Two murder-without-a-body cases now have bodies

Peggy Merimon disappeared from Lubbock, Texas on August 9, 2006, when she was 61 years old. She worked as a clerk at the Lubbock State School and she went missing with a coworker, Louetta “Kay” Harrelson. Kay’s body was found thirteen days later, badly decomposed, the head either deliberately cut off or chewed off by animals. Mickey Weldon Patterson, who also worked at Lubbock State School, was charged with Kay and Peggy’s murders in September 2009, over three years after they went missing. Well, Peggy’s body was found in a field near Lubbock this past weekend. This about twelve or fifteen miles from where Kay’s body was found. No word on how this will effect the upcoming murder trial.

Meanwhile, over in Pioneer, Tennessee, 66-year-old Pearly “Jean” Johnson’s body was found just days before her husband, Douglas Whisnant, was supposed to go to trial for killing her. She’d disappeared on February 24, 2007. Her husband has a criminal record, including sex crimes, stretching back 30 years, and right now he’s doing twenty-five years for weapons possession. When the cops searched his house after Jean’s disappearance they found a hidden cache of guns. Apparently Whisnant lead the cops to Jean’s body in a shallow grave. It hasn’t been confirmed, but it looks like he’s going to take a plea deal. The guy is not young, and with the 25 years on top of whatever he gets for murder, he is probably never going to see the light of day again. Good riddance.

Lindsey Baum’s mom now homeless

Earlier I wrote that the mother of Lindsey Baum, a ten-year-old girl who’s been missing for nearly a year, had been unable to work since her daughter’s disappearance and had had to move in with relatives cause she couldn’t afford rent anymore. Well, Melissa Baum’s problems have only got worse. Her son has Asperger’s Syndrome and the stress of Lindsey’s disappearance made his behavior problems worse, so their relatives kicked them out. Melissa is now pretty much homeless. Her only income is her son’s Social Security payments. She can’t afford to pay for the hotel she’s staying in, although a charity has agreed to cover the room for another two weeks. She’s going to send him to live with his father for awhile while she tries to find a job and a better living situation.

This is a terrible situation. There are no government programs to address this sort of problem. I can only hope the local community hears of the Baum family’s plight and chips in, like people did for Shasta Groene and her family.