A Columbus man has been arrested for the September 2011 murder of William Vaughn. Myron Sewell, 23, was arraigned on a capital murder charge Friday afternoon by Municipal Judge Nicole Clinkscales. Clinkscales denied bond for Sewell at the request of Police Chief Selvain McQueen.
Sewell was incarcerated at the Lowndes Count Adult Detention Center at the time of his arrest. He was being held on sexual battery, robbery and trespassing charges stemming from a January 2012 arrest. He appeared before Clinkscales in an orange LCADC jumpsuit and was shackled in handcuffs.
“Mr. Sewell, we have met before in this court room,” Clinkscales said before she read Sewell his Miranda Rights. “Someone has come forth and said you (allegedly) confronted someone about some money and you (produced) a firearm and shot (William Vaughn) causing his death.”
Sewell, who said he moved to Columbus from New Orleans in 1996, will be assigned an attorney by the court for his murder case. He is currently being represented by Columbus attorney William Starks. Clinkscales said she felt Starks will once again be appointed to represent Sewell, who was given a preliminary trial date for September 6.
“The burden of proof is on the city,” Clinkscales said. “If you have any proof you did not commit this crime, you must present it at this hearing.”
Vaughn was shot in the yard of his father’s house on 27th Street North near Sixth Avenue North in the Propst Park area. He died while being transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. During a five-day period in September 2011, three people were shot and killed. Although arrests have not been made in the other two homicides, McQueen said his department is continuing to follow leads.
“We were finally able to break this case due to some help from the community,” McQueen said Friday during a press conference at the Municipal Complex. “This is what it takes — citizen interaction. We are only as strong as our support base. We are actively working all of the unsolved murders but we need the community to continue to help us by giving us tips and providing us with information.”
McQueen said his department had not notified Vaughn’s family at the time of the Friday press conference, but expected to notify them soon.
“We try to make contact with the families of all of our cold case victims at least once a week to let them know what is going on and the progress we are making,” McQueen said.
CPD Detective L.C. Cockrell attended the press conference and said the CPD has also issued a warrant for the arrest of Curtis Hinton in connection with the 1997 murder of then 70-year old George Wilbanks. Hinton is a former resident of Columbus who has possibly fled the state.
Earnest Terell Talley, 44, of 805 Remunda Drive in Columbus, was arrested in February and charged with Wilbanks’ murder.
Wilbanks’ body was discovered in his home Nov. 2, 1997. He had been stabbed and strangled. His murder was the second in a string of five which occurred between 1996 and 1998. All were senior citizens. All died in a similar fashion and lived within a three-mile radius of one another in north Columbus. Wilbanks lived on Second Avenue North at the time of his death.
The murders of Mack Fowler, Robert Hannah, Louise Randall and Betty Everett have yet to be solved. The murders gained national attention and were the subject of a CBS news program.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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