(MOBILE, Ala.) - Just prior to his execution last year, Mobile serial killer Thomas Whisenhant shared something with Mara Tillman he had kept to himself for more than 30 years. He told her there were other victims the police never knew about.
Tillman, who visited Whisenhant on death row the final five years of his life, took that information to police. She hoped to convince them to get as curious as she was about the killer's victims.
"Maybe there are other families who need love ones," she says, "to be able to put them to rest that haven't had their questions answered."
So far, she's heard nothing from investigators. But this week, Local 15 News took Whisenhant's claims to Mobile's newest District Attorney. Ashley Rich says she is definitely interested.
"Absolutely," she tells Local 15. "We have to approach these things with caution, because we are talking about someone who was executed, who made statements before he was executed, so we have to approach it with caution. But, you know, you can't discount what he's saying right off the bat."
Digging a little deeper, I discover that unsolved cases are of particular interest to this district attorney.
"There's a case right now that I would love to be able to solve," she says, "where Felicia Langford was raped by Darrel Packer, and she was later killed and left in Montlimar Creek... and we have never been able to solve that homicide."
Rich helped prosecute that case fifteen years ago and, amazingly, she was able to get a conviction for rape, even though Felecia Langford was dead. It was a conviction on the rape case, but the murder case remains unsolved. It is now what is called a cold case. There are many in Mobile County. And now, the D-A and local law enforcement say they want to take those cases off the back burner and turn up the heat.
And that is why Rich, the sheriff's department, and local police departments met this week in an effort to start a cold case homicide unit in the county. Such cases are not impossible to solve. The more than 20 year old murder mystery of Catherine Foster was solved just last year. And there are others.
"We have a file cabinet filled with unsolved cases in our office," says Rich. "And that's a file cabinet too many."
The main hurdle right now? It's a familiar theme... funding.
That's why this cooperative between the district attorney and local cop shops is so important. They will share the cost and manpower.
Rich seems confident this new cold case homicide unit will soon be a reality.
