“Three young women were arrested last night at Hazen after leading authorities on a three-county chase in which a Hazen police officer was killed. A Brinkley grocery store was robbed. Six residents of the Brown Grove community near Carlisle were taken hostage. The suspects were apprehended at the Hazen High School football field by a contingent of state policemen, county officers and authorities from nearby towns, including the Hazen Police.”
Kyle Kellams: It’s time for another visit into the Pryor Center archives. Randy Dixon from the Pryor Center is here. Hello.
Randy Dixon: Hi, Kyle. It’s good to be here. So we have another crime — true crime — segment this week. And, you know, a couple of weeks ago, we had an instance from the seventies that there were two male escapees from Oklahoma. This time we have three young female escapees from Kentucky. This was in the mid-seventies, April of 1974, as a matter of fact. And, you know, they came through Arkansas and in just a matter of hours racked up some horrible crimes, including armed robbery, kidnapping and the murder of a police officer in Hazen, Arkansas. He had pulled them over, and, uh… Well, we’ll hear about this. This is the original report from the KETV archives, from a young reporter named Bob Steel.
“The three young women were placed in custody at 9:35 last night at the Hazen Police Department, some four hours after the incident began. Officials then started the arduous task of sorting evidence. Police recovered a blue and white pickup truck, thought to be the getaway vehicle in the Brinkley store robbery. The police car driven by the officer who was killed, 51-year-old Morris Greenwalt. A green four-door sedan stolen and used to transport the hostages. Examination of clothes Patrolman Greenwalt was wearing. An examination of weapons recovered from the suspects, reportedly a .22-caliber rifle, two pistols and a knife. As the evidence examination was being conducted, each suspect was questioned individually. At 3:15 this morning Hazen Police Chief James Todd announced the charges.”
“They’re being held in charge of the first-degree murder shooting of our city police officer Morris Greenwalt.”
“At 4 o’clock this morning, under tight security, the three young women were removed from Hazen Jail. They were identified as 23-year-old Brenda Kay Spencer, 24-year-old Lucille Ann Smith and 19-year-old Essie Mae Willock, all escapees from a Kentucky correctional facility. The three were transported to Duvall’s Bluff for arraignment. Bob Steel, KETV News.”
Kellams: And this is taking place in the spring of 1974.
Dixon: April 30th was when it happened, and, um, they were caught, as you could tell from that report, at night. They were held until about 3 o’clock in the morning. And within hours, they were already being arraigned. And a second reporter, Brian Dampier, was there for that.
“Today, the suspects were unruly in and out of the courtroom. Asked how they felt about the case, the women began shouting obscenities. Circuit Court Judge W. M. Lee warned, ‘You can be noisy and contrary, but it won’t bug me.’ A full court heard Judge Lee read the formal charges: premeditated first-degree murder of policeman Morris Greenwalt. That’s a capital offense that can carry a life imprisonment or death penalty sentence. The murder charge does not allow bond. Prosecuting attorney Sam Weems says he’ll ask for the maximum penalty.”
“I’m going to give the jury the opportunity to consider it. I’m not going to waive it. I think I have that option. But in this type case, in view of the circumstances as I see them today, I will not waive the death penalty.”
“Do you think there is any likelihood, if the jury decided on a death penalty, that it would be carried out?”
“I have no way of knowing, in this day and age, who knows? We’ve got a situation, some people want strong law and order on one side. And then we want to be compassionate and rehabilitative on the other. And you’ve got these forces running into each other. And so, all I can do is do my job and let those forces take care of themselves.”
“Weems says the women also will be charged with kidnapping and armed robbery. No trial has been set and no plea entered. The three are being held without bond at the Prairie County Jail in Des Arc. Weems says the young women are to be transferred later to the state women’s correctional facility until trial is held. Brian Dampier, KETV News.”
Kellams: So let’s see. Let me do the quick math. 1974 is 51 years ago.
Dixon: Years. Yes. And, um, so Bob Steel and photographer Jim Casey, who’s still around, were the first media on the scene and had filed that report. But I talked to Bob just the other day if he had any recollections of a story that he covered. What? Gosh, half a century ago.
“The scene was actually on the side of the highway. As I recall, it was a pickup truck with a camper on it, blue and white. And this is where Officer Greenwalt had been shot and killed. And apparently, he was shot as he was approaching the vehicle, and the vehicle had been stolen. I think that’s how he was on to the car itself. It was a pickup truck. But at any rate, as he was approaching the vehicle, the three girls were inside, one of whom, and I don’t know which one, fired, I think a .22 rifle and shot and killed him. Then all three apparently got out of the vehicle, and one of the three grabbed his pistol. It was either in his hand or his holster, I don’t recall, but they emptied the weapon into his body and there was a six-shot revolver. So he died, probably from the first shot, but they finished him off by emptying the weapon into his body. They kidnapped three people. I think it was in the Brown Grove community nearby. Three people from a house there.”
Kellams: Bob was a young reporter at this time?
Dixon: Yes. He was, you know, mid to late 20s. Yeah. And these women were not much younger than him. And in addition to killing that officer, they had robbed a convenience store and then went to a house and held six people hostage, and then took three of them in their car. I guess it was a stolen car and were eventually caught at the Hazen High School football field.
Kellams: Oh my gosh.
Dixon: And fortunately none of the hostages were injured. But, you know, I asked Bob this was one of his early stories. He was a young man. These were young women, which was–
Kellams: Unusual.
Dixon: Very unusual. And especially the youngest, Essie Mae Willock, who was only 19 years old. So I asked Bob about, you know, the experience and about the women themselves.
“They were pretty unruly when they paraded them for the media. I remember all three of them looked extremely young, especially … Essie Mae. The older women blamed her for the murder, but they found out later that there was no, uh, gun-fire evidence on her hands. But there were on the other two. So Essie Mae did not apparently kill the officer as they both said she did later on.”
Kellams: Caught quickly, arraigned quickly, tried quickly?
Dixon: Fairly quickly. You know, the two older women, Smith and Spencer, were tried separately. The two older women tried to implicate the younger Essie Mae Willock. But as Bob said, it was determined that she could not have shot the person. So she was convicted of a lesser charge. The two older ones were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Willock was convicted as an accessory and sentenced to 11 years, but immediately following the younger one’s trial, which was the next year in ‘75, Willock was led out of the courtroom, out of the courthouse, in shackles. And she was very vocal, if not a little incoherent.
“I mean, I just feel like it was a messed up trial. They went by hearsay, and, uh, I feel like some of them was talking to the juries and all this, this is the way I feel about it. But, you know, I can’t say too much because it was five against one lawyer. They had nothing on her. They even had people getting to the witness, you know, the deceased on there and everything. I just feel like it could have been worse, I don’t know. I don’t feel like it could have been worse because they proved who did the killing. You know, they just got me back. Armed robbery and all that.
“What kind of job do you think your attorney did?”
“Uh, well, you know how that is. He did a good job because he’s a good man. But, you know, it was five people against only one, you know? It’s true. My confession is the truth. I did do some things, and then I didn’t.”
“You know, the girls tried to implicate you, saying you distracted him.”
“No. Well, that’s not true. Well, it’s not in my statement or nothing.”
“How do you feel about being taken to Prairie County…”
“Well, you know, that’s up to the judge. But my lawyer get to change the menu again, and I feel like everything will turn out for the best, you know?”
“All right. What about the other girls? How do you feel about them?”
“Well, only the strong survive, and I feel like I can make it.”
Dixon: After that trial, KETV did speak to her defence attorney.
Kellams: Willock’s defense attorney?
Dixon: Yes. James Burnett and prosecutor Sam Weems.
“I’m very pleased with it. I think it’s reasonable. The jury did a good job.”
“What sort of case did you think the state presented?”
“I’ve seen better cases.”
“Your client was somewhat upset when she talked with us.”
“Well, I still think that Essie Mae has problems and I don’t think she really understands what’s involved yet.”
“I feel that they were a very intelligent jury. They were very concerned, very attentive. And of course, I live my life abiding by jury decisions and I accept their decision.”
“You think it was a fair trial?”
“Well, obviously a fair trial. Yes indeed.”
Kellams: Are any of these three women still alive?
Dixon: I believe all three.
Kellams: Oh, wow.
Dixon: Now two are still serving their life sentences.
Kellams: here in Arkansas? Wow.
Dixon: Yes. The two older ones, they’re both still alive. I checked, and they’re still being held, serving their life sentences. So they were born in 1950… So they’re both 75. Now, Essie Mae Willock was released from Arkansas in 1989. From what I can tell, it’s a little murky about what’s happened to her, but apparently she was returned to Kentucky to complete her sentence there.
Kellams: Oh sure, they were escapees right.
Dixon: And as far as I can tell, she was released sometime in the nineties and did a check. And her last known address, I believe, was in Louisville, Kentucky. I did a Google Maps search, and, uh, from what I could see, the address that I found listed for her is a vacant lot in a trailer park. So I think she’s long, long gone from her last known address.
But this is the strange thing. In looking through the archives, I had forgotten that in 1991 Gina Curry and I and photographer Larry Potter were doing a series of reports on women in prison. And one of the people we featured was Lucille Smith. So here’s Gina Curry’s report.
“Lucy Smith has reluctantly called this place home for over seventeen years and may for the rest of her life. She’s here because she and two other women killed a man in 1974. Lucy Smith, Brenda Spencer and Essie Willock escaped from a Kentucky prison and as they were passing through Arkansas, killed Hazen policeman Morris Greenwalt. Smith was sentenced to life plus 66 years…You’ve been here most of your life. Tell me what it’s been like here all these years.”
“Uh, in the beginning, it was real tough. When I first got here, I did two years in a cell in lockdown. I had a lot of anger and a lot of rage against a lot of people.”
“Who are you angry at?”
“I guess just life in general. I started out being married at the age of 16 and being a battered woman. So today I realized there was a lot of anger that was suppressed, and it kind of played out in 1974 against a lot of innocent people.
“Tell me about what happened in 1974.”
“A robbery took place. And during the… Well, it wasn’t during the robbery. It was after the robbery. We were stopped by a policeman, and the process of him pulling us over, he was shot and he was killed. That’s what gave us the life sentence.”
“Did you pull the trigger?”
“Um, I don’t care to comment on that part.”
“Arkansans who remember the news accounts from 1974 remember these women as defiant and ruthless. During their trial they often disrupted court by yelling obscenities. After almost two decades in prison, the 41-year-old seems like a different person.”
“You don’t seem like someone… That would be a prisoner.”
“That’s today. That’s the progress I’ve made. Those are the changes I’ve made. You would not have liked me in 1974.”
“Was she telling us the truth, or was she lying to us about how she had changed?”
“She feels that there have been things made available to her within the prison setting that has allowed her to grow, and I think from that standpoint she is sincere.”
“Smith’s only hope of getting out is an appeal granted by the Eighth Circuit Court or clemency by the governor. She says she’s changed.”
“In 1974 I was the little hippie girl at 24. Today I’m a silver-haired grandmother. There’s been progress. There’s been change. And I think it’s been for the better.”
Kellams: That’s a long time.
Dixon: Well, and think about it. It’s 34 years since we did that report. So a lot of time has passed. They’ve both Smith and Spencer have filed several appeals, and they’ve all been denied. Family and friends of Morris Greenwalt have followed the case over the years and are sure to make sure they appear at any hearings to oppose their release. And as a matter of fact I talked to Morris Greenwalt’s daughter, and she said that they are notified whenever something has come up regarding either one of those inmates. And she said nothing has happened in a while, and it’s just as well, because she doesn’t like to talk about it, because it’s, you know, understandably so. Such a painful thing to talk about.
Kellams: All right, so next week, you and I won’t be here with a new conversation. So we’ll have an archive of an archive.
Dixon: Yes. Archive performance, also known as a rerun.
Kellams: Yes yes. And then, hopefully, well, we’ll pick it back up sometime in November. When our schedules align.
Dixon: I’ll work on something good.
Kellams: All right. Randy Dixon with the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral Visual History. Thank you so much.
Dixon: I’ll see you next time.
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