A few quick updates in this Sum it Up: the Huffington Post reports that “James Ford Seale, a long-time member of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan who very nearly got away with murder, has died. After serving less than four years of three life sentences for the 1964 murders of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, both 19, Seale, 76, died in prison this Tuesday.” He died at Terre Haute, Indiana. No information has been made available about the cause of death.
Edward Jesus Elias and Leopoldo Castro Chavez II are on trial for the murders of Keith Combs and Eugene Ellis. Elias pleaded not guilty last Wednesday. Both men were ordered held without bail. “Both defendants face 50 years to life in prison without parole if convicted of special circumstances for multiple murders and murder during a robbery, Deputy District Attorney Andrea Freshwater said. Since Elias and Chavez were both 17 at the time of the killings, they are not eligible for the death penalty, she said.” A preliminary hearing for both men is expected to get under way Sept. 13.
Last, a call to action: if you knew Trisha Meredith who graduated from Ben Davis High School in 1985, Indianapolis, Indiana, contact me.
Two weeks after moving into her very first apartment, she went to do laundry in the apartment building’s laundry room during broad daylight. Someone came in and Trisha ended up being stabbed 24 dozen times and her throat was slashed.
If you have any information about this case, call the IMPD Cold Case Unit at 327-3475 or 327-3068. If you want to share memories about her, please do let me know! Another opportunity, tune in on Twitter this Friday between noon-1pm EST to discuss the case during our Cold Case Live Chat. Follow hashtag #cclivechat!