In 1988, This Wealthy Socialite Was Abducted, And A Ransom Note Was Found By Her Front Door
By 1988, Annie Laurie Hearin had been married to her husband, Robert Hearin Sr., for 48 years.
Robert was one of the wealthiest businessmen in Mississippi. He was the president of School Pictures– a company that sold franchises to photographers throughout the U.S. to capture children’s school portraits.
But, on July 26, 1988, the business empire that rose the Hearin family to local fame also led to the abduction of Robert’s wife, Annie.
That day, the 72-year-old socialite had hosted a bridge club party at her home in Jackson, Mississippi.
The early afternoon came and went, and by 3:00 p.m., everyone– including the Hearin’s housekeeper, had left the property.
About 90 minutes later, at 4:30 p.m., Robert also returned home. And although he noticed his wife’s car parked in the driveway, he realized that Annie was nowhere to be found.
Robert began reaching out to friends and family members, asking if anyone knew where his wife was. Time was of the essence since Annie required daily medications.
Once it became clear that no one had seen the 72-year-old, Robert contacted the police. And from there, the motive behind Annie’s abduction began to unfold.
Drops of blood were discovered inside the Hearin’s home, and a ransom note was found lying by the front door.
The Doe Network – pictured above is Annie
It demanded that Robert pay twelve different people– all of whom had been connected in some way to the businessman’s companies.
“The note said not to call the police,” added Jackson Chief of Police J.L. Black, “However, Mr. Hearin had notified the police prior to the note being discovered.”
Due to the contents of the note, it became clear that Annie’s abduction was somehow linked to Robert’s work.
“The demands in the note were very vague and made several demands of Mr. Hearin, concerning certain individuals listed in the note who were allegedly harmed by a company of which Mr. Hearin was president,” explained FBI Special Agent Wayne R. Taylor.
After selling franchises to photographers throughout the country, School Pictures filed lawsuits against 12 different franchise owners– residing in eight states, including Florida– between 1981 and 1983. The goal of the litigation was to collect money owed to School Pictures.
And on the day that Annie was kidnapped, witnesses claimed to have spotted a white cargo van– equipped with Florida plates– on the Hearin home’s street in Woodland Hills.
Investigators then connected the dots and realized that all twelve names signed on the ransom note were the same people who had been sued by School Pictures. Still, J.L. Black claimed that the correlation did not necessarily implicate all of the defendants.
“It’s possible that these 12 people had absolutely nothing to do with this abduction,” he said.
“However, you cannot rule out the fact that maybe somebody who had knowledge of School Pictures and its operation could’ve been involved with it.”
Due to this possibility, letters were subsequently sent to the 12 individuals listed on the ransom note. According to Robert, though, this did not lead to many answers.
“School Pictures was requested to look into the files on these 12 people. The transactions were reviewed, and letters were, of course, sent out to these people trying to determine what damages they had and what they had wanted,” he recalled.
“At that point, we didn’t get a response except several of them saying, ‘We don’t want anything.'”
So, twelve days after the 72-year-old wife and mother’s abduction, Robert held a press conference and issued a plea to the public.
“My name is Robert Hearin. My wife, Annie Laurie, was taken from our home over 10 days ago. My children and I have done everything humanly possible to obtain her release. My children and I appeal to whoever has my wife that she may be safely returned to us. Thank you,” he told the community.
After news of this high-profile crime hit headlines, the Jackson area was rocked. Coverage of Annie’s abduction also made national news, but there were no developments until eight days after Robert held the press conference.
On August 15, 1988, he received yet another letter. This time, though, he immediately recognized the author’s handwriting and realized the note had been penned by his wife.
According to WLBT3, Annie’s letter urged her husband to cooperate with “these people.” She claimed that if he did not, then they would put her in the cellar of a home with just a few jugs of water.
“Please save me, Annie Laurie,” the note ended, which was postmarked from Atlanta.
Annie and Robert Sr.’s son, Robert Jr., revealed how the note did bring his family some hope. But it still left him and his father perplexed about what to do next.
“This [the note] gave us quite an emotional lift because it meant that mother apparently had survived the initial struggle,” Robert Jr. explained.
“But it still was extremely vague as to what we were to do.”
At that point, Robert Sr. decided to conduct an act of “good faith” to show his compliance with the demands. More specifically, he instructed his attorneys to determine how much his company, School Pictures, had sued the 12 franchisees for.
Afterward, Robert ultimately sent checks totaling almost $1 million to all 12 people on the ransom note. But, half of the checks were ultimately returned, and neither the police nor Annie’s family ever heard from the abductor again.
Although, one of the checks that were returned had been sent to Newton Alfred Winn– a St. Petersburg Attorney. And soon afterward, Newton became a possible suspect in the investigation.
At first, after being questioned by authorities, he denied being in Jackson at the time of Annie’s abduction.
However, it later came to light that on July 29, Newton asked his paralegal– Don Ward– to corroborate an alibi and claim that they personally saw each other on July 26 in Florida.
When speaking to authorities, Don also revealed that Newton had called and asked him to bring money to a bar in St. Petersburg. Then, once Don arrived, he claimed to have found Newton intoxicated and with a woman outside the bar.
Netwon was then subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury on August 3. Afterward, his involvement in the abduction of Annie came flowing out in court.
It was discovered that Newton purchased a white cargo van– which matched the witnesses’ descriptions– just one month before Annie’s kidnapping. Additionally, the witnesses’ descriptions of the van’s driver matched Newton’s appearance.
So, two witnesses ultimately identified Newton as the man they had spotted sitting in the van in front of Robert and Annie’s home in the weeks leading up to the abduction.
A woman named Marilyn Taylor, who had at one point been Newton’s girlfriend, then testified on July 31, 1988. She claimed that Netwon contacted her and asked for a favor.
Marilyn explained how, first, Newton asked if she was trustworthy. Then, during an August 6 meeting, he reportedly asked if she had been followed and if her car was bugged.
Marilyn then testified that Newton had instructed her to fly under a fake name to Atlanta. He wanted her to purchase a one-way plane ticket to Atlanta and purchase another one-way ticket to travel back to a different Florida airport. Newton allegedly told her to only use cash for these purchases.
Additionally, Marilyn claimed that she was told not to take cabs or speak with anyone once she arrived in Atlanta. Instead, she was told to use mass transit to get to a downtown post office.
Newton also reportedly told Marilyn to change her clothes and dye her hair at the Atlanta airport in order to avoid identification of her appearance.
And according to court documents, Newton put on surgical gloves before taking a manila envelope out of his jacket and handing it to Marilyn. She was told that the envelope would be wrapped in a cloth napkin and mailed inside a manila envelope.
Marilyn was also not supposed to look at the front of the envelope. And finally, once at the airport, she was supposed to dispose of the manila envelope and napkin in the trash.
According to her testimony in federal court, Marilyn did follow most of these instructions– ultimately mailing Annie’s handwritten letter.
“There were so many parts of that story that were unbelievable. Who in their right mind would go to an airport, dye their hair in a bathroom to mail a letter,” said John Colette, the Jackson criminal attorney who represented Newton Winn.
Nonetheless, Newton was eventually found guilty and convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, extortion, and perjury. He received a sentence of 19 years and seven months in prison.
However, Newton always maintained that he was not behind the abduction, and investigators never found Annie.
According to the lead federal prosecutor James Tucker, the conviction of Newton was a success. But it did not bring Annie home.
“We put together an amazing assortment of facts and circumstances, including practice runs for the snatch, along with road maps, rented and bought white vans, notes by ALH, assistance by Winn compatriots, disguises, finding evidence by the road, lying to a grand jury, and a missing victim,” Tucker recalled.
“We got the right guy, but we didn’t solve the mystery.”
After serving 16 years in federal prison, Newton Winn was released in April 2006. And Annie’s husband, Robert Sr., and her son, Robert Jr., have never received closure.
“I think of my mom all the time. And I’m sure my dad does, too. There’s no real way to quantify how enormous a tragedy and ordeal this has been to him and to the rest of the family,” Robert Jr. said.
In August 1991, Annie was declared legally deceased, and a memorial bench was placed beside her husband’s Lakewood Memorial Park gravesite.
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