Newspaper Page Text
May 3, 2023
Page 7A
ARSON
Continued from Front
According to the incident
report, Monroe County
deputy Jason O’Steen was
dispatched to 361 Christian
Road regarding a domestic
dispute around 9:25 p.m.
He spoke with 63-year-old
Tracy Davis who said her
live-in boyfriend of 9 years,
Eddie Michael Anderson,
had been drinking and
started a fight with her.
He became more and
more angry making wild
accusations then became
aggressive. She said that she
started to call 911 when he
grabbed her arm, twisted it
behind her back then took
her phone from her. Davis
said that she yelled for her
brother Greg who lives in
a camper on the property
to call 911. Anderson then
got into his pickup truck
and fled the property. Davis
added that Anderson had
never acted this way before
and had never been violent.
As O’Steen was leaving
the call, a vehicle fire was
reported near Vulcan
Materials at 3582 Pea Ridge
Road. Cpl. John Cochran
and deputy Justyn Weaver
arrived to find a Dodge
Ram pickup truck fully
engulfed by flames.
Dispatch said the informa
tion on the truck came back
to Eddie Michael Anderson
so O’Steen immediately
responded. On his arriv
al, he saw Cochran and
Weaver escorting Anderson
out of the woods across Pea
Ridge Road. Anderson was
very unsteady and had to be
steadied by Weaver. As he
was led to the road, Ander
son exclaimed, “Why’d y’all
set my truck on fire?” The
deputies found him while
MURDER
Continued from Front
and said he was willing to
wear an ankle monitor.
But assistant district
attorney Dorothy Hull said
Padgett has no ties to Geor
gia and at his age would
have no incentive to return
to face the murder charge.
Wilson agreed with Hull,
noting that Padgett didn’t
come forward to confess
his crime, but that investi
gators solved it.
“You’ve waited 34 years,”
said Wilson, “you can’t wait
a little longer.”
Wilson set bond at $34
million, thought to be a
new county record. District
attorney Jonathan Adams
said he thinks it’s appropri
ate because it’s $1 million
for every year that Padgett
was “on the lamb”.
Buttigieg told the Report
er that this is his client’s
story of the 1989 murder:
Willfong charged him
$50 for sex at a truck stop.
Afterwards, she asked for
a ride to a different truck
stop and he drove her. As
he was walking into the
truck stop, he realized he’d
left his wallet with Will
fong. When he re-entered
the semi, Willfong had the
wallet and a struggle over
it ensued. Padgett said the
girl pulled out a knife from
her purse (silver handled,
like a kitchen knife) and
stabbed his left hand and
said he still has the scar. He
admitted to fighting with
her and strangling her at
that point. He panicked
and dumped her body in
Monroe County en route to
Florida.
Buttigieg said that Padgett
never told a soul about it.
Mansfield used the mir
acle of DNA technology to
deliver what he hopes will
be justice for Willfong.
“It’s absolutely my proud
est moment in law enforce
ment,” said Mansfield. “We
did this for Mary. She didn’t
deserve to be killed and
drug in woods and left like
trash.”
Deer hunters found
Mary’s body on Nov. 21,
1989. The killer had cut
the top rows off a chicken
wire fence, pulled her body
over it, and dragged it 45
more feet before leaving it
uncovered. The case was
never solved.
But shortly after taking
office in 2019, sheriff Brad
Freeman hired Mansfield, a
retired GBI agent, to see if
emerging DNA technology
could help them solve a
couple of cold cases, in
cluding Mary’s. In a front
page story in the April 10,
2019 Reporter, Mansfield
said Mary’s death was the
most likely to be solved
because investigators had
DNA from semen found
on her body. Mary lived
a rough life, frequenting
military bases and trav
eling around the country
by hitching rides from
truckers. She had three
children by three different
men and had most recently
worked at the Waffle House
in Gainesville, Ga. She had
last been seen on Nov. 19,
1989, two days before at a
truck stop near the farmers
market off 1-75 in Atlanta.
Then Inv. Mercer Bush
interviewed two truckers
who had dropped Willfong
off at the truck stop. One
of them showed deception
on a lie detector test but
he was not thought to be a
suspect and has since died.
When Mansfield reopened
the case in 2019, Mary’s
then 84-year-old mother
Cory Willfong told him
she had a dream that her
daughter was getting into a
tractor-trailer with a truck
driver who killed her.
The challenge was that if
the killer was never arrest
ed for anything else, and
never submitted his DNA
to genealogy services, DNA
alone couldn’t ID the killer.
So Mansfield reached out
to DNA International in
Miami, which builds family
trees from DNA samples.
Mansfield found the semen
sample in its original jar in
the MCSO evidence locker
and drove it to Miami on
doing a sweep of the area
looking for any occupants
of the burning pickup.
As Anderson got closer,
O’Steen could smell the
odor of gasoline coming
from his clothing. The
deputy asked him what
happened at 361 Christian
Road, and he replied in
slow, slurred speech, “None
of your **ing business!”
His eyelids were droopy,
and his eyes were glassy
with dilated pupils. O’Steen
secured him in the rear of
his patrol unit.
O’Steen read him his
Miranda rights and asked
if he understood them. He
said he did. He then asked
if he wished to speak and
waive his rights. Anderson
answered, “I don’t got a
Wfing thing to say to y’all!”
The deputy then closed the
door to his patrol car.
As the Monroe Coun-
Sept. 12,2019.
DNA International used
the sample to identify a
second cousin and a fifth
cousin to the killer. It was
a start.
Next, Mansfield turned
to the FBI, where special
agent Tim Burke opened a
case on the murder on Jan.
7,2021. Building on the
killer’s family tree created
by DNA International, the
FBI worked to hone in on
a match. And on June 30,
2022, Burke told Mansfield
that the DNA had matched
with three brothers in
Indiana. Two of them were
truck drivers.
Now Mansfield had to
decide which one of the
Padgett truck drivers was
the likely suspect. Mans
field said he chose Tarry
Padgett because he fig
ured the killer would be
someone with no criminal
record, and someone who
was driving trucks as far
back as 1989.
“Mr. Tarry had been un
der the radar,” said Mans
field, “he had a lot to hide.”
But they didn’t want to
spook the suspect. So the
FBI obtained a surrepti
tious warrant to secretly
take the hand-held CB ra
dio from his tractor-trailer
to get DNA from his saliva.
The radio microphone was
sent to the GBI crime lab.
And at 3:55 p.m. on
Monday, Feb. 27, Mansfield
was sitting at his desk at the
sheriff’s office in Forsyth
when he got an email from
the GBI that gave him a
chill and made the hair
stand up on the back of his
neck. It was him.
Mansfield said he spoke
to Padgett’s wives and
children, and they were all
shocked. Padgett had lived
in Washington, Ind. his
whole life, and had a mod
est home on 19 acres.
The Mary Willfong case
is the first ever in Monroe
County solved using DNA
genealogy technology and
is one of the first such cases
in Georgia.
ty Fire Department was
leaving O’Steen noticed a
trail of gasoline going along
the truck bed and over
and around the gas cap.
The deputy also thought it
suspicious that the pickup
became fully engulfed from
front to rear in such a short
amount of time.
While on the way to
the Monroe County Jail,
Anderson said, “How the
h*ll am I going to jail when
I pulled over because my
truck was on fire? That’s my
livelihood.” He also said,
“How'm I gonna set my
truck on fire with all my
tools on it?”
Anderson was booked
for DUI-refusal, arson,
battery and hindering a 911
call. Cochran waited at the
scene until Tracy’s Wrecker
Service arrived to take away
what was left of Anderson’s
pickup.
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