Wade Hulen Strickland |
| Posted 2011-06-11 by Pat R |
| Wickenburg (AZ) Sun Friday, January 8, 1960, p 1 Youth Confesses Ruthless Murder Dumped Body On Roadside East Of Town Lewellyn McGee Jr, 19-year-old hitchhiker from Riverside, Calif., has confessed he shot Wade H Strickland, 29-year-old El Paso, Texas, man four times in the head just east of Wickenburg Tuesday morning and dumped the body onto the shoulder of Highway 60-70 just a few yards east of the Echo Hills Nursing Home driveway. Maricopa County sheriffs officers said McGee admitted the slaying Tuesday night after he was arrested leaving a Phoenix parking lot in Stickland's automobile. Strickland's body was first seen by two brothers, Ben and Frank Stockton of Downey, Calif., who passed the spot at approximately 7:50am while driving west. They rushed into Wickenburg and reported to Highway Patrolman George Pemberton. Strickland, a representative of the National Cotton Council of America, had left Bakersfield, Calif., about 9:30am Monday on his way to Phoenix. McGee told officers he was hitchhiking between Banning and Beaumont, Calif., when Strickland picked him up. Officers said McGee told them he was driving just west of Wickenburg when he took a .380 caliber automatic pistol from his pocket with his left hand and poked it within a few inches of Strickland's face. "Man, there was blood splattering all over my face, you know," the beatnik-talking McGee said. There was blood gushing all over the place. I was sitting in what felt like a couple inches of blood." He said he drove on a few miles before stopping and dragging the body from the auto. McGee told officers he went on in Strickland's car to the western outskirts of Phoenix where he checked in a motel to get "the blood off me." There he spent a part of the day and changed into cloting belonging to Strickland before checking out and moving on to another motel at the corner of Third Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Phoenix, disposing of a lot of his and Strickland's clothing by dumping it off the highway. McGee was the object of a wide search following his alleged kidnapping of a girl in California last weekend. Police had been working on the theory that he might be the suspect in the Strickland killing. When deputy sheriffs received a tip that an automobile answering the description of Strickland's was in the motel parking lot, they went to the scene just as McGee was pulling out. He was arrested on the spot, and, officers say, the murder weapon was found in the motel room which McGee had occupied. When questioned after his confession, McGee was asked if he intended to kill Strickland. "Yes, Sir," he answered, "and I'd do it again. that guy made me mad." Asked if Strickland said anything after being shot, the jive-talking McGee answered, "Man, when you shoot somebody in the head three or four times they just don't say too much." Strickland was enroute to Phoenix to visit Brian Boyett, 28, who is western area representative for the cotton council for which both worked. He identified the body. Strickland was born in Rolling Fork, Miss., the son of Dr W W Strickland, a dentist there. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, the young man had been hired by the cotton council about a month ago and was undergoing training in his new job. The father, upon hearing of the tragedy, telephoned Justice of the Peace R L Westall, ex-officio coroner, asking that when the body is released that it be shipped to Rolling Fork, Miss., for burial. McGee became a suspect shortly after Strickland's body was found because of the alert put out by California officers following the report of Barbara Katherine Hewson, 19, University of California at Riverside student, that McGee had kidnapped her December 30 and forced her to accompany him to San Diego and El Centro in her car. She is reported as having said that McGee used a gun to force her to accompany him. McGee left Miss Hewson's car near Banning Monday morning and a few minutes later was picked up by Strickland. In commenting about Miss Hewson's story, McGee is quoted by officers as saying "She was just a girl friend that I liked a lot and, man, I just thought I'd take her for a ride. I showed her the gun and said, 'You better come with me.' But it was all a lot of bluff. I wouldn't have shot that gal for anything in the world. She was a real gone kid." McGee said he lived in Montgonery, Ala., until a few months ago when he went to Riverside, Calif., to stay with his mother who had divorced his father several years ago and remarried. He said he tried to enlist in the Marines but was turned down because of a broken ear drum. See Also: Find A Grave |
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