In the quiet, rural community of Mars Hill, Alabama, a horrific crime shattered the peace on January 3, 1980. James Columbus 'Lum' Roberts, a 79-year-old man, was found murdered in the modest farmhouse he shared with his siblings. The brutal discovery was made by their sister, Verlin Roberts, when she returned home to a scene of unimaginable violence. James and two of his siblings, Floy and Mae Bell Roberts, were found dead, having been shot with a shotgun and a. 38 pistol. Another brother, Mack Roberts, was found clinging to life but succumbed to his injuries a couple of days later. The viciousness of the act was compounded by the vulnerability of the victims; James and Floy were both bed-ridden with illness at the time of the attack.
The initial investigation into what would become known as the 'Mars Hill Murders' pointed towards robbery as a motive. A trunk, rumored to have contained a significant amount of cash, was missing from the home. The tranquility of the small community was replaced by a current of fear and suspicion as the local sheriff's department appeared to have few leads. Whispers and theories circulated throughout the area, fueling a sense of unease as the case grew cold. For nearly three years, the missing trunk remained a symbol of the unresolved brutality, until it was discovered by hunters, containing nothing more than the elderly brothers' suits.
Though the case officially remains unsolved, a series of violent and mysterious events in the years following the murders began to unravel a tangled web of potential suspects. Two local men, Carlton DeMoss and Roy Harris, were believed by the sheriff to have intimate knowledge of the crime. The weight of this knowledge seemingly proved too much for DeMoss, who took his own life in 1984 after confessing to his wife that he had done a terrible thing he could not live with. That same year, Harris, who had reportedly expressed fears that someone was after him, was found dead on the banks of the Tallapoosa River with a bullet in his skull.
A significant break in the case came in 1986 when a sawed-off shotgun and a. 38 caliber pistol were recovered. Ballistics tests confirmed these were the weapons used in the massacre of the Roberts family. The shotgun was confiscated from a man named Charles Hiett by his brother, a deputy U.S. Marshal. Later that year, Charles's nephew, Jerry Hiett, was arrested in possession of the. 38 pistol. While no one was ever charged with the murders, Jerry Hiett was convicted on two counts of first-degree perjury for lying to a grand jury about his knowledge of the killings. He was sentenced to two life terms in prison, though he was eventually released. Another man, Anthony Bell, was also indicted on perjury charges. The full story of what happened in the Roberts' farmhouse that winter day, and who was ultimately responsible for the deaths of James Columbus Roberts and his siblings, remains shrouded in the lingering shadows of Mars Hill.
