On this date, 5 March 1982, Katie Belle Moore and
Velma Odell Noblin were murdered by Bobby Glen Wilcher on 5 March 1982. He was executed
by lethal injection in Mississippi on 18 October 2006. Let us not forget the
two women who were murdered.
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Bobby
Glen Wilcher (left) and his two victims.
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In 1994, a
resentencing trial was held that resulted in Bobby Glenn Wilcher's second death
sentence for the 1982 murder and robbery of Katie Belle Moore, 45. The case
arises out of the gruesome double murder and robbery of Velma Odell Noblin and
Katie Belle Moore. The evidence reflects that Bobby Glenn Wilcher, age
nineteen, met his two female victims at a Scott County bar on the night of March
5, 1982. When the bar closed at midnight, Wilcher persuaded the women to take
him home. Under this pretext, he directed the women down a deserted service
road in the Bienville National Forest--where he robbed and brutally murdered
the women by stabbing them a total of forty-six times. Thereafter, Wilcher was
stopped for speeding by the Forest Police Department between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m.
He was alone and was driving victim Noblin's car. The victims' purses and one
victim's brassiere were on the back seat. Wilcher was covered in blood; he had
a bloody knife in his back pocket that had flesh on the blade. Wilcher
explained his condition by telling the policeman that he had cut his thumb
while skinning a possum. The officer followed Wilcher to the hospital, where
Wilcher's wound was cleaned and covered with a band-aid. Another officer was
called to the hospital to observe Wilcher, the knife, the car, the purses, and
the brassiere. The officers left the hospital on an emergency call. Wilcher
went home. The next morning, he abandoned Noblin's car at an apartment complex.
Wilcher also threw the victims' purses and some of the victims' clothing in a
ditch. He was arrested later that day. The victims' jewelry was subsequently
found in Wilcher's bedroom.
UPDATE:
Just 27 minutes after the appointed hour that Bobby Glen Wilcher was scheduled
to receive a lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the execution for
further review. News of the order was received at 6:27 p.m. Tuesday, 53 minutes
after the Supreme Court placed the execution on hold as Wilcher waited in his
holding cell next to the execution chamber. Corrections officials said Wilcher
would be placed on suicide watch and returned him to his previous residence on
Death Row, where he lived for 24 years since the murders of his two victims in
1982. A brief two-paragraph order faxed to the Mississippi State Penitentiary
did not specify the court's reason for granting the stay. U.S. Associate
Justice Antonin Scalia, who initially received Wilcher's final appeal, referred
Wilcher's case to the entire court, which voted 6-3 to grant the stay. Justices
Scalia, Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts voted against the stay. The
Associated Press in Washington, D.C., reported moments later that the Supreme
Court would review the case later in the fall, the earliest being in October
when oral arguments could be heard. If the U.S. Supreme Court allows the
execution to proceed, the Mississippi Supreme Court will set a new execution
date.
QUOTES BY THE VICTIMS’ FAMILIES:
For the families of the victims, there finally is
closure. "The families are relieved. It was long
overdue," said Moore's nephew, Joe Rigby, who was Scott County's
coroner in 1982. He is now the circuit clerk. Wilcher said before his execution
that he didn't want a sedative but changed his mind as the time neared. Epps
said Wilcher indicated he got only an hour of sleep Tuesday night because he
was writing goodbye letters.
Tommy Moore said watching his mother's killer be
executed would help him move on with life. "My
emotions are better now because it's finally over," Moore said. "We don't have to focus on it all the time. But it just
looks to me like he died too peaceful a death compared to the crime he
committed."
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