Dark and Bloody Ground (25 page)

Mug shots, Orange County, Florida, jail, August 1985: the end of a long, deadly crime spree.
(Courtesy Kentucky State Police.)

Lt. Danny Webb, commander, KSP post, Hazard, Kentucky, 1991. His contacts helped crack the case. (
Courtesy Suzanne O’Brien.)

Sherry Sheets Hodge (left) and Carol Keeney Epperson await the verdict, Letcher County Courthouse, during the Acker trial, 1986.
(Courtesy Whitesburg Mountain Eagle.)

The Acker trial dominates the news.

James Wiley Craft, Commonwealth’s Attorney, Letcher County Courthouse, 1991. He prosecuted the Acker and Morris murder-robberies.
(Courtesy Suzanne O’Brien.)

Circuit Judge F. Byrd Hogg in chambers, Letcher County Courthouse, 1991. He presided at the Acker trial.
(Courtesy Suzanne O'Brien.)

Tawny Rose Acker and Dr. Roscoe J. Acker watch the trial, Letcher County Courthouse, 1986.
(Courtesy Lexington Herald-Leader.)

Donald Terry Bartley testifies for the prosecution, Letcher County Courthouse, 1986. (
Courtesy Whitesburg Mountain Eagle.)

Lester Burns, indicted, confronts the media: “I will sail from this court on the ship of truth.” Lexington Federal Courthouse, 1987.
(Courtesy Alice Cornett.)

Benny and Sherry pledge eternal love before the death sentence is pronounced, Letcher County jail, 1986. They had a suicide pact.
(Courtesy Whitesburg Mountain Eagle.)

Bobby Morris, Jerry Morris, and James Wiley Craft
(right),
Laurel County Courthouse, 1987.
(Courtesy Alice Cornett.)

Sherry, handcuffed and in tears. (
Courtesy Alice Cornett.)

Led away after her reunion with Benny, Laurel County jail, 1987. She would not see him for three years. (
Courtesy Alice Cornett.)