He Called Me Sister - Book Review

 

Title: He Called Me Sister; A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row

Author: Suzanne Craig Robertson

Publisher: Morehouse Publishing

Publication Date: February 21, 2023

Length: 240 Pagest the Author

Suzanne Craig Robertson is a former legal magazine editor and bar association communicator. She holds a Master of Arts in writing and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Death Row Ministry 
The story begins with Alan Robertson volunteering when representatives of the Southern Prison Ministry visited Glendale Baptist Church in Nashville, recruiting

people to visit Death Row inmates. The death row inmate assigned to Mr. Robertson was Cecil Johnson.

This opportunity to serve soon included the entire Robertson family. Alan, Suzanne, and their children would write letters, accept phone calls, and visit Cecil on death row. Their relationship lasted for 15 years. Cecil Johnson was executed by the state of Tennessee on December 2, 2009.

This poignant story tells about the journey.

My Thoughts

Ms. Robertson said they went to death row to minister to Cecil, but it was soon evident that Cecil was ministering to the Robertson family. 
Cecil Johnson had a strong Christian faith and maintained his innocence to the end. 

The beauty of this book is the relationship that grew over many years. Cecil became a member of the Robertson family. It did not matter that Cecil was black and the Robertsons were white. It did not matter that Cecil grew up in an environment of extreme poverty and the Robertsons were affluent. It did not matter that Cecil was a convicted murderer. 

The Robertsons did hit a few bumps in the road during their friendship with Cecil. Sometimes friends did not understand why they would associate with a murderer. The legal appeals process was long and complicated. Then there was the day of the execution. 

The last several chapters tell of the days after the execution when Suzanne tried to figure out what went wrong and why Cecil did not get a fair trial in the court system. This part of the book bogged down a bit with details about lawyers, judges, and the legal system. 

I am so glad this book was written and I hope it will inspire other Christians to reach out to those who are locked up and forgotten.

My Rating; 4 Stars Out Of 5

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Betrayal of Trust in Fort Leonard Wood Murders

Frozen Tears: The Fort Leonard Wood MP Murders

Author: J.B. King and Sandra Linhart

Publisher: Red Engine Press

Publication Date: October 19, 2019

Length: 315 pages

About the Author

J.B. King had a long and successful career in law enforcement. He was a member of the Missouri Highway Patrol and served as sheriff of Pulaski County for eight years. Mr. King has written two books about the Civil War in Missouri and a book about his law enforcement career.

Military Game Warden Kidnaps, Rapes and Murders 

This is a true-crime account of the events that took place in the early morning hours of January 13, 1977. Four teenagers were pulled over on a lonely road near the south gate of Fort Leonard Wood by MP/Game Warden Johnny Lee Thornton. He shot the two young men, Wesley Hawkins and Anthony Bates, and took the young women, Juanita Deckard and Linda Needham, to a game warden cabin and raped them. He then shot the women and left all four of the victims buried under the snow in the woods. 

Juanita Deckard was wounded but was able to walk for six hours through the snow and rugged terrain to find help from a rural home near the base. Miss Deckard was able to identify Johnny Lee Thornton and he was found guilty in federal court.  He was sentenced to three life terms and is currently held in federal prison.

My Thoughts

I don't usually read true crime books. I tend to change into a paranoid mess and start hearing strange noises at night when I read books like this one. This is a story that nightmares are made of.

However, I had a personal connection to Plato, Missouri. In 1977, I was working as a school librarian in the Union R-XI School District. My younger sister had just graduated from college and accepted a job working as a teacher in the Plato R-V School District. Plato is located about ten miles south of Fort Leonard Wood. I remember visiting my sister on a Saturday and spending the entire day hiking secluded trails in the Mark Twain National Forest. 

This story is shocking. These young people were taught to respect the authority of a police officer and had no reason to believe that their trust would be betrayed in such a horrible way. Things like this did not happen in rural southeastern Missouri. I don't think anyone could have been prepared for what happened that night.

The authors did an excellent job collecting interviews, news articles, court records, police reports, and medical records that pertain to this case. Their research was very thorough and they presented information that has not been previously made public.

I hope this book is chosen for a movie deal. 

MY RATING - 5 STARS OUT OF 5

FYI ~ I borrowed a digital copy of this book with my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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