William and the Forces of Evil

It was the late 1970s, and the city of Columbus, Georgia was being terrorized by serial murderers who were targeting female victims. Several black prostitutes had been found dead in the area, and a killer who the media had nicknamed as the “Stocking Strangler” had been strangling elderly women. Because all the Stocking Strangler’s victims were white, the killer was believed to be a black man. 

Although the two sets of killings were originally thought to be unrelated because of the completely different victim profiles, an anonymous letter sent to the local police station appeared to show that they were connected.

The letter was handwritten on a piece of stationary from the US Army, and claimed to be from seven white males calling themselves “the Forces of Evil” who had banded together in an attempt to stop the Stocking Strangler from taking more victims. In the letter, the men claimed that they had taken a hostage - a 21 year old black woman by the name of Gail Jackson - who they intended to murder unless the police succeeded in arresting the Stocking Strangler.

The Forces of Evil demanded that the local police chief reply to them by leaving messages on the TV and radio. They continued writing more letters to the police, demanding a total ransom of $10000 in exchange for Gail’s life, and eventually, they escalated to placing phone calls to the police station.

However, in April 1978, Gail Jackson’s body was found - and she had been dead for more than a month. Gail had been killed around five weeks ago, before the “Forces of Evil” sent their first letter claiming that she was their hostage. Shortly after Gail’s death was discovered, the “Forces of Evil” called the police station again, providing instructions to find the body of another one of their victims. Sure enough, a 32-year-old black woman named Irene Thirkield was found dead at a Fort Benning rifle range. Like  Gail, Irene also worked as a prostitute in the area.

In 1978, behavioral profiling was a new science, and the FBI’s behavioral science unit had only been formed four years ago. One of the original behavioral profilers for the FBI, Robert K. Ressler, worked on the case to create a profile of who was responsible for the crimes - however, Robert quickly came to the conclusion that the “Forces of Evil” were not who they said they were. He was certain that the killings had been committed by only one murderer instead of the seven men that the forces claimed to be - additionally, he believed that the culprit was a single black man in his twenties, who was unlikely to have received a higher education. 

Robert also believed that the killer was in the military at Fort Benning, but only had a low rank. In one of the letters, the author had warned the police that the fact that they had used military stationary wasn’t a clue, claiming, “anyone could get hold of that.” However, Robert thought that this was the culprit trying to draw attention away from themselves so that investigators wouldn’t realize they were in the military.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation used Robert Ressler’s profile to search for suspects, focusing on bars near Fort Benning where a black military man might go to pick up a prostitute. They zeroed in on one man in particular - William Henry Hance, who fitted the profile perfectly. He had started out as a Marine and then later signed up to the Army, and he lived in Fort Benning where he was ranked as a specialist.

As well as fitting the profile, there was plenty of physical evidence that ended up linking William to the two murders. Shoe prints that matched his boots had been found at the scene of both crimes, analysis of his handwriting matched the letters that had been sent to the police station from the supposed “Forces of Evil”, and recordings of the telephone calls to the station also matched his voice.

When William was arrested and accused of the murders, he was confronted with the collection of evidence showing that he was the killer, and he appeared to understand that there was no point in denying his involvement. Immediately, William confessed to posing as the “Forces of Evil” and murdering Gail and Irene…but he also decided to confess to a third crime. In 1977, he had killed 24-year-old Karen Hickman, his only white victim. Karen had had a reputation for dating black men who were in the military, and often spent time in bars that were frequented by black patrons, making it easy for William to get her alone. Until he confessed, Karen’s murder had gone unsolved. 

Later on, William was also found to have killed a woman in Indiana at Fort Benjamin Harrison, but he was never charged with the crime. Because of the letters from the “Forces of Evil” implying a connection between William’s killings and the Stocking Strangler, investigators looked into whether it was possible that William was also the Strangler. However, he was found to be innocent - the Stocking Strangler was later identified as a man named Carlton Gary.

For his confirmed murders, William was tried in a combination of both civilian and military courts. 

In military court, William received a life sentence for Irene Thirkield’s murder…but in civilian court, he was sentenced to death for Gail Jackson’s murder. While his life sentence ended up being overturned because the jury didn’t believe he had the mental capacity to commit premeditated murder, his death sentence stuck.

In the days leading up to William’s death, his case was surrounded by controversy because of questions about his mental health and intelligence, as well as the belief that racial prejudice had influenced the jury at his trial. He had an IQ between 75 and 79, meaning that he was classified as only having “borderline intellectual functioning.” This brought up the issue of whether a death sentence was an appropriate punishment, as William’s intellect was severely impaired. In fact, one of the sentencers in William’s trial later came forward and stated that she had chosen to “not vote for the death penalty because of his mental impairments.”

A member of the jury who had been at William’s sentencing claimed that several of the jurors had used racial slurs when talking about the case and had made racist remarks, including stating that “no one would miss” William if he was executed, and that his execution would be a good thing as it would prevent him from having children.

Out of all the members of the jury, only one was also black - 26-year-old Gayle Lewis Daniels. According to the same juror who had shared about the racism in the trial, Gayle was also the victim of racism. She had been against giving William the death penalty and had steadfastly refused to agree with the other jurors, but the rest of the jury wouldn’t listen to her, and instead told the judge that they had unanimously agreed to vote for the death penalty. By this point, Gayle felt afraid to correct them and tell the judge that she disagreed with the death penalty, because some other members of the jury had claimed that she would be guilty of perjury.

In her affidavit, Gayle wrote, “I believe that the death penalty is right for people who commit murder when they are in their right mind…I did not vote for the death penalty in Mr. Hance’s case, because I did not believe that he knew what he was doing at the time of his crimes.”

When talking about the case, William’s lawyer stated that if he was executed, it would be “first cousin to a lynching.” William and his attorney appealed the death sentence, and the appeals continued until they reached the Supreme Court. Only a few hours before William was due to be executed, he was granted a stay of execution by Justice Anthony Kennedy…however, that same day, the court voted against taking on the case.

On the 31st of March, 1994, William Henry Hance was executed by electric chair, becoming the 18th inmate to be executed in Georgia since the death penalty was restored in 1976.

When these pieces of information about the racism in William’s trial came to light, the media responded with outrage. Shortly afterward, one newspaper published an article about the case, saying, “There is compelling evidence that the law was not followed…that [William] Hance’s civil rights were violated, that he was a victim of racism and political expediency.” The reporter writing the article came to the conclusion that William’s execution hadn’t been justice at all, saying, “He might as well have been lynched.”