There is no prouder Army military corps than the Military Police. In 1977, the Fort Leonard Wood's MP Corps was challenged beyond words, when one of their own was arrested and charged with a triple murder in a wooded area of this south-central Missouri Army post. This tragedy changed many lives and our community was never the same.
The 1976-77 school year had begun with pomp and celebration, as we continued the observation of the Bicentennial of America with special projects and activities in my classes. I was beginning my fifth year of teaching social studies to ninth graders at Wood Junior High, located on Fort Leonard Wood. It was a joy and a challenge because military kids brought so many experiences with them to the classroom! Tragedy quickly changed that optimistic time for our community, as two of our students disappeared.
Young sweethearts, Al Marshall and T.C. Gossage, my former ninth grade student, were beginning the school year at Waynesville High School. They were on a date and disappeared, never to be seen again. Their car was found abandoned on Fort Leonard Wood. And even more strange, the reporting officer was later discovered to be SPC 4 Johnny Lee Thornton. Searching for Al and T.C. turned up no clues. Rumors ranged from elopement to organized crime involvement. Their parents frantically searched for them. The community was paralyzed with fear and yet, it wasn't over.
More tragedy followed that school year. On a Wednesday night, Jan. 12, 1977, four Plato teenagers drove north to the St. Robert area for gas. Wesley Hawkins, a basketball player was 18, Anthony Bates played in the band and was 18, Linda Needham, a cheerleader, was 16, and Juanita Deckard, 19, were on a double date. As they entered Fort Leonard Wood, terror was waiting for them.
A Military Police vehicle stopped the couples, claiming they matched the description of robbery suspects. He handcuffed the boys, shooting them inside the vehicle. He took them to an abandoned cabin in the southernmost part of the military reservation, where he raped and terrorized the two girls. He shot the two girls and left them for dead in the snow. But Juanita Deckard survived the shooting by playing dead. Doctors thought that the cold and the snow had stopped her bleeding and saved her life. She was the hero that night.
The courageous teenager crawled and stumbled through miles of snow. The next afternoon she reached a rural home where she called Wesley Hawkins’ brother for help. Missouri Highway Patrolman J.B. King was the first to make contact with her. Deckard gave King a clear description of her attacker, including a possible ID number on the side of the vehicle. Thornton was arrested that night.
Thornton appeared for an arraignment on charges in federal court on Jan. 24, 1977, in Springfield, Missouri. His trial was held in federal court on July 18, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, after a change of venue from St. Joseph, Missouri. A jury found him guilty of rape, murder and kidnapping and sentenced him to three life terms. His defense was mental illness and the presence of multiple personalities.
Thornton was from Russellville, Arkansas, not too far from my hometown and the home of Arkansas Tech University. He was married and the father of two children. At the time, I was very interested in this case and at one time contacted the famed true-crime writer, Ann Rule, to see if she might be interested in telling the story. Instead, she encouraged me to collect information and not long after his sentencing, my husband and I visited his hometown. We discovered a very tight-lipped community. They were obviously embarrassed about one of their own being responsible for such a heinous crime. I never had the time to consider writing a book, but in 2010, I wrote a short essay on the tragedy. My interest in these kids has never waned over the years.
There were odd coincidences the night of the murders. The first group of investigators from Ft. Wood arrived at the murder scene driving the same vehicle that had carried the four teenagers to the remote cabin. Thornton had returned the vehicle, checking it in with blood in the back seat. He explained that he had killed a dog and had transported it to a dump for disposal. Oddly, the investigator checked the same vehicle out of the motor pool and drove it to the scene of the murders. Later, Thornton's company commander Capt. Don Ryder, became a commandant of the Military Police School at Fort Leonard Wood.
Many area law enforcement officers took part in the investigation and it forever changed their lives and careers. One of those officers was J. B. King. He had come to our community in 1969 as a young Missouri Highway Patrolman. J.B. retired in 2001, and in 2004, he was elected the Sheriff of Pulaski County, serving until 2012. He still lives in Waynesville with his family.
Willie Rowell was a CID agent at the time and followed the CID investigation from Fort McClellan. From 1985 to 1990, he served as a CID Officer-in-Charge. In 1990, he reunited with his family in Waynesville. Retired now and teaching law enforcement at area colleges, he continues work as an investigator and legal consultant.
Like many of the law enforcement agents, Willie was mortified that a fellow law officer would be guilty of something so horrific.
“It damaged everything in our military law enforcement community. I took it very personal, as he was a trained military officer. It was a devastating time.” He remembered Col. Perry Elder, the MP commandant, being “absolutely heartbroken.”
“Our community was horrified, but the community south of the fort was terrified,” he said. “From Roby, Duke, Plato, and even as far as Houston, workers traveled that road every day to work at Fort Leonard Wood. It took a long time for them to feel safe from the fear of being stopped by law enforcement. And we understood.”
I asked Willie how he personally handled such a terrible atrocity.
“I had to compartmentalize my work. I had four kids and it hit me hard,” he said.
The Plato murders gave fresh impetus to the search for our missing students, Al and T.C. Law enforcement officers believed they had also been victims of Thornton.
Willie Rowell added, “We sent a team to question Thornton as to his involvement in their disappearance. He said nothing. Every lead we had on T.C. and Al, we followed up on.”
But questioning by federal officials of Thornton led to no admissions and with no evidence, their disappearance remains a mystery for the Marshall and Gossage families.
Our community was changed that night. The fear was there for some time. I remember my fellow women teachers discussing what we should do if stopped by police. Parents were very aware of their teenagers’ whereabouts. To the south, our neighbors have had to live with this tragedy all these years. It was a terrifying, sad time.
Forty-six years have passed since this terrible event in our local history and it still remains the saddest chapter. Seventy-year-old Thornton serves his life sentence in a federal prison near Tucson. Needless to say, he will never be free.
In 2019, local author, J.B. King, using his personal experience with the case, published, “Frozen Tears: The Fort Leonard Wood MP Murders.” It is available on Amazon and gives a detailed account of this horrific event. You may obtain an autographed copy of his book by contacting his website at www.JBKingBooks.com.
I asked J.B. what encouraged him to write this story, “I was asked to do a lecture on law enforcement and to share some of the stories from my career. I shared this story and a publisher happened to be in the room. They told me they would like it to be their first ‘true crime’ project.”
This experience was truly life-changing for all involved. J.B. shared his personal feelings, “I still suffer from PTSD from this event. The emotional involvement I felt with this case got to me. The loss of innocent kids and then, the law officer who did this added to the distress I felt. For a law enforcement officer, it is the ultimate betrayal and for all of us working the case, it was always in the back of our minds. We all took it very personal. It affected me deeply.” He told me that writing about it has helped him deal with those feelings.
“Frozen Tears: The Fort Leonard Wood MP Murders” is a Facebook discussion group. One of the most prolific contributors is James Reist, a (R) SPC 4 from Fort Leonard Wood. He worked with Thornton as a game warden on the post. He was also an MP at the scene of the triple murder that day. His insights are interesting. If you have questions or want more information, this Facebook page is the place to find it.
It seems every community has that event in their history that never goes away. For St. Robert/Waynesville, it is this case. It has been described as the “case of the century” for Pulaski County. For those of us who lived through it, the murders of these three Plato teenagers were a sad, distressing time in our history. For the many new people who come through our community they are shocked to hear that this could happen in our area, known for its small-town life and close-knit families. But evil knows no boundaries.
