the head and face Monday night. His body was dumped off the highway near this winter resort community 40 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Barbara Katherine Hewson of Riverside, who had dated McGee, told authorities he kidnapped her Dec. 30 at gunpoint and forced her to stay with him nearly a week.
Wednesday, January 6, 1960
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Thursday, January 7, 1960
Funeral services for Wade Hulin Strickland, 29, of El Paso, Texas, former Rolling Fork resident, will be conducted at 10 a. m. Saturday at the Methodist Church in Rolling Fork by the pastor, the Rev. John Ash. Burial will be in the Rolling Fork Cemetery. National Funeral Home of Greenville is in charge.
Strickland, representative of the National Cotton Council, was killed by a young hitchhiker near Phoenix, Arizona, Monday night.
Mr. Strickland was born and reared in Rolling Fork. He was graduated from the high school there and received his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Mississippi in 1953.
He was a member of the Rolling Fork Methodist Church, Sigma Chi social fraternity and the Mississippi Bar Association.
A bachelor, Mr. Strickland leaves his parents, Dr. and Mrs. William W. Strickland of Rolling Fork; two brothers, William W. Strickland, Jr., a student at Mississippi State University, and Alfred Edwin Strickland of Rolling Fork; two sisters, Mrs. Yvonne S. Gould of Jackson and Mrs. Allen Kirby of Eau Gallie, Fla.
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Extracted from The Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, MS)
Friday, January 15, 1960
Personally Speaking
Miss Helen Strickland, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Kirby, Jr., and Mrs. Yvonne Strickland Gould, have returned to their homes in Detroit, Michigan; Eau Gallie, Florida; and Jackson, Miss., having been called to Rolling Fork due to the passing of their brother, Wade Hukin [sic Hulin] Strickland.