Remembering when serial killer Laron Williams was arrested in Jackson

It is extremely easy for us to forget things from the somewhat distant past and think that times are worse now than they were just a few decades ago. 

A very good example of this phenomenon is the horrendous case of Laron Ronald Williams. 

In 1977, a prostitute in Nashville, Terra Wedlaw, was murdered by strangulation. 

Williams was developed as a suspect after inexplicably being found to be in possession of Wedlaw’s birth certificate. 

Police in Nashville suspected him of at least two other prostitutes’ deaths: Mary Jo Corn and Bessie Wallace. 

Both were found strangled to death and bound the same way Wedlaw was. 

Remember, these crimes were committed decades before DNA became a law enforcement tool. 

There were other similar cases in other cities like Atlanta and Chicago. 

While he was awaiting trial, other inmates attacked Williams and he was seriously injured. (Remember this part of the story.) 

He eventually went to court and his attorney suggested he plead guilty to Wedlaw’s murder. 

He got a 10-year sentence and would be eligible for parole in just four years. 

He was supposed to get an electrical apprenticeship, but that never worked out because of his violent tendencies. 

On April 22, 1981, Williams escaped from prison in Fort Pillow. On May 12, 1981, Memphis Police Department Lieutenant Clarence Cox stopped Williams and there was a struggle. 

Williams managed to get the lieutenant’s gun away from him and murdered him with it. This set off a massive manhunt through the region. 

Back in this time, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Jackson was experiencing great growth.  

Traditionally the congregation had their Sabbath Services in the building at the Northwest corner of Baltimore and South Royal Streets. That building still stands today, but I am unaware of who owns it. 

They had been in the process of constructing a new facility at 1667 Highway 45 Bypass. 

At the time it was one of the largest new church buildings going up in Jackson. 

They had built a convent for the nuns, and a rectory for the priest. 

Their sanctuary was not yet ready at the time, and they continued to use the old building Downtown. 

Somehow, Williams found his way to the new facility on the Bypass and burglarized the rectory. 

He broke in on the Assistant Pastor, Reverend John Jay Jackson. 

He shot and killed the priest with the same gun he took from the Police Lieutenant. 

In the following days, Williams tried to sell the gun to an individual at a café on Hale Street in East Jackson. 

Realizing there was something wrong with the gun, the man who bought it turned it in to the Police. 

The gun was handed in to Chief Cherry. 

The gun was taken to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Lab in Nashville by Investigator Rocky Acuff. 

They determined the gun was a match for the murder weapon. 

Eventually, the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) tracked Williams down to a motel on North Highland near Campbell Street and surveillance was set up. 

At the time, that motel was The Regency Inn Motel. 

It sat roughly where Walgreens is now. 

It was a rather unique motel. It had a swimming pool on the third-floor roof.  At one time it was named Highland Park Inn, but the name changed. Some people remember going there and paying one dollar to swim in that pool for a day. 

An Investigator with CID was on the hunt for Williams on May 18, 1981. In what could have been a scene from an episode of Kojak, Investigator Marvin Spencer had a photograph of Williams and went to the motel. 

He showed the photo to a maid who was cleaning rooms. She confirmed he had been at the motel. The suspect later came out and went to the Hut restaurant next door. The Hut was a very famous restaurant right on the corner of Highland and Campbell Street. People from that era remember the neon sign out front with three dancing pigs. 

Williams went to the restaurant to get breakfast and sat on a stool at the counter. Investigator Spencer, (who later was promoted to Captain before retiring) approached the suspect and asked him his name. 

Williams said he was in fact Laron Williams. The cuffs were put on and Investigator Acuff walked him to the exit door.  Officer Deberry was outside that door and put his gun in Williams’ face. That ended Laron Williams’ criminal career.  

Williams went to trial in separate cases for the murders of Lt. Cox and Father Jackson. Both resulted in guilty verdicts, and he was sentenced to the electric chair. He was sent to Tennessee State Prison in Nashville to await his execution. 

Apparently, Williams’ attitude and personality didn’t change after he was sentenced to death. He got into several arguments with other prison inmates involving him overusing the pay phone in the prison. That was definitely a bad decision. 

On July 8, 1985, these other inmates caught up with him and beat him to death using their fists, feet and prison weights. Two of those inmates were convicted of Second-Degree Murder, but those were later appealed and reduced to Manslaughter charges. Both were in prison for other murder charges. 

It is believed that Laron Williams may have been responsible for many more murders nationwide.

Captain Jeff Shepard retired from the Jackson Police Department after 32 years. He is currently the president of the local Fraternal Order of Police and an avid historian. 

Sources for this article include: The Tennessean Newspaper; The New York Times; 6 ABC News Philadelphia; personal spoken stories from participants and the author’s memories.