Socialite's 1988 disappearance remains mystery

Ex-Florida lawyer released after serving16 years in prison on charges that did not include kidnapping

By Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com

It's a mystery as baffling as the disappearance of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.

Annie Laurie Hearin, 72, the socialite wife of multimillionaire Robert M. Hearin, disappeared from their northeast Jackson home on July 26, 1988.

She has never been found. The only person charged in her disappearance was released from federal prison in April after serving 16 years for extortion, lying to a federal grand jury and conspiracy to kidnap Annie Laurie Hearin. Former Florida lawyer Newton Alfred Winn, now 84, however, was not charged with kidnapping.

Winn maintains his innocence, according to his son. His father is doing well, said Mark Alfred Winn, a St. Petersburg, Fla., attorney.

"My father believes a mistake was made and he was unfairly convicted and sentenced to prison, but he is prepared now to get on with his life," he said.

The Hearins' son, Robert Hearin Jr., said the family was informed of Newton Alfred Winn's release by the U.S. Probation and Parole Service.

"It wouldn't do any good to speculate whether he kidnapped her," said Robert Hearin Jr., a New Orleans attorney. "The evidence speaks for itself in the two-week trial."

Robert Hearin Jr. said he and his sister, Laurie McRee of Jackson, miss their mother very much. "But after 18 years, there is not a lot of hope she is coming back," he said.

A Hinds County Chancery judge declared their mother legally dead in August 1991. The year before, their father died of a heart attack at age 73, only months after Winn was convicted. Robert Hearin Sr. was estimated to be worth $200 million when he died.

Annie Laurie Hearin disappeared after she had played bridge with club members at her Woodland Hills home. When Robert Hearin Sr. arrived home about 4:30 p.m. that day, he thought she was out visiting friends. But by 7:30 p.m. he became worried and before 10 p.m. the police had been called. Police found drops of blood on the carpet and a smudge of blood on the front door.

A crudely written, typed note was found folded beside the door. The letter demanded Robert Hearin Sr. right alleged wrongs against 12 franchises of School Pictures of Mississippi Inc. At the time, Robert Hearin was the company's largest stockholder and was board chairman.

Police, however, kept the kidnapping from the media until two days later when then-Jackson Mayor Dale Danks Jr. publicly announced it.

The FBI revealed on Aug. 3, 1988, that it was looking for Newton Alfred Winn for questioning in the kidnapping. On March 11, 1989, Winn's arrest was announced.

Jackson attorney John Colette, one of the attorneys who represented Winn during Winn's 1990 trial in Hattiesburg, said Winn maintained he was innocent from the beginning and never changed.

"A jury said he was responsible (for Hearin's disappearance), but a big piece of the puzzle is missing. ... There are more unanswered questions than answers," Colette said.

Winn, in seeking to overturn his conviction in 1996, cited that the mystery of Annie Laurie Hearin supported his appeal.

''Whatever happened to Annie Laurie Hearin is not known," he said then.

Mississippi College law professor Patricia Bennett, one of the federal prosecutors then, said the Winn case was largely circumstantial, but the evidence tied him to the case.

"There were physical evidence, a witness identified his van as being in the neighborhood, and there was a cooperating witness who testified she mailed a letter for him (Winn)," Bennett said.

The elder Winn didn't testify at trial. His defense team argued he was framed.

During the trial, a construction foreman from Clinton identified Winn as the man he saw near the posh Jackson neighborhood one day before Annie Laurie Hearin was kidnapped. Also, a Florida woman testified Winn paid her $500 to fly to Atlanta and mail a letter Aug. 11, 1988.

Four days later, Robert Hearin Sr. received a ransom letter with an Atlanta postmark in his wife's handwriting with the words "please save me."

He mailed nearly $1 million to the franchisees, including Winn, who returned his check.

Some say Newton Alfred Winn was a prime suspect because when his School Pictures franchise failed, a federal judge in 1984 ordered him to pay the business $153,000. When Winn failed to pay, School Pictures took legal steps to seize his personal property, including the building that served as his home and office.

Danks, who was one of the first people to arrive at the Hearins' home after family members the night of the kidnapping, said he always thinks about the case.

"It was a trying time for the city, Mr. Hearin and his family," Danks said.