ESTABLISHED 1879 | COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI CDISPATCH.COM 50 ¢ NEWSSTAND | 40 ¢ HOME DELIVERY THURSDAY | MAY 25, 2017 Cold case arrest brings closure to family Marshals nab Jackson man for 20-year-old murder BY ISABELLE ALTMAN [email protected] Officers At 6:40 a.m. Wednes- day morning, Monroe County resident Dannie reflect on city Fowler woke up to a call from Columbus Police De- partment investigators. rattled by The news came com- pletely out of left field for Fowler — the investigator Murray killings in ‘90s he spoke with told him that after 20 years, an arrest had been made in the murder of his grandfather, Former chief questions 71-year-old Mack Fowler of Columbus. “I’m definitely shocked,” said Dan- Murray’s link to other nie, who thought his grandfather’s mur- derer must have died by now. “...(But) four cold cases happy, more than anything.” He still remembers the day his DISPATCH STAFF REPORT grandfather’s body was found. He was 6. He, his parents and his 3-year-old sister Fred Shelton was a had driven to Mack’s house early in the sergeant with CPD’s morning to ask about borrowing a lawn patrol division in 1995 mower. His dad went in the house to ask, when he joined the and that’s when he found Mack’s body. department’s newly His parents called police, and Dannie created community still remembers sitting in a police cruis- policing team tasked with building better er with his sister while investigators Shelton combed the scene. relations and commu- It was July 9, 1996, and it took law nication lines with cit- enforcement until Tuesday, when U.S. izens. marshals arrested 52-year-old Jackson Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff He didn’t realize at resident David S. Murray, to find a sus- Columbus Crime Lab director Austin Shepherd speaks at the Columbus Municipal the time the trial by pect. Complex about the arrest made in a 20-year-old murder case of Mack Fowler. fire for which he and The DNA of David Murray, a 52-year-old Jackson resident, matched DNA from the his four team mem- Fowler case which Shepherd had submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index bers had signed on. DNA evidence System in 2006. Between July 1996 Murray appeared on authorities’ Bowen radar earlier this month when DNA at the Columbus Municipal Complex. At No one in the family expected an ar- and November 1998, taken from him after being arrested in some point either that night or early the rest to be made more than 20 years later. five victims, all older than 60, were Jackson for aggravated assault matched next morning, the two fought. The fight Mack’s granddaughter Danielle said the stabbed, strangled — or both — to DNA taken during the investigation into carried from the living room to the back unsolved case always got under her skin death in their homes. The cases re- Mack Fowler’s murder. On Monday, Cir- of the house where Mack Fowler was — she was nervous around people she main unsolved, and none even ren- cuit Court Judge Jim Kitchens issued a stabbed and beaten to death. met and sometimes wondered if whoev- dered a true break until this week warrant for Murray’s arrest, and U.S. That’s how Dannie’s father found er she was talking to had gotten away when authorities arrested a suspect Marshals took Murray into custody in him the next morning. Mack’s daugh- with a crime. in the death of 71-year-old Mack Jackson the next day. ter-in-law, Angie Fowler, said she vividly “It made me question people,” she Fowler, the first of the five cold-case Murray has been charged with cap- remembers that day. said. “... (It made me think) maybe he’s victims. ital murder and is being held without “He came running back out and said, a killer.” U.S. Marshals picked up 52-year- bond at the Lowndes County Adult De- ‘Something’s wrong with Daddy, he’s Mack’s son died from medical issues old David Murray in Jackson Tues- tention Center. passed out,’” she said. in 2003 without ever knowing who may day after DNA evidence from Fowl- Investigators believe Mack Fowler Angie ran in the house to call 911 but have killed his father. er’s unsolved murder pinged a match invited Murray into his home the night the telephone wasn’t working, so she “He thought it was (always) going to with Murray in the FBI’s Combined of July 8, 1998, CPD Capt. Brent Swan had to go to the local auto shop next be a cold case,” Danielle said. DNA Index System. Murray arrived said at a press conference Wednesday door. See COLD CASE, 8A See UNSOLVED, 5A CMSD renews Ecco LOUNGIN’ AROUND Ride contract for five new buses BY INDIA YARBOROUGH [email protected] In a special-called board of trust- ees meeting Wednesday morning, lasting less than 10 minutes, the Co- lumbus Municipal School District voted unanimously to extend its con- tract with the private transportation company Ecco Ride. The roughly $2 million contract will result in leasing five new school buses this year from Ecco Ride, in addition to 10 new buses the district expects to receive through Missis- sippi’s Master Lease Purchase Pro- gram. Jason Spears, board president, Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff said the 15 new buses “right off Evan Showah, 2, sits in the lap of his big sister, Ellis Showah, 4, while swinging together at McKee Park in Starkville on Mon- the assembly line” will replace that day. Evan recently graduated from the T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability. Their parents are Justin Showah of See CMSD, 5A Water Valley and Alexis Showah of Starkville. WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS CALENDAR LOCAL FOLKS PUBLIC 1 Which Impressionist artist’s life was Center Omnova Theater, MEETINGS Today 501 Main St. Tickets are May 31: depicted in a 1956 film entitled “Lust ■ West Point Farmers’ for Life” starring Kirk Douglas? $10 in advance; $12 at the Lowndes Market opening: West 2 In vertebrates, what is the name of door, if available. Purchase County Board of the movable lower jaw? Point’s Farmers’ Market at columbus-arts.org (Events Supervisors, 9 3 Which champion US golfer is known opens for the season 4-6 link), or call 662-328-2787 to by the nickname “Supermex”? p.m. and every Thursday (closed Mondays). a.m., Lowndes Benjamin Imes 4 With a population of around 3 through August at the Mossy County Court- million, what is the largest city in Oak Pavilion on Highway 45 Fourth grade, Annunciation Tanzania? house N. Alternate. For more infor- Saturday 5 What was the name of the character ■ Dog Dayz Celebark- June 5: Lown- mation, contact the Growth created by Groucho Marx in “Duck tion: Bring the pups to the des County High 76 Low 50 Alliance, 662-494-5121. Soup”? Columbus Soccer Complex Board of Super- Sunny Full forecast on Answers, 8B Dog Park from 8 a.m.-noon visors, 9 a.m., page 2A. Friday for canine games, demos, Lowndes Coun- ■ Honeyboy & Boots CD silent “pawction,” raffle, ty Courthouse release concert: The Co- prizes and more, hosted INSIDE June 6: lumbus Arts Council hosts by 4 Paws for a Cause to Columbus City Business 4A Dear Abby 6B a CD release concert by benefit the Columbus-Lown- Classifieds7B Obituaries 5A Honeyboy & Boots, with spe- des Humane Society. Visit Council, 5 Comics 6B Opinions 6A cial guest Caleb Childs, at 7 4pawsforacause.us/events. Ola Taylor enjoys spend- p.m., Municipal 138TH YEAR, NO. 65 Crossword 8B p.m. in the Rosenzweig Arts html. ing time with her family. complex DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471 2A THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2017 THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com SAY WHAT? DID YOU HEAR? “He kept coming off the mound after each inning say- ing, ‘Send me back out there, send me back out there.’” Culture critic: Cosby seeking Mississippi State baseball coach Andy Cannizaro, talking about starting pitcher Konnor Pilkington. new solidarity with blacks Thursday Story, 1B. Comedian’s trial exclusion of African-Amer- icans.” to begin June 5 in Two blacks were among A THOUSAND WORDS the 12 people chosen for Philadelphia the jury, and two more were among the six peo- BY MARYCLAIRE DALE ple chosen as alternates. The Associated Press They will be sequestered 300 miles from home in PHILADELPHIA — suburban Philadelphia for After two years of silence the trial. Cosby’s lawyers amid an onslaught of sex- had asked for an outside ual assault allegations, jury because the case was comedian Bill Cosby is a 2015 campaign issue sending carefully target- in Montgomery County, ed messages about racial where Cosby is accused of bias across the media land- drugging and molesting a scape ahead of his June 5 Temple University employ- trial in suburban Philadel- ee in 2004. phia. Lawyers on both sides Cosby, 79, spoke to said late Wednesday they a black news outlet last were satisfied with the ju- month for a story that me- ry’s makeup, given that andered from his self-de- it exceeds the 13 percent scribed blindness to the black population in Allegh- racist history of the United eny County, where the ju- States to his dream of re- rors were chosen. turning to the stage. “The Cosby team (now) His daughters sent au- cares about how the pub- dio statements to select lic and maybe even how radio stations last week in the black community feels which Ensa Cosby said her about this whole situation, father had been “lynched” which is striking given his in the media.