REMEMBER JULIE HEATH (DIED: OCTOBER 11, 1993)

            Twenty years ago on this date, October 11, 1993, a Malvern Cheerleader, 18-year-old Julie Heath was murdered by Eric Nance. Justice was served 12 years later when Eric Naunce was put to death by lethal injection on November 28, 2005. Let us remember her. 

 Julie Heath

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/nance998.htm

Summary: Julie Heath's vehicle was discovered abandoned on Highway 270, west of Malvern. A week later, her body was found on rural property approximately 7.5 miles from her vehicle. Although the autopsy failed to reveal the cause or manner of death, medical evidence showed likely trauma to the head, and defects to her clothing were consistent with a cutting wound. At trial, Nance's brother and sister testified that, after initially denying any involvement in the crime, Nance later stated that he had accidentally killed the victim. Nance told them that Heath's automobile had broken down on the road, that he picked her up, that his work knife slid out of his pocket, that as he moved to put the knife in the glove compartment, the victim turned started kicking him, that he put his hand up to keep her from kicking and hitting him, and that the knife fatally lodged in her throat. The jury didn't buy this account.

"This is not easy for any of us and we do feel for his mother, his family," said Johnie Hood, a cousin of the victim. "I just pray that Julie rests in peace now. He couldn't say he was sorry. What he went through tonight was painless compared to what he put Julie through." Hood and other family members watched the execution via closed-circuit television in a prison office. Heath's mother Nancy killed herself a year after her daughter's murder.

"It brings closure that he is gone, but it will never bring back Julie - what he's done to our family, I hope that he did say he's sorry to someone for what he had done," said Belinda Crites, another cousin. "We want to make sure the devil dies. He's gone now so I hope they can rest in peace."