John Wayne Hearn

I struggled with what I was going to title this one. Most of the time I will title it based on the perpetrator. When there are multiple perpetrators then I will usually title it “The Murder of....” The difference in this case is that while one man, John Wayne Hearn, claimed to be the trigger man in three separate murders, there were several other people involved also. I will say that I disagree with investigators in these cases who proclaimed that John Wayne Hearn would not have been the murderer that he was if it were not for Debra Banister. I mean they met because he had placed an ad in the magazine Soldier of Fortune promoting the “skills of an ex-marine courting 'high risk' assignments.” Of course it does not say “murder” but first, I think the implication was there and secondly, when Debra Banister approached him about committing a murder he could have protested and said no.

When all was said and done John Wayne Hearn would admit to the murders of Cecil Batie (Debra Banister's brother in law), John Joseph “Joe” Banister (Debra's husband) and a woman from Texas named Sandra Black. Hearn would plead guilty to avoid the death penalty and received life sentences for his crimes. It took me quite a bit to discover that he is being housed in South Carolina where his mother and son lived at the time of his conviction. It seems that he has not had any sort of disciplinary issues while he had been in custody but several medical issues apparently dating back to 1988. Sandra Black's husband, Robert would be executed by the state of Texas in May of 1992. But it was the murders of Cecil Batie and Joe Banister that would intrigued the media and the community.

In 1970 insurance agent Frank Sims, along with his wife, Iris and at least two daughters, Debra and Marlene would move into a trailer park in Gainsville Florida. The area called the neighborhood “Batie Hill” after a man named Verdie Batie. Verdie was a local tree “surgeon” with ten kids. It was said that Verdie was a “wild” one. One of his sons would say “When the police ot called, they never sent one car. They always sent several.” Cecil Batie was the youngest son of Verdie.

It was said that at least in the beginning that Cecil was much like his father. When he was twenty-one Cecil married fifteen year old Marlene Sims who was pregnant with their first son, Adam. Within two years they had another son and Marlene was filing for divorce. Whether the couple were living across the street from the Sims home by then is not clear but by the time he died in January of 1985 Cecil was. The couple we're seeming to have a custody battle over their children. When she had filed for divorce Marlene had claimed that Cecil had “beat” their oldest boy with a board, but I cannot tell you if this was substantiated. According to the Batie family, the break up of his family changed Cecil. They say he was broken hearted and would have done anything to get Marlene back. He stopped drinking, went to night school and even began coaching Little League. He was putting his life together but just could not let Marlene go. The family also claimed that when Marlene left Cecil it was for his best friend, Ralph Smith.

Things obviously did not work out between Marlene and Ralph but instead of going back to Cecil, by 1984 Marlene had remarried to a man named Larry Foster. Her older sister Debra was also on her second marriage after a divorce. Twenty-nine year old Debra was married to forty-one year old Joe Banister and the family seemed to be doing well. Debra was working at a bank. The couple owned a nice home and had two young children. Debra also apparently had at least one child, now a teenager, from her first marriage.

According to what Marlene would tell authorities years later it was sometime after this, in late 1984 that she told her sister that Cecil had taken one of their boys from school and she wished he was dead. She claims that a few days later Debra told her she knew someone who could do just that for her. Not long after that Debra told her that she could have Cecil killed for $30,000. Allegedly, at least according to Marlene, it was their mother, Iris, who asked why they could not have it done for free. Marlene says that about a week later Debra told her the price was down to $10,000. But, even still no one in the Sims' family had that kind of money, not yet anyway.

Marlene says this is when there was a plan hatched out by the family to invite Iris' mother, who lived about five hours away to spend Thanksgiving with the family. While Grandma was there Marlene and Debra would drive back to her home and set it on fire. Marlene claimed that both Frank and Iris knew of the plan and told them to be careful and not get a speeding ticket or anything else near the area. After this was done it was said that their grandma told Cecil Batie that she was sure the family had burnt her house down but she could not prove it.

By now Marlene was on her third marriage. Soon after all of alleged planning Marlene's latest husband, Larry Watson ended up in the hospital with a serious skull injury after the couple had an argument. Investigators would only say that he was left partially blind in what they called a “suspicious accident.” He would be interviewed several times but stated he could not remember exactly what happened.

On January 2, 1985 the insurance from Grandma's house came in. It is not clear how everyone.... but Grandma got their hands on it but apparently they did. Ten thousand dollars went to John Wayne Hearn and he took $300 of that to buy a gun. On Sunday January 6^th Hearn apparently went up to Cecil's home and shot him two times through the window of his home while he was asleep on his couch. Marlene had their children that weekend but the following morning she would be on the phone with the insurance company. The agent would later say that Marlene was “very irate” to learn that she was no longer the beneficiary of Cecil's $30,000. That alone put some heat on Marlene and likely the family. More would be coming.

Debra had met John Wayne Hearn in early November of 1984. Hearn had a young son and while everything I read alleged he was in a custody battle it was unclear with who and why. Everything said that Hearn's son lived with his mother, Mary Watson in South Carolina where apparently John claimed as his residence. It all also indicates that they met through the ad he made in Soldier of Fortune Magazine. Most say that by December, despite her being married with young children, the two were practically inseparable and she was telling people her husband was dead but he was very much alive. She was using Hearn's name with hers most of the time. By January Hearn had moved to Gainsville and the two shared a joint bank account. The two even took Debra's young children to DisneyWorld together and it was said they began calling him “Daddy.” It is unclear if and how much Joe Banister knew. It was said that Joe was a good man, provider and father, but not necessarily outgoing or very communicative.

Soon after this Robert Black called Hearn from Texas. He too had seen the article in the magazine and he was inquiring about having Hearn kill his wife Sandra. Investigators claim that Hearn was not necessarily interested in this but that allegedly Debra talked him into it later. In the meantime apparently he and Debra had been discussing the demise of her husband first. Marlene would claim that when she heard of this plan she begged them not to go through with it because she thought another murder, especially this soon would arouse suspicion. Debra and Heard did not listen.

On February 2, 1985, less than a month after Cecil Batie had been murdered in Gainsville in the next county over, Starke, the murder of Joe Banister was being carried out. Debra had taken their children to Marlene's home for the night and then separately drove, meeting Joe at a party. It was not said what kind of party it was and after all descriptions I found of Joe, I found it a bit hard to believe that he would go, but apparently he did. Debra had given Hearn Joe's rifle. The plan was to first just attempt to run Joe off the road and cause him to have a fatal accident. The rifle was only going to be used if the accident did not work. According to Hearn there was way too much traffic on the road he had planned the crime on so he followed Joe Banister down a narrow country road. While he was driving Hearn fired the rifle and it graze Joe's neck. As he struggled to keep control of his truck Joe was hit by another bullet. His body was found just after midnight and Debra would receive a call around 4:30 that morning informing her of his death.

Investigators thought Debra seemed a little odd but it appeared her alibi was pretty solid so they had no leads, at least for a while. Then at Joe's funeral his family became suspicious. Debra was introducing a man there that she called “Cousin Hearn” and things just did not seem right. First, no one had ever seen him before and secondly something just did not feel right about him. Soon Joe's family members were contacting the police and they were telling them all kinds of stories, including one about Cecil Batie. The investigators contacted authorities in Gainsville and started comparing notes. John Wayne Hearn became an immediate suspect.

My research said that the Sims were questioned about Hearn and they all claimed to have known him for years. It is unclear they were claiming, as Debra had at the funeral, that he was related. Investigated found this odd because when they questioned others they claimed to have not met him until recently. Hearn himself was questioned about Joe Banister's murder and claimed that he had been in South Carolina visiting his mother and his son. It was said after he left the police station Hearn then went to a pay phone and called Robert Black in Texas and agreed to kill his wife Sandra for $10,000. Black soon sent Hearn a $1,000 cashier's check with a note that said, “If there is any way you could schedule your plans to coincide with my being alibied out of town this weekend, it would help considerably.” It seems the note was mailed to Mary Watson's home.

On February 21^st Hearn met Robert Black at his home and they ransacked the home, taking jewels and valuables. Black gave Hearn a small .2 caliber revolver that his wife kept on her nightstand. Then Black called his wife at work and asked when she would be coming home. Hearn would hide inside the dining room of the home while Black was out with his fifteen year old son. When Sandra arrived home Hearn would shoot her once in the back of the head and once in the eye. A few hours later Robert Black returned home with his son and he sent his son into the home first to discover his mother's body. Soon after Debra apparently attempted to sell some of the jewelry that had been taken.

In the meantime investigators from Starke County made their way to Mary Watson's home in South Carolina. She confirmed her son's alibi, saying he was at her home for dinner on the evening of February 2^nd. The investigators then received phone records and saw that there were three calls from Hearn to Debra in the early hours of the morning of the murder. While some of my research had indicated that by this time Hearn had an apartment in the area this information stated that the calls from Hearn had come from a local motel room that they had somehow connected to him. Investigators returned to Mary Watson's house and confronted her with the evidence they had. They threatened to arrest her as an accessory to murder before she would finally back down and admit that she had lied previously about Hearn being at her home on February 2^nd. She in turn gave the investigators the letter that Robert Black had sent her son at her home.

Soon after John Wayne Hearn would turn himself into authorities and it was said that within thirty-six hours he had not only confessed to the three murders but implicated nearly ever member of the Sims family and Robert Black. On April 15, 1985 Hearn and Debra were indicted in the degree murder of Joe Banister. On June 7, 1985, Hearn, Debra, Marlene and Frank and Iris Sims were indicted for the murder of Cecil Batie.

Hearn sang like a canary on everyone. He was able to make deals in which he would all but testify against everyone in all three of his cases (Robert Black had been arrested in Texas) in exchange for three life sentences and avoiding the death penalty. Hearn would testify against Robert Black in February of 1986 and Black would ultimately be sentenced to death. Sandra Black's family would file a $107m gross negligent lawsuit against Soldier of Fortune. I am unsure of the outcome.

Debra would go on trial in August of 1986 in the murder of her husband. Her defense attorney's would argue that Debra had broken up with Hearn on the day Joe was killed and she had been unaware of his plans to murder her husband. However, the prosecution had a recorded phone call between Debra and Hearn that seemed to prove otherwise. Unknown to Debra, Hearn, who as I said earlier was said to be going through a custody case, had set up a system with his mother's phone in which all incoming calls were recorded, this was just such a call. It is unclear why the jury in Debra's trial settled on 2^nd degree murder, but that is what they did when they convicted her. She received a sentence of seventeen years.

When it came to the Cecil Batie case it was obviously a family affair. Marlene was the first to talk and attempt to make a deal. To be fair that is where much of the information here come from... her story. Publicly the rest of her family denied knowing things, or being involved. In February of 1987 Marlene pleaded no contest to arson and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. She was sentenced to just five and a half years in jail. It seems that the rest of the family realized they needed to do something. It looked as if they could have been facing the death penalty. Then in July the remaining members of the Sims family would make their own pleas of no contest. Frank and Iris would do so to charges of accessories after the fact and each received five years of probation. Debra would plead no contest to conspiracy to commit murder and receive a thirty year sentence to run concurrent to her previous seventeen year sentence.

The only party from these cases still in the prison system is John Wayne Hearn. Black was executed and it appears that Debra was released. I tried to do a little digging to see if I could determine if I could find any of them anywhere or if any of them have passed over the years but I came up rather empty. It seems to me that everyone in this case, minus Robert Black in Texas, got off pretty easy from the legal community for their actions. It also seems to me that once the sisters finished serving their time men should have steered clear!!