The Advance. (Vidalia, Ga.) 2003-current, June 09, 2021, Image 13

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The Advance., June 09, 2021, Image 13

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Newspaper Page Text(Eift Aiiuancg The ADVANCE, June 9, 2021/Page 13A Murder Case Still Unsolved By Deborah Clark Regional Editor dclarkadvance@gmail. com It’s been seven years since Dale Wiggins lost her son in a shooting at a Toombs County con venience store. Her son’s murderers have never been identified and brought to justice, but every year on the anniversary of the trag edy Dale focuses attention on the case in the hope that new evidence will emerge and that answers will be found. The surreal details of what happened the night of June 8, 2014, at first washed over Dale like a wave; but in the next few hours, she faced the reality that her oldest child, Chris Wiggins, had been fatally wounded in a robbery at the store. Dale knew that her son had been on duty at his convenience store in Santa Claus on U.S. Highway 1 just outside of Lyons and that he had a young man assisting him in the store at the time. His young as sistant, only 16 at the time, was badly shaken but had escaped injury. It was around midnight when Toombs County Sheriff Alvie “Junior” Kight knocked on the door of the Wiggins home to impart news no parent ever wants to hear. For the next several days the sheriff’s depart ment and the Georgia Bu reau of Investigation (GBI) probed the shooting scene and conducted interviews and Chris’s body was car ried to the crime lab in At lanta for an autopsy. Pieces of the puzzle in volving Chris’ death started to come together, but infor mation was sketchy and so- called eyewitness accounts conflicted. There were no security cameras in the store. Initially promising leads collapsed. No arrests were ever made. Every year on the an niversary of the shooting, Dale contacts the media and conducts radio and newspaper interviews. She reiterates that there is a re ward of several thousand dollars for credible informa tion leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Chris was only a few days shy of his 50th birth day when the shooting oc curred. The unfortunate proximity of Chris’s birth and death dates is an irony that compounds his fam ily’s grief. As Chris’s mother brings the events of June 8, 2014, to the forefront each year, she feels she is doing her part not just to keep his memory alive but to refo cus attention on solving the case. Kight said Dale’s efforts are not in vain. Each year about this time his office is provided with more leads in the case and methodi cally checks each one, even rechecking leads that have been pursued previously. “He was a down-to- earth homebody, just a good person who would give you the shirt off of his back,” Dale said of her son. “I don’t think he will ever be forgotten. He had too many friends. Even now, people still call me and ask if I have heard anything in the case,” Dale said. The 2014 incident still haunts Sheriff Kight. He was well acquainted with the Wiggins family and of ten visited the convenience store in Santa Claus to pur chase fishing supplies. His son owned a farm nearby. Kight said the night of Chris’s death he traveled the distance from his home to the murder scene in about seven minutes. What he was confronted with was harrowing. The only known witness to the crime, the teenage store assistant, was terrified and hysterical. “There were a lot of shots fired in the store. It scared him to death and it took me a little while to settle him down so we could talk to him,” Kight said. What the sheriff and lifll L ','S« , r " ■ . • - • V. •- TOOMBS COUNTY RETIRING EDUCATORS HONORED — Toombs County School System honored its retiring educators at its May Board of Education meeting. The combined years of experience for fhe retiring educators is 305 years. Pic tured with Superintendent Barry Waller are, left to right: Deann Odom, Lou Beall, Lisa Bishop, Angela Findley, Vicki Caraway, Jennifer Floyd, Marion Brian, Rosemary Wickstrom, Gail Mason, and Bobby Waller, Nof pictured: Jessie Johnson, Celestine Gillis, and Rita Curl, Developing Future Superstars CRAJ moARf KtDZ! | EMOTIONAL - APTNESS - FOR mm\ CROii SPIT CfrAzY57%64ir 603 NW Main Street, Vidalia GA 30474 Youth Conditioning Clinic • When June 21 Aug 6 19 Sessions • Times: 9:00 10:00am Mon Weds Fri • Ages: 6 12 Years Old • Price $199 Program Benefits • Develop coordination & motor skills • Strength & conditioning for school sports • Make new friends & develop social skills • Reinforce healthy / active lifestyle choices Call Today 912 326 7163 Free shirt if you sign up before June 15 www.crossfitcrazystrong.com/kidz w Photo by Deborah Clark UNSOLVED — Dale Wiggins displays a graduation photo of her son, Chris, who was killed in his convenience store in Santa Claus on June 8, 2014, Chris was just a few days shy of his 50th birthday when he died. The case remains unsolved. the GBI determined was that two males wearing masks and brandishing guns entered the store and confronted Chris, who was behind the counter. Chris drew his pistol and was able to fire several rounds before being fatally wounded where he stood. The young assistant, who had been in the kitchen of the store, emerged when he heard a commotion and the suspects fired at him but missed. The suspects then ordered the boy to hand over bags of cash that were on the premises and after ward fled the scene, sparing the teen’s life. Kight said the suspects were fully clothed and wearing long-sleeved shirts and masks. It was impos sible to determine ethnicity and physical characteristics beyond one being tall and the other short, Kight said. “We had no cameras at the scene and one eyewitness who was a young kid who was scared to death.” No fin gerprints were obtained be cause the suspects touched nothing. Authorities de termined that one suspect stood at the door of the store, never entering, and acted as a lookout. The oth er suspect entered the store but never came further than the counter. “We don’t have a lot from the scene. We recov ered shell casings but no weapon was ever found,” Kight recalled. The GBI’s crime scene technician combed the scene and even returned later to recover additional rounds that had lodged in different areas of the store, but without a weapon, the rounds were not helpful in solving the case. “We have followed a hundred or more leads. Ev ery time we get a call that gives us information, we run that lead out. We have leads than come in but they fall back to a lead we have checked several times,” Kight allowed, noting, “We have additional clues, but we don’t want to put them out there because it might jeopardize the investiga tion.” Kight noted, “This case is like a puzzle. You get little bits and pieces and start putting them all together. Every year, we review this case. We are working on it now.” Kight added that the GBI has been very coop erative in helping local law enforcement continue the investigation. The sheriff shared, “We are pretty close to having enough probable cause to get a warrant, but we want to be sure that our infor mation is solid. We want to know we have the right per son when we ask the judge to sign a warrant. I really feel like that is going to happen soon.” He doesn’t plan to stop his pursuit of justice. “We will never close the case un til we find the person or per sons who killed Chris. We have a puzzle and we pretty much have it put together. We just need a few more pieces and we will make ar rests.” Catching and punish ing the culprits won’t bring her son back, but just know ing who they are will help Dale find some closure. “I won’t always be wondering who did it.” When asked what, if anything, can bring her peace, Dale considered for a moment then offered, “There are people out there who know who did it but they are too scared to come forth. I want them to do the right thing. I want this solved before I die. I am not letting this go.” Kacie M.Ed, Speech erapist 1 provides the best of care. Our outpatient Rehabilitation Facility is open to the community. Our services include speech, physical and occupational therapy. We handle all the necessary communications with insurance companies. Call 537-7922 for more information. fheOaks Bethany Skilled Nursing 1305 E North Street, Vidalia • 912-537-7922 Joondeph continued from page 8A “QAnon” shirt? I’d bet he wouldn’t be “confused” that those things are racist, white supremacist, insurrectionist, or some other supposed evil. Stockholm Syndrome won’t explain all the permanent mask wearing but is certainly a reasonable explanation for a society that has been held hostage and beaten into submission incessantly for the past 15 months. Add this phenomenon to the existing flood of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues post-pandemic. Perhaps fired Yale psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee, who opined frequently about the “psychotic” mental state of Donald Trump and Alan Dershowitz, can weigh in but don’t expect any thoughtful questions or discussion from a major cause of these issues, the media. Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.