In the autumn of 1994, the life of 34-year-old Eddie Tucker, a white male from Oconee, Georgia, came to a brutal and untimely end. His body was discovered on October 16, 1994, in a wooded area, the victim of a calculated murder. The events leading to his death began when Tucker, a recently divorced construction worker, sought to join a white supremacist group known as the National Vastilian Aryan Party led by the charismatic William Mark Mize.
On the night of October 15, 1994, Tucker and another member of the group were ordered by Mize to burn down a house in Athens, Georgia, that was believed to be a 'crack house.' When their attempt failed, Mize's perception of Tucker as unreliable seemingly sealed his fate. Under the guise of a camping trip, Mize and other members of the NVAP took Tucker to a remote wooded area in Oconee County. There, what was supposed to be a night under the stars turned into a scene of cold-blooded murder. Tucker was shot multiple times with a 12-gauge shotgun and left for dead.
The investigation into Tucker's death quickly pointed towards Mize and his followers. Within a week of the discovery of Tucker's body, Mize and three other members of the NVAP were arrested and charged with murder. The subsequent trial revealed the chilling details of Mize's control over his small group and his motive for ordering Tucker's execution: to maintain his authority. On January 11, 1995, Mize was formally indicted for malice murder.
During the trial, key testimony from other group members, including Mize's then-girlfriend whose charges were dropped in exchange for her cooperation, painted a damning picture of Mize as the orchestrator of the murder. The jury found William Mark Mize guilty of malice murder on December 12, 1995. The following day, they recommended a sentence of death. After years of appeals, Mize's fate was sealed. On April 29, 2009, William Mark Mize was executed by lethal injection for the murder of Eddie Tucker. Two other members of the NVAP, Christopher Hattrup and Terry Mark Allen, pleaded guilty for their roles in the crime and received life sentences.
