In the middle of nowhereOn US Route 60 near I-64 exit #156 (the Sam Black Church exit) in Greenbrier County,
West Virginia stands a commemorative marker. That in itself is not noteworthy as such markers are common along America's highways. This marker however speaks of a unique event that bridges the legal field with the
occult.
Strange goings on
The text of the marker is as follows:
Interred in nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband Edward. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition's account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to the state prison. Only known case where testimony from ghost helped convict a murderer.
There is a bit more to the story than a simple highway marker can relate. The marker is little more than a teaser, one which leads the curious to seek out more detail.
Bitten by the lovebug
Two years before her demise young Elva Zona Heaster had given birth to a child out of wedlock. In 1890's America, that was a scandalous event. The father was never named and young Zona (as she preferred being called) set about raising her child.
The following year in 1896 a stranger came to the area. He was Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue, preferring to go by the name of Edward. He planned to set up shop as a blacksmith, and upon meeting Zona they took an immediate shine to one another.
Zona's mother was Mary Jane Heaster and she was far from smitten with Edward. She was a protective mother, more so since Zona's unfortunate unwed mother status. There was something she didn't like at all about this stranger who had come to claim her daughter's heart and hand. Despite her misgivings and protests Zona and Edward were wed on October 26, 1896.
A bare 3 months later, 11 year old Andy Jones entered the Shue home on an errand to find Zona lying on the floor motionless. Young Andy at first thought she may be asleep but, upon calling her name and arousing no response, he felt that something was desperately wrong. He fled the dwelling and reported the event to his mother. The local doctor and coroner, Dr. George W. Knapp, was summoned. It took over an hour for him to arrive and he found the body had been moved by Edward. He had taken Zona to a bedroom upstairs, dressed her in her best clothing, a stiff collared, high necked dress. He had also covered her face with a veil.
Curiouser and curiouser
The young woman was obviously dead. While trying to conduct his investigation into the cause of death, he was hampered by Edward, who cradled his wife's head in his arms and wept uncontrollably, almost in hysterics. Dr. Knapp could find nothing that would end the life of a young, healthy woman. He did note however a slight discoloration of her right check extending downward toward her neck. As the doctor set about checking these marks, Edwards protested so vociferously that Dr. Knapp ceased his efforts. He signified the cause of death to be an everlasting faint, whatever that may have been. Officially, he noted the cause of death as childbirth, an unexplainable conclusion to arrive at as the young woman was not pregnant. The doctor also failed to notify police of the mysterious marks on the dead woman's check and neck.
At the wake Edward acted very peculiarly. He alternated between grief-wracked and nervously agitated. He had her neck covered by a scarf, one he claimed had been his wife's favorite. He also had her head bolstered by a pillow on one side and a rolled up cloth on the other as if supporting her head in position. At the end of the wake, as the coffin was moved in preparation for the trip to the cemetery, several people noted an odd looseness to Zona's head and neck.
Zona was buried on a dreary day in late January, 1897 at the age of 23. For all intents and purposes the story ends here, but that wasn't the end of Zona's story.
A sign is given
Mary Heaster had taken the rolled up cloth from her daughter's coffin before burial. Shortly after she sought to give it to Edward, but he refused to take possession of it. She decided that she would keep it as a memento, but noted that it had a strange scent, an indefinable aura about it. She set about washing the cloth in a basin but as she put the cloth into the clean water the liquid became red as blood. Mary Heaster was shocked, to say the least. She dipped some water from the basin and found it to be clear again. Mary set about removing the stain from the cloth but failed. Neither soaking, boiling, nor hanging in the sunlight had any effect. Mary took this as a sign, one that Zona was giving her to warn her that her daughter had not died of natural causes.
Plea for information
Mary prayed that her daughter would communicate with her, give her the truth as to how she had died. Mary prayed that same plea for weeks, and finally her prayer was answered. Mary claimed that her dead and departed daughter appeared to her for 4 consecutive nights and revealed how she had died. Zona told her mother that Edward was a cruel and abusive man. She had been viciously attacked on that fateful day for failing to have meat on the table for her husband's supper. The spirit told the grieving mother that Edward had broken her neck.
A cry for justice
Mary started adding up the strange occurances surrounding Zona's death. She recalled the care given to support the body's head in the coffin, Edward's hysterical protectiveness regarding examination of his wife's body, his strange mood swings. She went to Prosecutor John Alfred Preston and relayed what she had experienced. Preston listened politely but with some scepticism. He decided that the events held enough strangeness, aside from the macabre aspects, to warrant a re-examination of the body. Preston gave the exhumation order over Edward's strenuous objections. Edward was under the gun and showed the strain, making statements that he was going to be arrested for his wife's death and that they wouldn't be able to make the case that he was guilty. People wondered why he was protesting his innocence of a murder no one knew had occurred, unless Edward did know that murder had been done to young Zona.
The autopsy revealed that Elva Zona Heaster Shue had indeed died from a broken neck, as well as a crushed windpipe. Edward was arrested and charged with murder for the death of his wife.
Trial
While awaiting trial, details of Edward's life prior to his coming to Greenbrier were revealed. Edward was a convicted horse thief. He had also been married twice before, ending one marriage in a rage by casting his wife's belongings from the house. The second wife fared worse, dying under mysterious circumstances from a blow to the head.
While awaiting trial Edward did little to bolster his defense. He claimed that his goal was to have seven wives and as he was still just 35, he saw no reason he should not be able to achieve his goal.
Late June saw the trial begin, a trial that presented circumstantial evidence at best. There were no witnesses to the crime, no witnesses to place Edward at the scene. Testimony to Edward's strange behavior and statements as well as his checkered past were presented. In a tactical error the defense called Mary Jane Heaster to testify. The defense probably sought to parade the bereaved mother of Zona as an unbalanced woman, given to wild imaginings or possible insanity. Mary Jane took the stand and related the events regarding Edward's strange behavior as well as the visitation by her dead daughter's spirit.
Verdict!
It isn't known whether the jury put any stock in Mary Jane's account. What is known is that the jury returned a verdict of guilty in the murder of Elva Zona Heaster Shue.
That verdict would have ordinarily earned the perpetrator a trip to the gallows, but due to the circumstantial nature of the evidence Edward was sentenced to life in prison. He died in the West Virginia State Prison at Moundsville, West Virginia on March 13, 1900 at the age of 38.
Truth or fiction?
Did Zona really give her mother the information needed to convict Edward or was Mary Jane Heaster just a vindictive mother seeking vengence on the man she thought had killed her daughter? Did Mary Jane Heaster simply cook up the tale to set the prosecutor on Edward's trail? It seems clear that, whether from truth or fiction, the story of Zona's ghost motivated the prosecutor to look into her demise more closely and in the process send her murderer to prison.
Echo of the past
One lonely marker standing atop a metal pipe denoting the story of what happened in a tiny West Virginia community over a century ago. This case is the only one known where the testimony of a ghost resulted in the conviction of a murderer.
Sources:
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa020501b.htm
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/sights/sightstory.php?tip_AttrId=%3D11917