November 6, 2014 - In the summer of 1960 a tragedy occurred in Center changing the lives of a 15-year-old boy's family for over half a century. Fifty-four years later, James Thorn, who was 13 years old at the time, is on a mission in search of those responsible for the death of his brother, Charles Thorn, on August 9, 1960.
Shelby County Sheriff's Investigator Christopher King is now investigating the cold case and is helping Thorn in his search for what happened to his brother on that day. No investigative file exists as when law enforcement files get to a certain age they are destroyed. Investigator King has searched for any documentation explaining the circumstances that occurred; however, the only traces that remain are a newspaper article written on August 11, 1960, a death certificate and the funeral home hand-out.
Thorn accepts that files are destroyed once they reach a certain age, but that there is no written explanation anywhere leaves him extremely suspicious of the situation. "I suspect there was a cover-up, I suspect the law enforcement was either trying to protect somebody at that time, or my brother walked in on something he saw and potentially, whatever it was, he was stripped and murdered."
James Thorn decided that he would wait until his mother, Maxilene Thorn, had passed on before he would begin the inquiry into his brother's death as it was such a traumatic situation for his family. That is when he contacted the Sheriff's Department.
Thorn described the house where the incident occurred as a house that had a great deal of traffic, from children to adults, the house was playground to children and speakeasy at times to adults as well as rest area for transients. The house was located at the end of Pine Street at the intersection of Terry Street, was known as the Jack Brady home and at the time of the incident was owned by then Sheriff candidate Grady Jarratt.
"I was out on a birthday party, came home on August the 9th, approximately 4:15pm I would imagine, and that's a guess on my part. My mother told me to go get my brother, 'he's down at the old house playing with some friends,'" recalls Thorn. Although he does remember searching through the house for his brother and running home, part of what Thorn recalls at this time is a blur as he doesn't remember everything he saw when he arrived at the house that traumatic day. "I ran back to my house and my mother, I remember her standing sort of in front of the refrigerator, I remember her face, but I can't remember anything else. Dad comes walking down the hall and she told him to go find Charles down at the old house."
Thorn described his father, Travis Thorn, going to the house and locating Charles' body in front of the house, next to the porch, "Charles, according to all statements was found nude and a quote at that time 'his clothes were neatly folded beside his body.' Well it wasn't, because my father had brought them back with him. My mother was crying in his clothes, screaming and so-forth."
The second person to arrive at the scene was Ted Adams who worked with Mangum Funeral Home, and who also happened to be Thorn's first cousin. According to Thorn, Adams described his brother's body and the ligature that was around Charles' neck. This ligature has been described as having been cheese cloth torn from the walls of the house and rolled into an improvised rope. Thorn says that he has heard different accounts of his brother's death such as his brother hung himself, he was hung from a room in the house, he was hung from a tree, "he was in some bushes that has some limbs [about the size of a man's finger]," explained Thorn.
According to Thorn, Sheriff Charlie Christian arrived at his family's house a couple of days following his brother's death. Thorn listened through the wall as Sheriff Christian spoke to his parents and surmised what happened by indicating Charles Thorn hung himself accidentally, was nude and that his neck or back was broken, "Could his neck have been broken? I don't know, but I want to know how the Sheriff knew that."
Investigator King is convinced not everything adds up and is alarmed by indications that Thorn's death may have been more than an accident, "The one thing that really stands out to me is the disrobing. That is consistent with trying to humiliate someone, it's a very personal thing. If he had walked in on say bootleggers why would they go so far as to disrobe him? That's just really odd to me," said Investigator King. "The porch on the front of the residence, which is no longer standing, from what I understand it had a bannister and he was found midway along the porch on the ground, so that means he had to come over the bannister."
Thorn says that Adams related to him what was done when law enforcement arrived at the scene as he was there the entire time. He said they looked around the scene a little bit, no fingerprints were taken and no real investigating was performed. No medical examiner, doctor, or investigator was ever called to the scene. Beyond that, Adams stated to Thorn that no medical examination or doctor was ever at the funeral home either previous to Thorn's preparation for burial.
"Charles walked in on something, now what that was I don't know, but why was he nude? Was he sexually molested? Was he sexually molested and then strangled? Something happened that's out of the norm and it stinks," said Thorn as he continued to question why there was no medical examiner or doctor and why the police didn't do more than they did.
Thorn remarked that Sheriff Willis Blackwell and Investigator King have been "unbelievably cooperative" in helping him to learn the circumstances of the investigation of his brother's death.
A reward has been offered for any information leading to the identification and/or conviction of the parties responsible. Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Christopher King at the Shelby County Sheriff's Office by calling 936-598-5600.
