Episode 317 - Reverend Willie Maxwell: Harper Lee & The Killer Voodoo Preacher
In summer 1977, in Alexander City, Alabama, a man stood up in front of 300 mourners at the funeral of a 16-year-old girl – and shot a reverend three times in the head.
When the shooter’s murder trial began, it caught the attention of the renowned author, Harper Lee, who went on to spend years researching the story for her next book.
But it wasn’t the shooting that had piqued her interest.
It was the series of suspicious deaths surrounding the reverend – Willie Maxwell – known in Coosa County, Alabama, as a serial killing voodoo preacher.
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Sources:
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud & The Last Trial of Harper Lee - Casey Cep
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/04/and-the-missing-briefcase-the-real-story-behind-harper-lees-lost-true-book
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/harper-lees-forgotten-true-crime-project
https://medium.com/thehighhorse/the-reverend-and-the-writer-df5dba8e5e22
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/21/archives/minister-slain-after-giving-stepdaughters-eulogy-he-is-called-a.html