On a day meant for giving thanks, tragedy struck the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was November 26, 1980, the day before Thanksgiving, when 50-year-old Willa Dean Scott O'Neal was found shot to death. The grim discovery was made behind the counter of the used furniture store she owned and operated with her husband. The cash register was open and empty, suggesting a robbery that had taken a violent and fatal turn. The crime, which netted the perpetrator a mere $41, set in motion a long and complex legal battle to find justice for Willa Dean.
The investigation into her murder was anything but straightforward. Suspicion initially fell on her husband, Bob O'Neal, with whom she reportedly had a troubled relationship. Her own daughters from a previous marriage voiced their suspicions to the police, citing his abusive behavior and their mother's recent talk of divorce. However, the focus of the investigation soon shifted to another man, Wilburn A. Henderson, a career criminal with a history of mental illness. A key piece of evidence found at the scene was a folded sheet of yellow paper containing Henderson's name and contact information for a real estate agent. This discovery led police to learn that Henderson had taken a. 22 caliber pistol out of a pawn shop a few days before the murder and returned it shortly after. Although the ballistics expert could not definitively match the bullet that killed O'Neal to Henderson's gun, this evidence was a crucial part of the case against him.
Faced with mounting suspicion, Henderson fled to Houston but was eventually apprehended. During questioning, he confessed to being at the scene of the crime but claimed to have only witnessed the murder, implicating another man. He would later recant this confession. Over the course of the next two decades, Wilburn Henderson would be tried three times for the murder of Willa Dean O'Neal. His first trial ended in a mistrial due to extensive media publicity. The second trial resulted in a conviction and a death sentence, but this was later overturned by a federal appeals court which cited 'significant doubt about Henderson's guilt' and pointed to other possible suspects, including the victim's husband.
Despite the doubts raised, a third jury once again convicted Henderson of capital murder and sentenced him to death. After years of appeals, Wilburn A. Henderson was executed by lethal injection. The execution took place on what would have been Willa Dean O'Neal's 68th birthday, a somber end to a case that had haunted her family and the community of Fort Smith for years. Her children were present to witness the execution, bringing a final, albeit painful, close to a chapter of their lives that began with the sudden and violent loss of their mother.
