Mack led authorities to a property his father had leased for hunting and fishing. One by one, Bettys friends were called into the principals office, where they were asked to tell what they knew. I dont take well to the fact that people dont think this is an important story, says Shelton Williams, who carried a photograph of his cousin in his wallet for 35 years after her murder. Ike was confused but didnt think Betty had been serious about convincing Mack to kill her. Ike Nail recounted to police what had happened the night before. John Mack Herring was the main at Kiss and Kill. Though other classmates had believed that Betty was joking when she had asked them to kill her, Mack maintained that her pleas had had a profound effect on him. According to Ike, she had been wearing only pale-pink shorty pajamas and a blue-and-white-striped dusternot the kind of clothes a boy would leave a girl standing in on her front porch at midnight. Nobody talked about how Mack could have said no, observes Sandra Scofield, who graduated from Odessa High a year before the murder. When Betty said that life wasnt worth living without Mack, I understood it within the context of our family. Her murder and the verdicts that followed had stripped away any of his preconceptions about fairness and justice. In 2006, when Herring was a state senator, he voted in favor of Virginias law on same sex marriage. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone! But on Wednesday morning, Herring came forward to talk about his own past. Where Is John Mack Herring Now? Mack Herring was duly charged with the first-degree murder of Betty Williams. According to Mack, Betty had been in a good mood on their way there. Herring tied the knot on August 12, 1989, and have two children; daughter Peyton E. Herring, 26, and son Timothy R. Herring, 22. Most claimed that Mack was an exemplary teenager and that he represented everything that was good. He can be trusted to lead a normal life, Grice assured the jury. The boys laughed, thinking she was just being dramatic as usual. Age 99. But Mack was careful to be discreet about the time they spent together. But the facts of her death had been muddled with time, and each story was as apocryphal as the last: She had fallen off a ladder in the auditorium and broken her neck, students said. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. Herring Jr. and wife Mary of Fayetteville; two daughters, Patricia Ann Blanton and husband John of. They reside in Leesburg, Virginia. He complied and entered the water. Burnett relied on his old playbook. She said she would take her own life, except she didn't have the courage. Worst of all, it was now public that she had been involved with various boys, which boosted peoples views on her immorality. Herring said he and his friends put on wigs and brown make up and dressed up as their favorite rappers. 1833 July 18, 1833. the Mortal Mustache, a.k.a. He told the Post, Ive been really honored to play a part in building a safer, stronger, more economically dynamic and inclusive Commonwealth as a county supervisor, a state senator, and as attorney general, and I think the best way to continue that work would be as Governor. You can read his full statement about that here. You got the feeling with Betty that she was always straining against that leash, even when it choked her. Girls visited him at home and boasted of knowing him. (While in custody, Mack reportedly told a deputy sheriff, I feel toward her like a cat lying in a muddy street in the rain.) It looked, to most people, like a case that was impossible for the defendant to win, says writer Larry L. King, who had left Midland a decade earlier but still followed the case. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup., This was a onetime occurrence and I accept full responsibility for my conduct.. Mack had been a stellar student, one of his teachers told the jury, and added, Ive never known a more brilliant mind. His football coach testified that Mack had never used profanity. Maybe its better that waytheyll never be exposed to the critics or the public. Some nights, Betty would slip out the back door after her parents had gone to bed and walk the four blocks to Tommys Drive-In, where there were always boys to talk to. But the stories about Betty never went away. Birth of Enoch Herrin. Betty said that the situation at home was bad, says the friend, who asked not to be named. She may have been shunned at the time, but many of the girls who knew her were inspired to become school counselors, her death having had a profound effect on them. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone!Betty Williams, WhenThe State of Texas v. John Mack Herringgot under way on February 20, 1962, a guilty verdict seemed to be an all but foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, students and teachers still claim to hear weird noises, including footsteps and see flickering lights and moving objects. We let Betty know she was the star, Sanchez says. I feel so lonely and deserted I dont care what happens now or ever. Unsure of the exact location of the body in the tank, officers asked Mack if he would retrieve it. I suspect most of us would rather let the thing stay in the past, one Odessa High School alumna wrote me in an e-mail. Beside the water, the ground was spattered with blood. This story is from Texas Monthlys archives. John Mack Herring was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1961 murder of his ex-girlfriend Betty Williams who, its reported, asked him to kill her. We get our Senior rings Wednesday. Maxine Alice McCune Mack Herring, died at her residence in Baker on Monday, July 26, 2010, at age 73. She kept saying what it was going to be like in heaven. Then they had walked down to the pond together. Two days later, on March 22, 1961, the Odessa Police Department received a frantic phone call from Mary Williams, who reported that her daughter was missing. 18: Daughter: Eloise Herring. Herring, 85, of Fayetteville died Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at his residence. This has not been a free ride for Mack, says his childhood friend Larry Francell. My father overheard a customer at his car wash say, Everyone knew that girl was no good. After eleven hours of deliberation, during which jurors asked that Grices expert testimony be read back to them, they determined that Mack had, in fact, been temporarily insane on the night of the murder. If a girl had a steady boyfriend, then she could have sex, as long as she didnt advertise it, says Jean Smith Kiker, a Capri who was a year below Betty. But outside the circle, he is a loving father, husband, and role . I just cant believe it! He didnt refer directly to the racist year book photo that surfaced from Northams medical school. As an adult, he spent years investigating his cousins murder and wrote a book about the case, Washed in the Blood. Rather than seeing Mack as a killer, many classmates acted as if something tragic that was beyond his control had befallen him. She had hanged herself in the theater. I really have enjoyed knowing you and Im awfully sorry that it had to end this way. She was killed by her ex-boyfriend John Mack Herring (September 23, 1943[1] January 5, 2019) at her own request in Winkler County, Texas. Tall and good-looking, with jet-black hair that framed a long, contemplative face, Mack was a guys guy, his classmates remember, who was quiet and self-contained. When flummoxed prosecutors requested a 24-hour delay to prepare their case, Burnett expressed his surprise, since insanity is the only possible explanation for this tragedy.. Everything looked different to me afterward. Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) [1] is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. So rather than admit defeat Im going to beat a quick retreat into the no mans land of death. According to reports, she was less popular than her former partner. Betty had been known as a loose and immoral girl. Mack Herring was not one of the elite football players at Odessa High School on whose shoulders rested the hopes for the 1960 season; as a back for the Bronchos, and one of average abilities, he was just another guy on the team. Mark Herring: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. [3], Herring was tried for murder but was acquitted. Betty, on the other hand, refused to conform to other peoples views. Why dredge it up again? But others refuse to forget. Herring read to the jury, held that Betty alone was to blame for her death. Heres What We Want at the Park. Her father, John, was a carpenter who had difficulty finding steady work, and her mother, Mary, had taken a job at J.C. Penney to help make ends meet. A strict Baptist, her father often preached to Betty about sin and eternal damnation, and on more than one Sunday morning, he prayed that she might learn to be a more obedient daughter. A few classmates also confessed that Betty had asked them to kill her. Even after nearly 60 years, Betty Williams is not forgotten in Odessa. 9: Daughter: Sara Herring. He never had any trouble with the law again. Or was she just acting, pushing the boundaries in another bid to catch Macks attention? MOORESVILLE Ralph McNeely Herring graciously accepted the Lord's invitation to come home on the evening of Monday, May 18, 2015. They are members of Leesburg Presbyterian Church. Interestingly, he was prosecuted for murder again, and this time he was acquitted. At the time, Mack said, he thought he was doing her a favor, but he now knew it was wrong. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Herring's wife and friends also told investigators that a good friend of Herring died a day earlier and that Herring said "it should have been me," according to the autopsy report.. A smattering of applause broke out in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, and once again, Mack was mobbed by jubilant supporters. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Evelyn Page Herring of the home; a son, Mack B. Would they be willing to do it for her, she asked? His request was granted. The Tennessee native & Virginia resident since he moved with his family as a child admitted he wore blackface during a college party in the 80s, In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song, Herring said. Mrs. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone! All around town people spoke ill of the victim. Laura works as a middle school . I overheard a juror talking about Betty, says Hazel Locklear, the wife of the highway patrolman who had been struck by Macks aloofness at the crime scene. In the meantime, he gathered two lead weights, a miners helmet to see in the dark, and a rope. The entire proceeding was a perversion of the law, says Sullivan, who is still a practicing lawyer in the nearby town of Andrews. North Carolina. Sullivan tried to establish jealousy as a motive by calling to the stand Bill Rose, the popular football player whom Betty had parked with when she was dating Mack. Read more here about our archive digitization project. Mack Herring was a handsome football player with all the right friends. The two became lovers, but Herring later broke up with her. "Mac" was born June 12, 1962 in Charlotte, to Ralph Around Bettys waist were tied two lead weights. Mack, who had once worried aloud to a reporter that he would be sent to the electric chair, was a free man. Who Are Ana Walshe Parents And Family? Give me a kiss to remember you by, Mack asked. She wore whatever clothing she wanted, did not accept her fathers religion, and had several relationships with boys from her school. At the end of an evening at Tommys, it was not unusual for her to end up parked in a secluded spot somewhere with a football playerafter, of course, he had taken his girlfriend home to meet her curfew. She died as a teen in 1961, according to reports. . When Ronnie White, who graduated from Odessa High the year that the murder took place, returned to his alma mater to teach history, in 1978, he was astonished to hear students talking about the former drama student named Betty whose spirit supposedly haunted the auditorium and the popular football player who had had a hand in her killing. This year the new drama teacher had planned a spring production of Maxwell Andersons Winterset. Would love your thoughts, please comment. If they turn out half-way decent, Ill send you one. 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