Nanci's mother: I have a little hope'

By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
May 4, 2003
When I wrote about the murder of Nanci Scheber right after Christmas, her mother was feeling pretty down.
Nanci had been dead for almost five years, since New Year's Eve 1997. To Sherry Scheber Alexander, it felt like the case had been put on the back burner and nobody at the police station ever returned her calls.
But, a couple of things have happened recently …
The last time Sherry left a round of messages for police officers, two of them called her back Det. Darrell Theall and Sgt. Randy Jackson, both of the Meridian Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division.
She asked them to call her every two weeks, even if they don't have anything to report.
The photograph that appears with this column is of Nanci. It was taken shortly before her death. Sherry wants to send a copy of it to every police officer and sheriff's deputy in Lauderdale County with the note: "I am the face behind the name."
Here's another good thing that happened.
Debbie Boswell Pepple e-mailed one day and asked if I knew how to get in touch with Sherry. Debbie's daughter, Angela, died in 1984 and it was 2002 before the child's former stepmother was convicted of her murder.
So, she understands about waiting, too.
As it happened, Sherry was going to be in town the next day. The two mothers met and had a good talk, and they're going to be working together on some victim advocacy projects.
Quick takes
Another mother: Last week, after I remarked that prisoners write me letters from jail and one of them claims to have information about an unsolved murder, Peggy Brogan called. She is Michael Drake's mother and she wanted to know if the man was writing about her son.
Michael died in September 2002 after he was shot in the neck and chest at a house on 29th Avenue. The police department lists it as an unsolved homicide, and I had to tell Ms. Brogan the letters aren't about her son.
Grand juror: Tanja Chancellor served on a Clarke County grand jury in 2002. She called this week to express her dissatisfaction with the outcome of two indictments she and her fellow jurors handed down. Both involved sex crimes against children. Neither defendant was sentenced to jail time. Suspended sentences, probation and diversion programs, Chancellor said, were not what she had in mind when she voted to indict.
Home invasion: Lauderdale Circuit Judge Robert Bailey ruled this week that the rest of Tracy Moore's plea bargain is off.
Moore was indicted for armed robbery and kidnapping in an attack on businessman Ralph Morgan and his wife, Elizabeth. The plea bargain went like this:
1) he pleaded guilty to armed robbery and got 15 years; 2) the kidnapping indictment was dismissed; and 3) he agreed to testify against a co-defendant.
But, when the time came, he refused to testify.
The judge had ruled earlier that the district attorney's office could re-present the dismissed kidnapping count to a new grand jury. This week, he unraveled the rest of the deal ruling that District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell could go back to square one on the armed robbery count as well.
The pre-deal armed robbery indictment has been reinstated and Mitchell said he plans to take the case to trial. Conviction for armed robbery carries a possible life sentence.
Comcast update: Another trial date has been set for C.D. "Bubba" Newell, one of four people tried in April 2001 in a conspiracy to defraud Comcast. Newell was convicted and sentenced to 57 months in a federal prison. He appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and won. The new date is June 9 in U.S. District Court.
Lawyers' meeting: State Rep. Greg Snowden updated the Lauderdale County Bar Association on new legislation at a recent lunch meeting. Here are a few highlights.
There is now no statute of limitations on sex crimes against children. Bomb threat laws have been extended to include biological and chemical weapons. There are criminal penalties for people who injure or kill public service animals like drug dogs. Investigators with the state auditor's office now have the authority to make arrests.
The Legislature authorized the creation of a "drug court," to fall under the supervision of circuit court judges but didn't fund it.
Snowden also said an open meetings law with a $100 penalty passed. "It's got teeth now," he said. "Actually, it's more like a tooth, maybe you can gum 'em to death."