This past week, a state wide search was conducted for a criminal who raped and murdered an elderly lady in a small town in Mississippi (news link). Not only was he wanted for this crime, but he robbed a Subway while running from law enforcement. He was armed and dangerous. Today, he was finally caught!
Why did I start this post with some rather depressing news? Because this book is about a guy, Albert Lepard, who did a rather similar crime (except without the rape) in 1959 Mississippi. The writer of this book was kidnapped by Lepard who had recently escaped Parchman for his fifth time. Yes, fifth time.
Synopsis:
In 1968, during Albert Lepard’s fifth escape from a life sentence at Parchman Penitentiary, he kidnapped Lovejoy Boteler, then eighteen years old, from his family’s farm in Grenada, Mississippi. Three decades later, still beset by half-buried memories of that time, Boteler began researching his kidnapper’s nefarious, sordid life to discover how and why this terrifying abduction occurred.
Crooked Snake: The Life and Crimes of Albert Lepard is the true story of Lepard, sentenced to life in Parchman for the murder of seventy-four-year-old Mary Young in 1959. During the course of his sentence, Lepard escaped from prison six times in fourteen years.
In Crooked Snake, Boteler pieces together the story of this cold-blooded murderer’s life using both historical records and personal interviews—over seventy in all—with ex-convicts who gravitated to and ran with Lepard, the family members who fed and sheltered the fugitive during his escapes, the law officers who hunted him, and the regular folks who were victimized in his terrible wake.
Throughout Crooked Snake, Boteler reveals his kidnapper’s hardscrabble childhood and tracks his whereabouts before his incarceration and during his jailbreaks. Lepard’s escapes take him to Florida, Michigan, Kansas, California, and Mexico. Crooked Snake captures a slice of history and a landscape that is fast disappearing. These vignettes describe Mississippi’s countryside and spirit, ranging from sharecropper family gatherings in Attala County’s Seneasha Valley to the twenty-thousand-acre Parchman farm and its borderlands teeming with alligator, panther, bear, and wild boar.
A student told me about this book. In AP Gov., we were talking about due process/amendments. She mentioned she was somehow kin to this guy who did horrible crimes in Mississippi and how her mom had just bought this book about him. So…I bought the book. Since I was reading another nonfiction book, I read this one on and off for about a month. If you are from Mississippi, you will “feel” the descriptions and know many of the places he describes.
Towards the end of the book, you can’t help but wonder WHY did this man turn out the way he did which is no different than asking WHY this Scott County guy chose to rape and murder an elderly lady. We know the obvious answer – SIN! We are all sinners who obviously make the worse decisions without Christ. We would ALL be absolutely wretched without the grace of God leading us into different paths. I will never forget how a former assistant pastor explained our sinful nature – imagine you had two choices: one choice was the best looking ice cream sundae with all the toppings you can imagine; the other choice is a “sundae” full of maggots and worms and disgusting critters. Left to ourselves, we will always choose the sundae full of maggots.
Now, saying that, it makes you also consider the nature v. nurture aspect. Lepard’s life obviously changed course after his mother died. However, not everyone who loses their mother chooses to rob and kill. Was it because he was a poor sharecropper? My grandmother grew up sharecropping in the Delta but she never chose to rob/kill? Lepard had siblings who chose a different route. Sometimes, bad people do bad things for no reason but a hardened heart (they just “bad”).
Just because a person chooses to do a horrific crime does not mean he/she is condemned to hell. God shows grace and mercy to those who do the worse of crimes (remember, Paul from the New Testament was once Saul, the greatest persecutor of Christians). The Son of Sam serial killer, David Berkowitz, became a Christian while serving life sentence in prison. If you have never read his testimony, you should. I found it interesting to read a similar story in this book about a guy named Thomas Tarrants (whose book I just bought for $2.99 on Amazon – Consumed by Hate; Redeemed by Love – How a bomb-making white supremacist, once called “the most dangerous man in Mississippi,” met Jesus in prison and emerged a committed advocate for Christian discipleship, peace, and racial justice.)
When there is so much negativity in the news, It is great to hear how prison ministries can turn a life around. I just read about a former student’s husband now taking on this role in North Carolina. I am thankful that my church is involved in prison ministries as well.
I know I digressed… this book isn’t about all of that BUT these are some of my reflections. I think those of you from Mississippi will enjoy this book. You may even read some names you know! LOL (that is the best part of my state – there is a connection everywhere).
Happy Reading!
