Connie King Quedens

When people discuss this case it is often combined with the case of Gwendolyn Moore, also from Georgia, when searching. While Gwendolyn was the victim in her case, the victim here was named Willie “Fred” Wilkerson. Gwendolyn was murdered in 1970 and her body was found a short time later but no arrest was made until 2003 when her husband, Marshall was arrested for her murder. I have not fully researched the Moore case but from all I can tell it has been said that Marshall died before his trial began. But 2003 also brought the discovery of Fred Wilkerson's body, by some of the same investigators who had found Gwendolyn Moore. Now, this in and of it self would not seem to be that interesting, so why would so much of the research lump these two cases together. Well, that is because both Gwendolyn and Fred's bodies were found at the bottom of a well.

Investigators seemed to be a bit vague but say a tip led them to the property owned by Connie Quedens and it suggested that the, now filled in, well should be searched in October of 2003. In the prior case Marshall Moore had been arrested in June of that year. Whether the Moore case got people to thinking about Fred Wilkerson is unclear, although what is clear is that his family had not forgotten him. One of the investigators, Clay Bryant has been nicknamed “Cold Case Clay” and he was present when both bodies were discovered in their respective wells, hence why the two cases seemed to intertwine.

The last time anyone ever heard from Fred Wilkerson was on November 27, 1987. Fred and his son Tim had recently began living together in an apartment in LaGrange Georgia. Just a few months prior the two men had been living in a home that Fred helped build with Connie Quedens. Connie would later claim that she was nothing more than friends and a co-worker to Fred and there was nothing romantic going on between them but friends and family would say that was not true. According to the family, Fred and Connie had been a couple throughout 1986 and 1987 despite the fact that Connie was still legally married to her husband, Gary. Connie and Fred had apparently all but pooled their money together to build a home that had an apartment in the basement, where Tim would live until Connie had both men arrested in September of 1987 and they were required to leave the property.

It was unclear just what had occurred that Connie was able to have the men arrested but it likely surrounded the issue of the fact that the previous summer Fred had deeded his half of interest in the home and property to Connie. I suspect whatever the issue was Connie used the fact that she was at least legally the sole owner of the home to have the men removed. On November 25, 1987 Fred filed a lawsuit against Connie for payment of materials he used to build the home. The lawsuit stated that he had paid $23,000 for part of the property and that he had been tricked into signing the title over to her. At the time he filed the suit Connie's husband, Gary and their two sons were living in the home. Some records say that Connie and Gary did legally divorce in August of 1987 but whether it was simply filed and never concluded or they would possibly re-marry later is unclear. In my research Gary was always referred to as her husband as if this was current. However there was an indication that sometime prior to October of 2003 the couple may have been once again going through a divorce because there was talk of dividing property.

Two days after filing the lawsuit against her, Fred would disappear. On December 24, 1987, nearly a month later, Fred's car would be found in the long term parking lot at the airport. The car was unlocked and the keys were inside. Also found inside were two uncashed payroll checks. Investigators right away were suspicious. If someone wanted to walk away and start over surely they would not have left these checks behind.

Connie was obviously a suspect from the beginning but there never seemed to be enough to charge her with anything. That is until October of 2003 when the skeletal remains of a body was in the well on her property. Although they could not definitely identify the body as being that of Fred Wilkerson immediately they had enough that they were almost certain it was Fred. First, the clothing on the skeleton matched clothes belonging to Fred and in the pocket of the pants was a lip balm, a brand that his family said he always kept on him. Dentures were also found along side the body and Fred wore dentures.

Upon her arrest and the execution of the remaining portions of the search warrant that authorities had obtained an audio tape had been found in her purse. The tape was a conversation between Connie and Gary. Gary would later testify that this conversation had taken place during a time in which they were dividing property, hence my thoughts that they were splitting up once again, and Connie had apparently taped it without Gary's knowledge. It was his belief later that she had done so in order to later attempt to pin Fred's murder on him. In the conversation Connie had asked Gary about the fact that when he returned from a Thanksgiving trip with the boys in 1987 he had found a loaded .380 in the basement of the home. He reminded her that was nearly seventeen years earlier and he had sold it at a gun show. He also stated it was “during the Fred thing.” This tape would later be played for a jury.

In November of 2004 Connie would go on trial for charges of malice murder and possession of a firearm during a commission of a crime. From the time of her arrest, to the commencement of the trial a DNA comparison test had confirmed the body belonged to Fred Wilkerson. The medical examiner had been able to determine that Fred had been shot at least once in the back of the head.

As is the case with most, if not all trials, there were witnesses testifying. Gary Quedens was one of them but unlike other witnesses, he had some motivation behind his testimony. Gary had initially been charged with tampering with evidence but it appears that with his testimony those charges were either dropped or at the very least lowered. It is unclear just everything Gary testified about except for the issue surrounding finding the gun in the home upon returning home from his trip that Thanksgiving weekend. It seems a bit obvious that Gary likely knew what happened at the very least after he got home. What is unclear is if he knew about it before he left. When it came to the tip that law enforcement received to even look into the well nothing was specific. One has to wonder since it seems apparent that Gary and Connie were splitting up if it was not Gary who called in the tip.

Gary was not the only witness that the prosecution had. A neighbor of Connie's testified that she had contacted her a few days before the Thanksgiving weekend of 1987 and asked if she could care for the family pets while the family went to Florida on a trip. On November 27^th, which was that Friday, the neighbor said that Connie called to cancel saying that Gary and the boys were still going but she was staying home “to protect her property.” On the following day Connie called the neighbor again asking if her 19 year old daughter could drive her (Connie's) car to the airport to give her a ride home. She told the neighbor and her daughter that she had drove an “intoxicated friend” in their car to the airport and simply needed a ride. The daughter testified that she never saw the friend or the car when she picked Connie up.

A co-worker of Connie's testified that the day before Fred's car was found at the airport Connie had told her that her “boyfriend and house building partner” had left the house and left his car there when she refused to give him her part of the house and property. She claimed that she later “noticed” that the car was gone.

Investigators who had been at the home in October of 2003 when the search warrant had been executed testified that as the search began Connie told them that Fred had come to her home on November 27^th by her invitation so that they could discuss the lawsuit. She claimed that soon after he got there and parked in the driveway a marked police car pulled in behind him. She alleged that a uniform police officer and a “nurse” got out of the car and the two occupants were yelling with Fred, but of course she could not determine what they were saying. She stated that after a few minutes Fred got into the police car and they had all left. Her next claim was that the following day she got a call threatening the lives of her children if she did not take Fred's car to the airport parking lot. The investigator testified that when Connie was told that the well was included in the warrant she stated if Fred was there she did not know anything about it.

It was also claimed that Connie was the beneficiary of a $10,000 life insurance policy on Fred. Whether she ever made a claim on that policy is unknown. However, Fred's family had him declared dead in May of 1994, almost seven years after he disappeared. This would come into play later in a lawsuit the family would file against Connie.

In the end the jury would convict Connie on both charges. She would receive a life sentence for the murder and a five year sentence for the possession of a firearm charge. She has continued to appeal her case throughout the years and as of now (2018) all appeals have been denied.

The lawsuit by the family that I mentioned earlier was filed as a wrongful death case against Connie six days after Fred's body had been found on the property he once shared with her. The lawsuit asked for a $22 million judgment. In November of 2006 a judge dismissed the case saying that it was barred by the statute of limitations. The lawyer's for the family argued against but the judge declared that he believed the statue of limitations began in May of 1994 when the family had him declared dead. Whether this was appealed and if there was another outcome is unclear.

As I said in the beginning much of the information surrounding this case revolved around the other “well case” and investigator Clay Bryant. The television show 48 Hours did an episode not just necessarily on this case but on Bryant himself. Most of the information that I obtained to compile here came from Connie's 2006 appeal and I rely heavily on those when I research cases. I find that they have the most information and from an unbiased position. I felt as if much of the information pertaining to the 48 Hours episode disputed things said in the appeal such as things the neighbor or her daughter allegedly said.

This ended up being one of those cases where there seemed to be little to no forensic evidence in the case linking the accused to the murder and yet the circumstantial evidence and testimony given really left the jury with little choice but to convict. Connie Quedens admits that Fred Wilkerson was at her home on the last day he was heard from; she also admits that she took his car to the airport. And yet I did not see any information on how investigators believe Fred's body got into the well. Did Gary help her when he returned? Did anyone else see anything? It seems unlikely that she would have been able to place his body in the well on her own. I found no other evidence of anyone, other than Gary, being charged in any way and it seems apparent that at most he would have been an accessory after the fact.