Episode 121-The 1981 Murders of Edward “Doc” Harkless, Ralph Felder, Maxlinia Lykes, and Leroy Hemphill in South Carolina

On September 29, 1981, a gruesome murder scene greeted law enforcement officers off Knightner Road in Columbia, South Carolina.

The headline in “The Morning News” that day read, “Four people were shot to death and two others wounded Tuesday in what authorities called a “vicious massacre” in a home equipped with an altar for the practice of black magic. The murders occurred in a well-maintained white brick two-story house with yellow trim in an otherwise run-down neighborhood. The property also featured two outbuildings and a yard full of chickens and geese.

Richland County Coroner Frank E. Barron III identified one of the dead as Edward Harkless, age 62. Known in the community as “Doc,” Edward was rumored to be a root doctor, a term used to describe practitioners of black folk medicine, meaning he treated people with herbs, potions, and chants. His home was filled with what police called “voodoo literature and other occult items.”

A Home Invasion Turns to Murder

On the day of the murders, three men entered the Harkless residence and fatally shot Doc Harkless with a .44 magnum. But he was not the only person in the house. Also present were Doc’s wife, 39-year-old Frankie Harkless, 27-year-old Ralph Felder, age 27, his 57-year-old father Fletcher, Maxlinia Lykes, 27, who worked as a live-in housekeeper in the home, Leroy Hemphill, a 52-year-old truck driver from Hemphill. The other victims were held hostage for two hours before being shot execution-style from behind in a bathroom. Leroy Hemphill was found deceased in the bathtub. Ralph Felder was dead on the floor beside the bathtub. Maxlinia Lykes, was found dead several feet away from the others. She was six weeks pregnant at the time of the murder.

Immediately following the murders, Richland County Sheriff Frank Powell told the media that he could not say whether the robbery of the large safe inside the house, the murders, or alleged occult practices were all linked.

Frankie Harkless and Fletcher Felder, the father of fatally-wounded Ralph Felder, survived their injuries and were able to give details of the crime to the police. Frankie was in critical condition following the attacks and investigators called her “the miracle lady” once she regained consciousness after her injuries. Frankie Harkless and Fletcher Felder both were moved to undisclosed locations during their recoveries and were under a 24-hour police watch. Frankie said three men questioned the six people in the home as they emptied a large safe on the grounds. At first, investigators believed the assailants obtained between $250,000 and $500,000 from the safe, but that later was determined to be closer to $52,000.

Two days after the murders, 32-year-old Charles Livingston of West Columbia was arrested after he led police and bloodhounds on a 10-hour chase through the city. William James Stroman, age 43, was arrested in Charlotte on October 19 after investigators found a bloody fingerprint belonging to him at the scene of the crime. He remained in jail under a $250,000 bond. On November 9, a third suspect, Frank Emanuel McDowell, age 26, was picked up in Charlotte, where he was living with his mother. Frankie Harkless had picked McDowell out of a photo lineup the police provided her. He was charged with the murder of Doc Harkless.

The Brother of “Doc” Harkless Draws Attention of Police

On November 9, 1981, around 10 a.m. two police officers on patrol approached the driver of what they considered a “suspicious” vehicle near Eau Claire High School. The car had been there for several hours. When they asked the driver of the car for some identification, he pointed a 22-caliber single-shot rifle at them and threatened to shoot. The man, who was dressed in a grey sweatshirt, khaki pants, and boots, was soon identified as 56-year-old Freddie Harkless, the brother of murder victim Doc Harkless. The two officers immediately called for backup and Police Commander B.T. “Mike” Galvin and Lieutenant John L. Keefe arrived on the scene to help with the negotiations. Over the next several hours, Freddie Harkless conversed with the police while simultaneously pointing the rifle at the officers and himself. Freddie’s sister, Pearl Johnson, was notified of the situation, and she drove to the scene from her home and tried to get him to surrender. She was unsuccessful.

Commander Galvin, Lt. Keefe, and another officer came within eight feet of Freddie and pleaded with him to put down the weapon and surrender. When he turned away from the officers at one point, they rushed him. He was able to discharge one round from his gun, shooting Lt. Keefe in the back and causing a minor flesh wound. Pearl Johnson fainted on the scene and was taken to the hospital for observation. She later told police her brother Freddie had been despondent since learning about his brother’s murder in his home.

In a news article run in The State the next day, police emphasized Freddie Harkless’s arrest was not related in any way in the investigation into his brother’s murder. The acting police chief said the responding police officers did not fire at Freddie Harkless because it was their standard procedure to do everything possible before the use of deadly force.

A month later, Freddie Harkless was declared incompetent to stand trial for the shooting of Lt. Keefe. Dr. John Dunlap with the South Carolina State Hospital diagnosed Freddie as suffering from “bipolar disorder,” depression with psychotic features, and deemed him unable to understand court procedure and assist in his own defense. He was ordered to remain in the care of the medical staff at State Hospital under a temporary court-ordered commitment.

A Crime of Opportunity

In the months leading up to the trial, this case appeared as part of an article reporter Levona Page wrote for The State newspaper on January 31, 1982. The article examined how the majority of murder victims in Richland and Lexington counties in 1981 knew their killers. She wrote that in those two counties, murder occurred at the rate of one a week, and in 16 of those cases, a relative was charged. In 23 cases, the suspect was a friend or acquaintance, and in another three, the victim and the suspect were dating.

When Livingston testified on his own behalf he said he had frequently sold hundreds of prescription diet pills to Doc Harkless, so a personal connection was made there. McDowell told police that Stroman had some sort of vendetta against Doc Harkless and spoke of killing him as they drove to the home on the morning of September 29, 1981 to rob him.

Frank McDowell pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Willie Stroman and Charles Livingston. The trial of the two men began in June 1982, lasted six weeks, and cost South Carolina taxpayers an estimated half a million dollars. Stroman did not testify on his own behalf. Livingston’s employer was called to testify about the man’s whereabouts on the day of the murders. Henry Graham, president of S&G Co., where Livingston worked as a storm window salesperson, said the man was at work between 9 and 9:45 a.m. He claimed not to be feeling well, so his boss told him to go home so he wouldn’t get anyone else sick. Frankie Harkless also testified that she and Maxlinia Lykes had returned from taking the couple’s two children to school a little after 9 a.m. Fletcher Felder, the other survivor of the murders, said he had arrived at the house around 10 a.m. The three men arrived at the house during that time frame, according to the testimony of the two survivors. Felder identified Livingston as one of the gunmen, along with McDowell. McDowell testified that Stroman and Livingston left him there to guard the victims while they drove to a local store to buy tools that would help them break into the safe.

One of the witnesses Stroman’s attorney called was a man named Homer “Buddy” McCumbee from Charlotte. He said Stroman had brought $4,500 in cash to his home after the murders, where McCumbee asked if he had hurt anybody. Stroman said he had held up a bookie house in the mountains of North Carolina. Stroman later brought over an ice-cooler filled with almost $3,000 worth of coins, which McCumbee helped him roll. Stroman repeated his story about the bookie job, saying he and others had scored around $40,000 from it. A Charlotte jeweler testified that Stroman paid in advance to have diamonds set in his dental plate. McDowell had also testified he had gone with Stroman to purchase some jewelry and a Cadillac after the murders.

The last major witness for the prosecution was a cellmate of Willie Stroman, Lee Baker. He testified that Stroman had confessed to him that he had killed Doc Harkless. Rumors of voodoo and hexes had hung over the trial, given the line of work Doc Harkless was in. As Stroman’s attorney, Jan Strifling, was taking his client up to the judge to explain why he wouldn’t be testifying, a mouse jumped out of an evidence crate in front of the witness chair. The court reporter was clearly startled, and a nearby deputy said, “It’s the Doc come back as a mouse.”

Perpetrators Avoid the Death Penalty

Charles Livingston and Willie Stroman were found guilty of the four murders, five kidnappings, and one count each of safecracking, armed robbery, assault and battery with intent to kill, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. They each received 30 life terms plus 145 years in prison. All three avoided the death penalty, as Frank McDowell received similar terms in exchange for his testimony against Livingston and Stroman.

It’s important to note that Livingston and Stroman were found guilty of the murders, but they didn’t shoot the victims in the bathroom. McDowell said he pulled the trigger as Livingston and Stroman held guns to his back. In my research, I was never able to determine which of the men killed Doc Harkless, who was the first person to be shot, but I’m assuming it was either Livingston or Stroman.

The Columbia Record ran an article discussing why the three men had avoided the electric chair and received life sentences instead. Could it have had something to do with the line of work Doc Harkless was in? Or was it a more the more cosmopolitan makeup of a jury from Richland County? Stroman’s attorney noted that more jurors comprised of more rural residents tend to favor the death penalty. Also, the fact that Maxlinia Lykes was six weeks pregnant was kept from the jury—would that have influenced their decision about the sentencing?

There were a number of loose ends never tied up in the trial that also could have affected the outcome. Investigators were not able to figure out why truck driver Leroy Hemphill had stopped by the house that morning, or why the Felders were there to buy chickens on that particular day. Also not really mentioned during the trial was Doc Harkless’s connection to “voodoo” that dominated the early headlines about the murders, although it was prevalent on the minds of community members and possibly, the jurors.

I admit this story caught my eye when I was browsing an old newspaper archive and saw a headline about a root doctor’s murder. I wondered about what a root doctor really was, and it appeared at the beginning of this investigation, terminology like voodoo and magic potions was sprinkled throughout the reporting. The Greenville News ran an article titled “Root doctors: the secret healers” on this specific topic on July 1, 1982.

The History of Root Doctors

This article said the word voodoo often conjures up the image of someone poking pins into a doll as a way to bring harm to enemies. The reporter, Chris Barrus, interviewed a woman working as an administrator at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, who said the religion of Vodun, where the term voodoo originated, actually prohibits believers from using voodoo for the purposes of evil. Cecilia McDaniel Brown said that many treatments and therapies prescribed by root doctors are based on sound medical principles.

These root doctors prescribe herbs, roots, bark, and other natural substances for ailments such as headaches, the common cold, and influenza. They also believe that physical ailments could be intensified by psychological and social factors. For example, a root doctor may notice a client is complaining of more headaches after taking on more responsibilities at a job or in the home. The root doctor will work to help a client direct the negative energy away from the body through actions such as journaling, burning a candle, or putting glass of water by the bed at night and emptying it the next morning.

Vodunists are a little different because they view what they call a “witch doctor” as someone who can see evil and avert it, rather than just redirecting negative energy in the body. Brown went on to say that a lot of the negative connotations about voodoo came from slave owners who feared the religions, including Vodun, of their slaves. Because of this, they often prohibited their slaves from communicating in their native languages.

New Trials Requested

In February of 1984, Willie James Stroman and Charles Livingston asked the state Supreme Court to grant them new trials because of what their attorneys called judicial errors that took place when the case originally went to trial.

The attorneys claimed the trial was prejudiced when Circuit Judge Dan F. Laney Jr. allowed the jury to view what they called “gory and explicit” photographs of the victims deceased at the murder scene. One juror became ill after viewing the photographs and had to leave the courtroom. They also argued that the judge should not have allowed testimony by the neurosurgeon who treated Frankie Harkless, after the survived the shooting. Stroman’s attorney, Jan Strifling, said the neurosurgeon was allowed to testify to bolster the testimony of Frankie, but there were questions about whether her memory was impaired from the shooting and whether or not she was recovered enough to recognize photographic details, such as the photo lineup she was shown.

Michael Thompson, Charles Livingston’s attorney, said the neurosurgeon was allowed to testify, but his request for a doctor’s testimony about Frank-O McDowell, the third defendant who implicated Stroman and Livingston, was denied. He said that testimony would have shown that McDowell was taking a medication for psychotic issues which included delusions. Strifling also argued that the jury should not have been allowed to hear McDowell describe other crimes committed by himself and his co-defendants. The jury had been allowed to view a videotape of McDowell walking through the crime scene with police and answering their questions.

In response, Assistant Attorney General Harold M. Coombs Jr. rebutted the arguments with the following points:

The photographs of the victims were properly introduced, and the videotape described the scene of the crimes.

He claimed the defense, not the prosecution, opened the door to questioning McDowell about other robberies.

And finally, he said, Frank-O McDowell’s psychiatric evaluation was protected by attorney-privilege.

He said the Frankie Harkless’s neurosurgeon was allowed to testify to explain how her injuries prevented her from speaking clearly during her testimony.

In May of 1984, The Columbia Record reported that the state Supreme Court had decided to uphold the 1982 murder convictions of Charles Livingston and Willie Stroman, but decided that the sentences they received for kidnapping would not be imposed. The court did not agree with the imposition of life sentences for kidnapping when the men had also been sentenced for murder. The court said that sentence violated state law, and voided the life sentences for kidnapping. The court said life sentences could not be imposed in cases where defendants had already been sentenced for murder.

Show Sources:

The Morning News

September 30, 1981

4 Killed in Execution-Style Shooting

https://www.newspapers.com/image/160739412

The Greenville News

October 21, 1981

Suspect in slayings to fight extradition

https://www.newspapers.com/image/189725541

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/11/10/While-root-doctor-Edward-R-Harkless-lay-dead-on/3732374216400

The State

November 10, 1981