William "Corky" Snyder

When I am researching a case I always try to have more than once source say something about a case in order for me to be certain about it, unless the source is an appeal through the court. I will often read comments by every day users on articles and sites but I make extra efforts to determine if those statements are true. Just this week I published a story in which I had seen several comments made about a person involved in the story that I dismissed as I had not found anything to support the comments. Then at the very last minute I discovered evidence to back them. In this case one of the first sites I came across was a crime and punishment website. If you have ever seen that site then you know that it is full of both, articles published in the media as well as comments and opinions from others. Someone repeatedly posted on this case saying that they were a family member of the victims and that William “Corky” Snyder was framed. Had the person stated they were a family member of Snyder's I likely would have taken the comment with even less seriousness. The person commenting would make claims of corrupt county officials and the tampering of evidence. While I found nothing to substantiate or even in reference to those claims I did find something else the person commented on. They stated that the jury in the William Snyder case had not recommended death and that the judge in the case had given this sentence on his own. This is not true. Not only had William Snyder, himself asked the jury for a death sentence, they voted 10-2 to grant him that request. Not all states require a unanimous decision by a jury and apparently Alabama falls into that category as the judge granted the recommendation. Based on the information I found on this case, I give little credence to those who believe Snyder was innocent.

Seventy-two year old Dixie Gaither worked at a local McDonald's in Talladega Alabama. On August 11, 1995 when she did not show up for work her supervisor went to her home. When the supervisor noticed the front door was damaged they called the police. When the police arrived at the home they would find the bodies of Dixie and her forty-five year old son, Carey Gaither laying nearly on top of each other in the front room. It looked as if they had been beaten to death.

Thirty-seven year old Nancy Burkhalter lived next door to Dixie and was Carey's girlfriend. It is unclear just how they stumbled upon the second crime scene at her home. They possibly could have noticed something from the outside as had been noticed at Dixie's or maybe they were just wanting to talk to the neighbors to see if they had seen anything and something struck them odd. At any rate, at Nancy's home they would find her body in one of the bedrooms. She had been shot three times. The medical examiner and investigators would come to believe that the murders had occurred on the 9^th, two days before they were discovered.

While the investigators were barricading the scene William “Corky” Snyder showed up. He told the officers there that he had attempted to call Dixie for two days and had received no answer. It was said that without being told what was for certain going on Snyder had said he hoped she had not been murdered. Of course this caught the interests of the investigators. Investigators would learn that William Snyder often did “odd jobs” for Dixie including mowing her grass.

In the end so many things connected William Snyder to the murders that it is not clear what came first. He would be arrested in November of 1995, but he would not face trial until November of 2000. One of his appeals addressed the fact that he had not been given a speedy trial but the courts determined that a) he had not filed for a speedy trial until December of 1998, more than three years after his arrest and b) most of the delays granted by the courts were asked for by the defense.

So, you have heard me mention that there was a lot of evidence against William Snyder but I have yet to tell you what it is. First, his fingerprint had been found on a pop can in Nancy's home. In my opinion if that print had been found on anything else it may not have made a difference. While it was said that Snyder did odd jobs for Dixie, he could have said the same for Nancy or for that matter she could have offered him a cold drink while he was out working in the yard for her elderly neighbor. The reason that it was a pop can that makes it significant is that is it disposable and in all likelihood would have been thrown away soon after Snyder had left, if not before. The fact that it was still out and in the open indicated that the murders occurred very close to the time that investigators could place him in the home.

It was believed that Dixie and Carey were attacked first. It is thought that they were both beaten with a shovel and were then robbed of jewelry and of a .38 caliber handgun. That gun was then determined to have been used on Nancy Burkhalter. Not only would that gun be found not far from Snyder's home, his brother would tell investigators that he was with Snyder when he disposed of it. Shell casing matching not just the gun, but to the ones used in Nancy's murder were found behind Snyders home. Inside the home a reindeer necklace belonging to Dixie had been found.

At the time of the murder Snyder owned a pest control business of some sort and one of his clients was an apartment building. An employee at the apartment complex told police that around the time of the murders they had seen Snyder there and he had disposed of a bag of some sort in the dumpster. Investigators scoured the dumpster and found a purse wrapped in a towel. The identification inside the purse belonged to Dixie Gaither.

When investigators went to his home to search they found William's brother, Claude, who also lived with him. Claude would tell them that he had come home on August 11^th to find his brother crying saying that authorities had found three bodies. But, he would go on to say that he was with his brother when he disposed of not just the gun but a pair of tennis shoes and several gun cartridges just after the murder. Then the two had driven to Georgia where they apparently met their uncle Gary Creek. Gary worked at a pawnshop and would testify at the trial that William had come to him asking to get rid of some jewelry. In the end Gary and his girlfriend decided to buy the jewelry themselves. But, soon after Gary's girlfriend heard that William was being looked at for the murders and took the jewelry to the Cobb County Georgia police department. It was eventually identified as belonging to the Gaither's and was valued at nearly $9,000.

My research states that Snyder testified in his own defense at his trial but I have to be fair in saying I am unsure if this is true or if the statements made were to investigators when he was questioned. Either way the story that Snyder spun seemed completely outrageous. He would say that he was framed, apparently by people he did not know. He would state that he had gone to Dixie Gaither's home on August 9^th and saw a truck sitting outside her house. He claims he walked near the door and found it kicked in and he saw the bodies laying in the front room. He said he checked their bodies and discovered that they were no longer alive and as he was leaving “two masked men” grabbed him and put a gun under his chin. He claims that they pulled the trigger a few times but obviously nothing happened and that they then knocked him over the head and knocked him out. He then said that while he was knocked out with two dead bodies that the two masked men obviously took the items they had taken from the Gaither home and placed them in his truck. What was he to do but get rid of the items so he was not implicated??

The jury did not believe his story and they would convict him on four counts of capital murder (yes, I know there were three victims, but there were four counts). For his sentencing Snyder waived his right to present any mitigating evidence and asked the jury to give him the death sentence. They would decide by a vote of 10-2 to give him just that and the judge would stick with that recommendation. Despite asking for the death penalty Snyder did not waive his right to appeals. In March of 2001 he received a short reprieve when the courts overturned his conviction saying that the jury was not given special instructions pertaining to any prior crimes he had committed. The State appealed this ruling and won in December of 2001. In 2003 the courts upheld his conviction and sentence.

On July 12, 2011 William “Corky” Snyder apparently committed suicide while in prison. Few details have been given as to how this occurred.