Former Shondra May Co-worker Speaks Out!

The following was written by one of Shondra's former coworkers.  They wish to remain anonymous.  

Growing up in Forest, Mississippi was very boring. There was not much for young people to do. Most of the time kids hung out in the parking lots talking, drinking beer and listening to music. Kids would pile up in one car and circle back and forth from Sonic to McDonalds, to TG&Y and Cat's Cave. The boys all had blue lights they stole from the airport and would hook them up to a battery to make a strobe light.
           
My parents were very strict on me and I was not allowed to hang out with the fun kids back then. I was only allowed to attend the Baptist church, go to school at Scott Central and to my job at McDonalds in Forest.
           
 My first day at McDonalds I had to fill out a bunch of papers. Shondra May was in the break-room eating lunch and asked me if I needed help. She was so pretty. She had short black hair, green eyes, dark complected . I wished I looked like her. I was so flat chested I looked like a boy. She was just the opposite.
           
 Right away I noticed that all the guys were attracted to her. She would Hug the boss, a skinny guy with glasses named Tony.  I thought to myself," I know good and well she don't like him". He'd yell at us to get to work. He'd say "If you got time to lean, you got time to clean".

 A cop came every day through the drive-through. I can't remember now if his name was Willie McCurdy or Jamie Veezy. I honestly don't remember. He was chubby and dark headed and wore glasses. When he came he would not give me his order, rather he insisted on seeing Shondra. I told him one day that Shondra was busy. He said I'll wait and would not leave or pull up so the people behind him could get their food. She always knew what he wanted before he came to the window, a medium Dr. Pepper. She would lean out the window, give him his drink, flirt and act like she liked him, then roll her eyes when he drove off.

I always got the job of mopping the lobby and the bathrooms. There was an old guy that sat in the lobby for several hours everyday smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and staring at the girls. He had no shame about it. He would look you up and down, and down and up. He had shoulder length grey hair and a Sam Elliot mustache that twisted on each end. He was freaky looking (but all the older men looked freaky to me.). I think he drove a white Monte Carlo.  

One day one of the boys that worked the drive-through window said," Someone left this for you Shondra." He then handed her a dried up, long stem rose. It had thorns, not store bought. It was withered and white. She asked, "Who was it? " He said it was just some guys, he didn't know them. Everybody started picking at her saying,"ooooweee, Shondra's got a boyfriend, Shondra's got a boyfriend". She threw the rose on the counter and said, "I don't want it! " I thought she was being a snob, because if I got a rose I would be happy and grateful. I was too young to know that a dead rose is not flattering.

I would go to TG&Y after school several days a week. I enjoyed looking at makeup, magazines and tapes. There was always these three boys riding through the parking lot trying to pick up girls. They would yell at me and call me sexy and hot stuff. The driver was fat and red headed with a crew cut. The front passenger had kinky, red , bushy hair, a cap, and tattoos on his fingers. The boy in the back was kind of cute. He had black hair and real blue eyes. He looked a lot younger than them. They drove an old, loud, red car, a Firebird, I think.

 At first I was polite, but my daddy said not to talk to them at all so I began to ignored them.   One day the red headed passenger jumped out and tried to pull me up close to him. He was trying to pull me into the car. I pushed away and ran in the store.

When Shondra disappeared my daddy wouldn't allow me to work anymore. I was not allowed to go anywhere alone, not even TG&Y.  If I went shopping, I had to take a friend.  I never saw the boys that so frequently circled the parking lot in the red Firebird again.   However, I heard through friends that the driver became a Pentecostal preacher within months of her death, the red headed passenger went to prison for robbery and murder, and the cute black headed boy, who seemed the nicest of the bunch, killed himself or was killed, not sure which.

All us kids from McDonalds were interviewed by FBI . I told them I thought the cop did it. The investigator said that's highly unlikely because he never missed a day of work. The cop told me she was raped by more than one man, then he said something that sent chills over me," At least one of her killers was red headed."
           
I remembered the three boys in the red Firebird. I told him what happened to me, and how other girls were harassed by those three. From then on and to this day, I have always thought it was them.
          
 I haven't been back to Ms in 20 years. My mother passed and my father moved to Denver to be near me and my husband. I stay in touch with dear friends from there and enjoy seeing pictures on Facebook of classmates from Scott Central. I have no desire to ever return to Scott County.
          
 Last Sunday I sat near the window of our small church and watched the snow pile deeper and deeper around the glass. My mind was on Shondra. I could not forget her sweet smile, gentle voice and green eyes. I felt guilty for my childish jealousy.
          
When the preacher said," Remember the dead who have gone ahead of us", he caught my attention. He went on to read a passage in the Living Bible that talked about the first murder. Cain killed his own brother, Able, in cold blood and then tried to hide it from the Lord. Then God asked him, "Where is your brother?" Cain Said, "How should I know? Am I my brothers keeper?" The Lord then said,"What have you done? Listen! Your brothers blood is calling to me from the ground!"

We have a responsibility to solve this murder. Someone out there knows the truth. Someone has got to come forward. Shondra's blood is crying out from the ground!  LISTEN!


ANY SMALL DETAIL COULD HELP THE POLICE SOLVE THIS MURDER, IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, PLEASE TELL IT.  SHONDRA COULD HAVE BEEN,YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE. HELP GIVE THE FAMILY PEACE.  STOP CARRYING THE GUILT AROUND WITH YOU.