Stacey Hazelton, 21, Alligator, MS, 5/21/04 [MAN CONVICTED OF MURDER]

[Audie]

http://www.staceyhazelton.org/images/stacey11tha.JPG

http://www.staceyhazelton.org/

[Pauli]

Fannings found guilty of murder

Family to continue search for daughter's body

Aimee Robinette
BC Lifestyles Editor
Published December 03, 2006 9:27 PM CST

A Bolivar County jury room door shut at 5:33 p.m. Thursday, only to reopen 16 minutes later - an unprecedented length of time for a charge of murder.

James Arthur Fannings Jr. was found guilty of fatally shooting Stacey Lynn Hazelton in May 2004 at the Alligator Place Apartments. He will serve a life sentence.

For Hazelton's family, their daughter's death irrevocably changed their lives. Bruce Hazelton, Stacey's father, said sitting through testimony about the callous, cold murder of their oldest daughter had been torture.

Natalie, Hazelton's mother, said it was difficult for her not to be in the courtroom. She was a witness in the case.

Chavon Mack, aka Pierre, testified to Fannings shooting Hazelton point blank in the head after an argument over his being monogamous. Fannings was playing with a gun during the argument, casually point the gun at himself and Hazelton. When Fannings said he might as well be dead if he couldn't see other women, Hazelton said "No, shoot me," and he did.

Hazelton collapsed on the floor of the apartment building, and Fannings, still holding the gun, told Mack to find something to put her in while he wrapped her body in a sheet. Mack found a large plastic container as Fannings cleaned up the blood. They put her in the container.

Mack said Fannings drove Hazelton's green Chevy Blazer around to a side window, and they put her in the back.

They drove for two days, according to Mack, with Hazelton's body still in the blazer.
The third day after the murder, Mack said they attempted to burn Hazelton's body in a large metal barrel and stayed all night on a road parallel to the Hushpuckena River. Afterwards, they drove to a patch of woods on the banks of the Hushpuckena River and buried her in a shallow grave.

Five days after the murder, Fannings, Mack and another female friend drove Hazelton's blazer back to Pennsylvania, where Fannings used it as a personal vehicle until it was impounded. Fannings stole a motorcycle and the accomplice drove Hazelton's blazer as the getaway car. The blazer remained impounded for over a year.

While all the evidence in the case was circumstantial, each witness' testimony coincided with the other, even though they lived in different places and hadn't seen each other and in some cases, hadn't known each other.

Each testimony painted a picture of Fannings as being a ladies' man, who used them and manipulated them into doing what he wanted. He was known to be abusive.
Once he had been indicted by Bolivar County and arrested in Pennsylvania at his current girlfriend's home, he propositioned another inmate in prison to help him "take care of" Mack, the only witness to the crime.

This corroborated Mack's reason for not coming forward until over a year later when officers from Pennsylvania State Police Corp. Patrick Quigley and Thomas Waters interviewed him about Hazelton's disappearance.

"I was scared," Mack said.

Mack also testified that after Fannings killed Hazelton, he pointed the gun at Mack and threatened him and Mack's father.

Hazelton's remains have not been found and that will now become the mission of her family.

One witness testified that while in the Bolivar County Regional Correctional Facility with Fannings, they saw television coverage of the first dig on the banks of Hushpuckena River. Fannings told the inmate, "they were right on top of her." This ignited the family's desire to continue to search for Hazelton so they can "bring her home."

The Hazeltons said in an interview Friday morning that they knew Stacey had not given up her life for nothing, that her life was taken so that Fannings could not hurt other girls.
"He's a predator," said Bruce Hazelton.

"This was her way of stopping him - of getting someone to stop him," Natalie Hazelton added.

Emotions ran high for many involved in the case, including the jurors. After court was dismissed, several jurors approached the family with their condolences and said "the Lord would be with them."

"We weren't expecting it," said Bruce. "Not because I didn't' think they were good people, I just didn't know we were allowed to talk to them."

Natalie Hazelton said Mack had been spotted praying on his knees in a room outside of the court before the verdict was announced.

The Hazeltons were also allowed to address the court. They had prepared statements prior to the verdict, but had left them in the car, so they said they had to "wing it."

Natalie Hazelton said it was hard to see Fannings sitting there, when he was the one who took her daughter's life. She added they will never be able to hear her laugh again.
The Hazeltons said that they knew they were in good hands with District Attorney Laurence Mellen and Assistant District Attorney Brenda Mitchell.

They also said the case had been investigated well by the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department and Quigley and Waters.

Circuit Court Judge Kenneth L. Thomas approached the family and said, "See, we do have justice in the south" as he hugged them as well.

http://www.staceyhazelton.org/staceydeath.htm

[Pauli]

Breaking News
January 2008: Texas EquuSearch is still awaiting permission to perform a search in the area where Stacey is believed to be buried. Access has been denied for several months because the current owner is selling the land. That sale is now pending and should be completed within the next three months. The new owners have so far indicated that they would have no problem with a search effort, and Stacey's family is much heartened by this news. It has been a long and difficult wait for them. Texas EquuSearch is ready to mobilize the moment permission has been officially granted to do a controlled burn and detailed search of the area. Let's hope that happens soon. Please keep praying and showing your support to the family for the discovery and return of Stacey's body.
http://www.staceyhazelton.org/index.html

[PinkPony]

Breaking News
January 2008: Texas EquuSearch is still awaiting permission to perform a search in the area where Stacey is believed to be buried. Access has been denied for several months because the current owner is selling the land. That sale is now pending and should be completed within the next three months. The new owners have so far indicated that they would have no problem with a search effort, and Stacey's family is much heartened by this news. It has been a long and difficult wait for them. Texas EquuSearch is ready to mobilize the moment permission has been officially granted to do a controlled burn and detailed search of the area. Let's hope that happens soon. Please keep praying and showing your support to the family for the discovery and return of Stacey's body.
http://www.staceyhazelton.org/index.html

Wow this is great news Harlett. Hopefully the sale is done in a timely manner so Tim and his group can get in there and find Stacey.


:1222423: You're coming home Stacey.

[nanabillie]

http://missingexploited.com/2007/02/28/texas-equusearch-in-boliver-county-ms-looking-for-missing-stacey-hazelton/
Texas EquuSearch in Boliver County, MS Looking for Missing Stacey Hazelton (http://missingexploited.com/2007/02/28/texas-equusearch-in-boliver-county-ms-looking-for-missing-stacey-hazelton/)

After some delays due to in-climate weather Tim Miller and Texas EquuSearch have http://www.missingexploited.com/images/stacey_Hazelton_small.jpgfinally been able to start searching for missing Stacey Hazelton. Stacey went missing on May 2004 (http://missingexploited.com/2007/02/24/stacey-hazelton-21-missing-since-2004-in-mississippi-texas-equusearch-to-aid-in-search/)and has not been seen since. Her ex-boyfriend, James Arthur Fanning, has been tried and convicted of her murder. Despite many previous searches by law enforcement, Stacey’s body was never found.
Texas Equusearch arrived today in Bolver County, MS (http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/201188)to begin searching for Stacy Hazelton’s body. A witness in the murder trial stated that Hazelton;d body was burned and buried in the woods near a creek in Duncan, MS. TES will be working in conjunction with the Boliver County Sheriff’s Department (http://www.co.bolivar.ms.us/sheriffdepartment.htm).
An update from the search informs us that TES brought in ground penetrating units and have found some ground anomalies. These points of interest have been probed and cadaver dogs were brought in and showed some interest. At this point there has been nothing definitely located. The Texas EquuSearch team will be working through the night as local authorities brought in lights and there is a threat of more bad weather in the area in the morning. Updates will be coming in as news comes forth.
http://www.missingexploited.com/images/stacey_Hazelton_map_small.jpg (http://local.lancasteronline.com/5/201188IJSTACEY)
(Lancaster on-line (http://local.lancasteronline.com/5/201188IJSTACEY))
The parents of Stacey Hazelton have expressed their thanks and for Texas EquuSearch coming to help them find their daughter.
For Bruce and Natalie Hazelton, Stacey’s parents, Texas Equusearch (http://www.texasequusearch.org/)aiding in the search efforts makes the possibility of finding her remains all that more real. “This feels great, I can’t thank them enough,” said Natalie. “They are traveling all that way to come and search. We are hopeful and thinking positive. My mother has really worked hard to get this organization involved. “Our hope is that we will be able to bring Stacey’s remains home,” she added. “They told us to remain positive, so that’s what we’ll be.” (The Boliver Commercial (http://www.bolivarcom.com/nf/omf/bolivar/news_story.html?rkey=))
More can be found at the family website, http://www.staceyhazelton.org/ (http://www.staceyhazelton.org/)
UPDATE I: Thursday 12:05PM, Tim Miller discusses results of search
According to Tim Miller, they worked until around 3:30–4:00 this morning searching for Stacey Hazelton. Tim Miller stated, “it appeared that Stacey could have been here at one point. The cadaver dogs had hits, but we did not find her. However, it was important to clear this area for possible locations of Stacey.” Although this search effort was without a conclusion Tim Miller suggested to law enforcement that maybe she may be in the area. The authorities have no idea whether Stacey was buried in the ground or just covered up. Tim Miller suggested a controlled burn of the area to rid it of the over vegetation so that the area can be searched again. This time a greater circumference surface area search. He believes the controlled burn in planned for this weekend.
We also had the opportunity to talk to Kent Schneider with the ground penetration unit. Scared Monkeys initially met Kent during the Natalee Holloway search in Aruba in 2005. Also involved in the Search for Stacey Hazelton was Dave Holloway, the father of missing Natalee Holloway.
Tim Miller wanted to personally thank the Boliver County Sheriff’s Department, those that helped and loaned equipment for the search, Kent Schneider, Dave Holloway and the other search teams that participated in the search. Tim Miller said, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish in such a short period of time when all work together for a common purpose, it all just comes together.”


February 28th, 2007 (http://missingexploited.com/2007/02/28/) at 11:24pm Posted by Administrator (http://missingexploited.com/author/administrator/) | Stacey Hazelton (http://missingexploited.com/category/stacey-hazelton/), Crime/Murder (http://missingexploited.com/category/crimemurder/), Search and Rescue (http://missingexploited.com/category/search-and-rescue/), Missing (http://missingexploited.com/category/missing/), Missing Adult (http://missingexploited.com/category/missing-adult/) | no comments (http://missingexploited.com/2007/02/28/texas-equusearch-in-boliver-county-ms-looking-for-missing-stacey-hazelton/#comments)

[Grande]

http://i43.tinypic.com/16kvx4h.jpg

[Audie]

Breaking News

December 2008: Fannings's Appeal Denied.

James Arthur Fannings Jr., convicted of Stacey's murder in December of 2006, and sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole, recently brought an appeal of his conviction to the Bolivar County Circuit Court; Hon. Robert William Elliot presiding. A jury deliberated on the six issues he raised in his appeal and, on December 16, 2008, they found that no reversible errors had been committed and affirmed both the conviction and the sentencing of Mr. Fannings.

Mr. Fannings will remain in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) to carry out the extent of his life sentence.

http://www.staceyhazelton.org/

[Faith]

This is great news, Audie.

[annalyzer]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hazelton_stacey.html

http://www.nampn.org/cases/hazelton_stacey.html

http://www.staceyhazelton.org/