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Sister wants death penalty
by Suzanne Rook, Wake Weekly Editor
Franklin County Sheriff's investigators traveled to Ohio this week to bring home one of the men charged with killing a Wake Forest man -- along with evidence they hope will convict those responsible for his Oct. 2 murder.
The extradition of Shelvie Hinzman of Middlesex is a relief to Fred Winters Jr.'s sister, Phyllis Coats, who feared the Ohio court system would allow the suspected killer out on bail. But the news hasn't lessened her resolve that Hinzman and the two others charged with robbing and murdering her brother -- Bernard James Combs and Tamera Brooke Weathers, both of Louisburg -- be put to death for the crime. The district attorney hasn't yet announced whether he'll seek the death penalty against the three. "This has devastated our family," Coats said of her brother's death. "My brother would not have hurt these people. "We want justice done. This was a disabled man, a little bitty disabled man." Winters, known to friends and family as Fred Jr., was injured two years ago in a four-wheeler accident. The vehicle, Coats said, fell on top of her brother, severely limiting his mobility. In addition, she said, her brother weighed only slightly more than 100 pounds and would never have been able to fend off the attack investigators say he suffered. "They beat him so badly. We (the family) demanded to see what they'd done; we needed to see," Coats said, sobbing as she recalled the sight of her brother's body. Investigators have said they believe the suspects were trying to rob Winters when they killed him. Coats said it was no secret that Winters had a good deal of money with him the night of his death, that he'd just cashed a disability check and had a full bottle of prescription painkillers. Combs and Weathers were arrested late last month in Franklin County. Hinzman was apprehended in Cleveland, Ohio, after being arrested there for driving drunk. Hinzman was returned to Franklin County Tuesday, Sheriff Jerry Jones confirmed. Waiting for justice Winters, 45, was the eldest son of Alice Hill and the late Fred Winters Sr. He grew up on Falls of Neuse Road and attended Millbrook High School. Both he and his two younger brothers served for a time at the Falls Volunteer Fire Department. Coats, exactly two years his senior, said he loved to go fishing "more than anything." He'd had problems in his life, she said, but in the last two years had reconnected with the Lord, just as his father, a preacher who died five years ago, had hoped. Winters wrote frequently in a journal, pouring his heart out to his God. Coats hopes that someday the family can publish the journals, to help others who've been through similar difficulties. The night of his death, Coats said, Winters went to a downtown Wake Forest bar with family members. When his companions decided to leave, Winters stayed, insisting he could catch a ride home with an old friend. When Winters hadn't returned home by 11 p.m., Coats said, another one of her brothers went back to the bar to look for him. But he was gone. Investigators told the family Winters was struck only once -- while he was still strapped in the car -- his body left on a rural Franklin County road. Next to him, Coats said, sheriff's deputies found Winters' necklace -- the chain broken, but still bearing a cross with a nail through it. The cross, Coats said, was a constant reminder to Winters of his faith. Winters wasn't much of a gift-giver, Coats said, but last year for their Nov. 28 birthday he bought her a replica of a Christmas tree with a crystal ornament inside. On it the word Sister was written in gold. Their birthdays, just a few weeks away, will be difficult, Coats said, recalling the love and faith her parents instilled in each of their six children. "It's going to be very, very hard to get through. I don't know how I'll make it. Just by praying. I believe he's in a better place; that's what's getting me through." Coats said her family will remain strong even as Combs, Weather and Hinzman make their way through the judicial system. "I plan to be there every time they go to court," she said. As she waits for justice, Coats says she will remember her brother and the closeness their family shared -- a closeness that was unjustly taken away. "It's hard right now to love the people that destroyed this family, that destroyed my brother. Maybe one day I can forgive; right now I can't." Editor's note -- Contributing to this story was Staff Writer Lindsay Varner.
Last Updated On: November 4, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Wake Weekly