Alibi check – Gayle & Hathaway
YCSD investigators spoke with the attendees of the bi-monthly Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Bible study about Vincent Gayle and Sharon Hathaway's whereabouts at the time Daniel Collier was last seen.
The interviews summarized are some of the most typical or relevant to the investigation and are representative of all the interviews conducted.
Ingram
Leo Ingram
Age 30, Pastor of the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church
Leo Ingram is the pastor at the church that both Vincent Gayle and Sharon Hathaway attend. Pastor Ingram holds a Bible study each first and third Saturday night of each month since he became pastor at the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit church five years ago.
Pastor Ingram remembered that Vincent Gayle and Sharon Hathaway did come to the Bible study on the evening of January 2nd, which started at 7:00 p.m. and ended at just before 10:00 p.m. About eight other members of the congregation also attended. The study topic centered around accountability, confession, and redemption.
From his notes, Pastor Ingram recounted that the group was reading 2 Samuel 11–12, about David's sin of taking Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed; Psalm 51, about David's confession and asking for forgiveness from God; and 1 Peter 5:1–4, the dictum that God's people are to lead by example.
Pastor Ingram said he thought Vincent and Sharon were acting normally and that Vincent added to the discussions as he often did during Bible studies. Pastor Ingram noted that Sharon was quieter than she usually was that night, but not to the extent that he thought something was bothering her.
In the weeks since, Pastor Ingram said that he had been seeing Sharon less and less at Bible study. However, her church attendance on Sunday has been steady.
Medlock
Dallas Medlock
Age 72, Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church member
Dallas Medlock, a retired public works director and Vietnam veteran, is an occasional attendee at the Bible studies. He was in attendance on January 2nd and said Vincent and Sharon walked in the door just as the group was starting the first prayers. He said this was unusual for Vincent, who takes his faith seriously in Dallas's mind.
Dallas said that he specifically remembers the Bible study content that night because it reminded him of his high school sweetheart Tammy Sue Hellums. Dallas got shipped off to Fort Riley, Kansas, for boot camp and then to Vietnam in February of 1966. Tammy Sue didn't wait for him more than three months before hitching up with the high school basketball star, Edward Wells, and his flat feet.
God got Dallas through the jungles of Vietnam and back to the states in one piece, but when Tammy Sue and Ed died in a car accident in 1971, Dallas took it as God's justice at work. When Dallas recounted this story as a personal trial related to the Bible study that night, Vincent objected, saying that it wasn't God's justice that a woman should die for cutting out on her absent high school boyfriend. That even though it might have been fate, God doesn't hold fatal vendetta-like grudges against his own creatures.
Dallas said that Gloria Jean Hollis exhorted the two to remember the "eye for an eye" verse from Exodus, but Vincent said that God restored the sight of Apostle Paul, so not everything is an "eye for an eye." Dallas thought about it and agreed with Vincent.
Hollis
Gloria Jean Hollis
Age 63, Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church member
Gloria Jean Hollis has been a private daycare provider for the last 42 years. Everyone who knows Gloria knows that she proudly wears her love for Jesus on her sleeve. She also fervently observes a literal Bible-reading tradition and is a forceful voice in Bible study, which she never misses.
Gloria said that the Bible strictly prohibits things like abortion, adultery, and homosexuality, and she respected Vincent for observing the Bible better than most people who claim to be followers of the Word. If Gloria had a bone to pick with Vincent, it would be his cohabitation with his girlfriend, Sharon, which Gloria saw as unGodly, specifically quoting Hebrews 13:4, which deems fornication as sinful.
Gloria remembers the January Bible study, in particular, because usually, Vincent took her side in discussions, but that evening he was, in Gloria's mind, a bit wishy-washy and too quick to excuse sin. Gloria felt that it was Sharon's growing influence on Vincent, which had a Jezebel quality to it.
Paulk
Mary Paulk
Age 55, Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church member
Mary is a pharmacist at the Oxford Walgreens and a ten-year member of the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church. Mary has a keen interest in religion and believes that Bible study keeps her mind sharp in a different way than the science of her day-to-day work.
Mary said she didn't remember too much of that night's Bible study because she was preoccupied with thoughts about her husband, who had just been let go from his work after 30 years on the job as a manager in a construction firm.
She did remember Vincent and Sharon attending. Mary said she was sitting next to Sharon, who didn't seem herself that night. At one point, Mary asked Sharon if something was wrong, and Sharon said no, except she thought she was coming down with the flu. To Mary, Vincent seemed normal and was one of the prominent voices of the discussion as usual.
Mary said that Daniel's name did come up during the Bible study. For the final prayers of the night, Mary said most members contributed a prayer concern. Vincent's concern was to "watch over Daniel as he embarks on his journey to New York City and keep him safe." Mary remembered it because, even though Vincent had discussed his son's plans at earlier Bible studies, she didn't know that Daniel had actually decided to leave Oxford.
Mary left the church at the study's conclusion at 9:45 p.m. As she was going out the door, she noticed that Vincent and Sharon were still talking to Pastor Ingram.
