Ethel Simpson, 81, Last Seen With Sex Offender She Befriended *found deceased*

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Clinton Police are looking for an elderly woman who has been missing for two days. Eighty-one year old Ethel Winstead Simpson was last seen leaving the River Walk Casino in Vicksburg, at 11:40 Monday night.

Police suspect foul play and are also looking for 39-year-old James Cobb Hutto of Jasper, Alabama. Hutto was seen leaving the casino with Simpson. He was driving her 2002 Mercedes.

Clinton Police say Hutto is a convicted sex offender with a violent criminal history. He is currently wanted in Alabama for failing to register as a sex offender.

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13166239

Chief Don Byington said Simpson was last seen Monday at the Baptist Healthplex in Clinton. Employees said they saw her speaking to James Cobb Hutto, 39, of Jasper, Ala., Byington said.

At about 4 p.m., as Simpson was leaving the Healthplex, she backed into a car in the parking lot, damaging a taillight on her Mercedes, Byington said. She reported the incident to the Healthplex front desk about 15 minutes later, Byington said. Simpson was seen leaving the Healthplex with Hutto in the passenger seat of her Mercedes, the chief said.

Byington said Simpson dropped Hutto off at the Comfort Inn in Clinton and returned to her Arlington Street home.

At about 6:30 p.m., Simpson was seen leaving her home. Two hours later, Simpson and Hutto were seen entering the Riverwalk Casino in Vicksburg, Byington said. Security video shows the pair leaving the casino in Simpson's car at about 11:40 p.m., Byington said.

http://www.wapt.com/r/25038661/detail.html

When Baptist Healthplex staffers told Jan Cossitt that one of their elderly patrons, Ethel Winstead Simpson, left the building Monday afternoon with a strange man, Cossitt’s heart sank.

“I bolted and ran to my office,” Cossitt, the Healthplex’s programs manager, said Thursday. “I called her house, and her brother Tom answered.”

Thomas Winstead, 72, told Cossitt that his sister wasn’t at home. “But right then, Ethel came home, and I asked Tom to put her on the phone,” Cossitt said.

Yes, Simpson told Cossitt, she left the Healthplex shortly after 4 p.m. with a nice man she’d met on the walking track at the facility off the Clinton Parkway.

“He said he hadn’t had anything to eat. I took him to Taco Bell,” Cossitt said Simpson told her.

“I said, ‘Ethel, don’t you ever do anything like that again! You worried us to death!’ ”Cossitt remembered. “She thanked me for checking on her.”
[...]

And although Simpson carries a cell phone and frequently uses it, her family said, they have not heard from her since.
[...]

A laser identification system used by law enforcement picked up Simpson’s license plate number as her car traveled east on I-20 through Pearl at 3:05 a.m. Tuesday. Simpson and Hutto were last seen entering the Riverwalk Casino in Vicksburg at 8:36 p.m. Monday, then leaving the casino at 11:40 p.m., Byington said.

“I see nothing good. Nothing good has happened to her. Whatever the outcome, I don’t think anything she’s gone through is positive,” said her son and only child, 57-year-old Houston, Texas, resident Ken Simpson.

http://www.clintonnews.com/article/D...6002/-1/promo5

[Valasca]

Gross. I am going to vomit.
I hope she;s okay.

[Misskittychaos]

I hope she's okay...but I doubt she'll be okay. I wonder if elderly people accept these people into their lives because they are lonely and these type of people prey on that?

[Valasca]

Good thought, kitty. and probably true in this case.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Holy Shit!!

A 39-year-old convicted sex offender sought in the disappearance of an elderly Clinton woman is in custody in Alabama, charged today with the attempted murder and robbery of an Opelika man.

When Lee County, Ala., authorities this morning pulled over the vehicle driven by James Cobb Hutto, 81-year-old Ethel Winstead Simpson was not with him.

And, Lee County authorities say, Birmingham police suspect Hutto may be involved in the death of a Birmingham woman who was discovered at her home on Thursday morning.

That woman is one of Hutto’s relatives, said Lee County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Van Jackson.

Hutto, whose last address is a home in Jasper, Ala., was driving Simpson’s 2002 silver Mercedes when he was spotted by officers with the Lee County Sheriff’s Department and Auburn, Ala., police at about 10:45 a.m. at Alabama Highway 51 and U.S. 80.

That was two hours after nearby Opelika police got a 911 call from Mark Ambers Cox, saying he had been attacked after meeting a man in a wooded area who was interested in purchasing some property from him.

Deputies found Cox, 56, of Opelika with multiple stab wounds in his neck and with lacerations and abrasions on his face and head. He is in serious condition at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital, Jackson said.
[...]

The chief said he has no further information concerning Simpson’s whereabouts. Lee County is part of the Auburn metropolitan area.
[...]

Alabama Department of Corrections officials said Hutto was convicted in 2002 of the sexual abuse of a 17-year-old girl and sentenced to two concurrent 10-year sentences. He served three years and six months before his release in April 2005.

Byington said a National Crime Information Center check on Hutto shows Alabama convictions on domestic violence, first-degree kidnapping, trespassing and harassment.
[...]

http://www.clarionledger.com/article...several+counts

[VXIII]

EDWARDS, MS (WLBT) - Hinds County investigators have found a body on Highway 22 in Edwards.

Officials believe it is the body of Clinton resident Ethel Simpson, who has been missing since Monday night.

Simpson was last seen leaving the River Walk Casino, in Vicksburg, with James Hutto.

Lee County, Alabama, sheriff's deputies and Auburn Police Officers arrested Hutto Friday morning just east of the intersection of Alabama Highway 51 and U.S. Highway 80. He was driving Ethel Simpson's car.

Hutto is in an Alabama jail, charged with attempted murder and robbery.

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13175858

[Misskittychaos]

An autopsy revealed that the cause of death on a body found on a hog farm in Edwards and believed to be missing 81-year-old Clinton woman Ethel Winstead Simpson was blunt-force trauma to the head and neck, officials said Saturday.
Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said the autopsy did confirm the cause of death, but the confirmation of the victim’s identity is pending dental records, which won’t be available until next week.....
The clothing on the body matches what Simpson was wearing, Byington said.

"We cannot confirm it 100 percent, but from all indications it is her," he said.

The hog farmer found the body about 75 yards off Mississippi 22 near the town in rural Hinds County.

"The level of decomposition would indicate that she has been dead around three to four days," Grisham-Stewart said.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article...ending-on-body

[Misskittychaos]

How sad, looks like he just wanted what he could get from her and threw her away after.

[tenntitanfan]

My heart just stopped when I was reading this article and saw that this maniac was in Auburn. My daughter goes to school at Auburn Univ. and she is on the road going back and forth from school to home. My biggest worry is other people - like this sick son of a bitch. He left nothing but a path of distruction in his way. My heart goes out to all of the families he touched.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The man believed to be responsible for the kidnapping and beating death of 81-year-old Clinton woman Ethel Simpson is now facing charges of capital murder, Hinds County authorities said.
[...]

Dental records confirmed Monday that the body of a woman found on a hog farm in Edwards off Mississippi 22 Friday was that of Simpson.
[...]

She suffered blunt force trauma to her head and neck, Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said.

"It's a horrible way for someone to lose their life," Grisham-Stewart said Monday. "She was obviously trying to be a good Samaritan and help someone out."

Scott said the process of bringing Hutto to justice could take time because the wheels of justice turn slowly when so many jurisdictions are involved.

“But they do turn,” he said.
[...]

Hutto is also believed to be linked to the death of his aunt, Virginia Rardon, who was found dead Thursday at the residence she used to share with Hutto.
[...]

http://www.clarionledger.com/article...+woman+s+death


Ethel Simpson

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Mississippi and Alabama officials have agreed to let James Cobb Hutto to be brought to trial first in Hinds County in the death of 81-year-old Ethel Winstead Simpson.
[...]

Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith told The Clarion-Ledger that he hopes for a trial during the summer of 2011. Smith said he will seek the death penalty.

In Alabama, Hutto faces a murder charge in Birmingham for the Sept. 15 death of his great-aunt, Virginia Rardon, two days later. He also faces an assault charge for allegedly attacking Mark Ambers Cox, 56, of Opelika on Sept. 17.

He has been held in Alabama since his arrest following the alleged attack on Cox. Smith said Alabama officials were amenable to transferring Hutto to Mississippi because he faces the death penalty here.

Jefferson, Ala., County Deputy District Attorney Laura Poston said the agreement was eased by the long-standing relationship between the states. The agreement stipulates that Hutto will be returned to Alabama for trial once the case in Mississippi is decided.

"I talked to (Rardon's) family and they understand that the most serious case is in Mississippi," she said.

If convicted of the Alabama charges, Hutto faces 10 years to life for attempted murder and armed robbery of Cox and life in prison without parole on for the killing of Rardon.
[...]

http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/20/...o-to-miss.html

[tenntitanfan]

I am so glad Alabama sent this POS to Mississippi. They are really dealing out the justice now so I know this guy is going to get his!! Alabama is not known for handing out much time and for being a FAILURE TO VICTIMS - example:
quote:
" Alabama Department of Corrections officials said Hutto was convicted in 2002 of the sexual abuse of a 17-year-old girl and sentenced to two concurrent 10-year sentences. He served three years and six months before his release in April 2005. Byington said a National Crime Information Center check on Hutto shows Alabama convictions on domestic violence, first-degree kidnapping, trespassing and harassment.
[...] "
http://www.clarionledger.com/article...several+counts I borrowed this from DV's comment 9/17/10 7:10 P.M.

I'm sure he's done more time, I am having a hard time finding out about it because all of the information is about this case. The thing is though, you see Alabama is more concerned about overcrowding and less about the VICTIM. Now, Mississippi, they mean business ! Alabama may have executed more people, but Mississippi is catching up because Alabama has come to a screeching halt. I have also noticed in posts on the DD that Mississippi really gives out time here lately.

[brokenandtwisted]

Damn. I'd hate to make it to 81 and be murdered by a piece of shit.

[Pete Bondurant]

Damn. I'd hate to make it to 81 and be murdered by a piece of shit.

Not to worry, Liz. You won't live to see forty.