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in: Mississippi, 1988, Abduction,
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Annie Hearin

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Annie laurie hearin1

Anne Hearin

Real Name: Annie Laurie Hearin
Nicknames: Annie Herrin (alternate spelling)
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
Date: July 26, 1988

Bio[]

Occupation: Unrevealed
Date of Birth: 1915
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 120 pounds
Marital Status: Married
Characteristics: Caucasian female with brown hair, pierced ears, stooped gait from scoliosis and arthritis

Case[]

Details: Seventy-two-year-old Annie Laurie Hearin was the wife of wealthy businessman Robert Hearin Sr.; they had been married for forty-eight years. She was abducted on the afternoon of July 26, 1988. Earlier that day, she had several friends over. Robert came home in the afternoon to find her not home. After calling several friends and family, he called the police to report her missing.
Investigators discovered drops of blood on the carpet and blood smears on the front door of the Hearin home. Neighbors also reported seeing a suspicious pickup truck and a white van with Florida license plates driving by it. Analysts determined that the blood matched Annie's type. Authorities believe that she may have been struck on the head by an intruder, as indicated by blood smears on the door. A ransom note was also found near the door, which was typewritten and contained numerous grammatical and spelling errors. It stated, in part:
Mr. Robert Herrin, Put these people back in the shape they was in before they got mixed up with School Pictures. Pay them whatever damages they want and tell them all this so then can no what you are doing but don't tell them why you are doing it. Do this before ten days pass. Don't call police.

School picture map

Map of eight states with companies named in ransom note

The note referred to School Pictures, a company that handled photographs of school children for yearbooks, which had been taken over by Robert in the 1980s. In order to collect debts, between 1981 and 1983, it sued twelve franchise owners in eight states, including Florida. The letter listed these twelve franchises of the nationwide business, all of whom Robert was supposed to pay ransom for Annie's return.
The kidnapper claimed that Robert "owed" these businesses money because he allegedly "harmed" them through his business dealings and lawsuits. Since the lawsuits against them were in public records, authorities determined that the kidnapper could have been someone that did not belong to these franchises.
Robert made a public appeal for Annie's return in September 1988 and received a letter eight days later that was determined to feature her signature. Postmarked from Atlanta, Georgia, the note stated:
Bob, if you don't do what these people want you to do, they are going to seal me up in the cellar of this house with only a few jugs of water. Please save me, Annie Laurie
Robert mailed nearly one million dollars in ransom money to the 12 franchisees listed in the first note. However, Annie was never released, and the kidnapper never contacted him again.
Suspects: Authorities suspect that one of the people from the twelve franchises listed in the note may have been involved in Annie's abduction.
A suspicious white van with Florida license plates was seen in the neighborhood around the time of Annie's abduction.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the November 9, 1988 episode. It has also been documented on Cold Case Files and The FBI Files.

N winn

Newton Alfred Winn (left) after his arrest

Results: Unresolved. In March 1989, sixty-five-year-old Newton Alfred Winn, a civil attorney in St. Petersburg, Florida, was arrested and charged with Annie's abduction. He was the owner of a Florida-based School Pictures franchise and was one of the twelve names listed on the ransom note and among the ones that sent their money back to Robert. About four years before Annie's abduction, he had been sued by the company for over $153,000.
A month before Annie's abduction, Winn had purchased a van that matched the description of the one her neighbors saw around her house the day she was kidnapped. The descriptions of the driver also matched his appearance. Two witnesses had also identified Winn as a man they had seen in a van in front of the Hearin home in the weeks prior to Annie's abduction. Authorities also learned that he had asked his paralegal to help him fabricate an alibi for the day of Annie's abduction.
A woman contacted the FBI and told them that Winn had promised her $500 to travel from Florida to Atlanta, Georgia, and mail a letter for him; this occurred sixteen days after Annie's abduction. He handed her a manila envelope; inside was the second letter, wrapped in a gray linen napkin. He instructed her not to look at or touch it but when she deposited it, she had to ease the napkin off. That is when she observed the writing on it. Later, she identified it as the one that Robert had received from Annie.
Though he maintained his innocence throughout, Winn was convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, extortion, and perjury in 1990. He was sentenced to nineteen years and seven months and was released from prison in April 2006. He died in August 2012. No one has ever been formally charged with Annie's actual abduction nor has she ever been found.
In 1990, Robert died of a heart attack, and a year later, Annie was declared legally dead.
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