Walter Wills Family

Hello, my name is Tanna Haynes. I found an old newspaper clipping in my Grandmother's box of pictures. I believe her sister, Gladys, sent it to her. Gladys and her husband Truman Lightfoot lived in Scurry Co., near Fluvanna from about the 1st of Sept. 1926 to the end of 1928 at least. Truman's parents are buried in Fluvanna Cem. and I saw the photos of their markers on the web site. You have done a wonderful job! Any way, this clipping has intrigued me for many years. I think Gladys must have known of this family, possibly been acquainted with them, but I do not think they are kin unless it is a very distant relation with the Lightfoot's somehow. The family is the Walter Wills family. I saw the photos of their marker together and the dates of their deaths. Sept 20, 1926. The newspaper clipping I have is from Sept 23, 1926. It tells of their deaths. I do not know it there is a place for it on your site or not. It is pretty graphic. I will copy it and send it if your interested.

This is exactly what the clipping says. The ________ space is where part of it has torn away and is missing. It is very yellow and brittle.

After he had gone to a field on his farm and informed a tenant that he had killed his wife and a daughter, Walter Wills, 30, well known farmer of Fluvanna, Scurry County, returned to his home,________ his 6-year-old daughter and ________ a bullet through his own heart.

"I have just killed my wife and little girl," Wills is said to have told his tenant. "Jump into an automobile and go for a doctor."

The tenant did as instructed. When he returned from Fluvanna with Wills' father and brother he found the four bodies. The woman and two children were not shot. Wills is said to have beat out their brains with the butt end of a shotgun with which he ended his own life.

Wills' clothes were covered with blood when he came to the field, the tenant said.

The physical evidence showed that Mrs. Wills and Elizabeth, the older daughter, were fleeing from Wills at the time they were killed as their bodies were found fifty yards from the house.

Wills had always enjoyed a splendid reputation in the community.

(found in my Grandmother, Eloise's picture box, the date was 1926. Eloise's sister, Gladys Lightfoot lived in Fluvanna at this time) Tanna Haynes