The Murder of Tammy Acker

I recently read the book Dark and Bloody Ground by Darcy O'Brien. It was supposed to be the story of the 1985 Kentucky murder of twenty-three year old Tammy Acker. It was, to an extent. The bulk of the book though focused on the relationship between one of the perpetrators, Benny Hodge and a woman named Sherri Sheets. Another large portion of the book revolved around the actions of prominent defense attorney, Lester Burns. Of course, the Tammy Acker murder was addressed because you cannot tell the story of Hodge and Sheets, or Burns for that matter without discussing the murder. But, by and large the book almost made the murder seem like a footnote. In fairness, and while I cannot say with certainty that there have been other books on the case, it was a very prominent case in Eastern Kentucky and there were many things written about the case. It is possible that O'Brien was attempting to show a bit of a different take on the story.

Dr. Roscoe “R.J” Acker was a well known and respected doctor in Fleming-Neon Kentucky in the Appalachian Mountains. This area is predominantly known as being an area full of poor people. Much of the area relied for decades on the coal mines in the area which not only seemed to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer but with the fallout of coal as a primary heating source jobs are even more scarce. Poor areas are also known for high crime. Of course the area is also known for things such as the Hatfield and McCoy feud. It is worthy to note that Dr. Acker's office building was used in the movie “Coal Miner's Daughter” (one of my favorites), a movie that while takes place in the early 1930's, was released in 1980, just five years before the murder. Dr. Acker was one of the few people in the area who apparently seemed to be wealthy. He and his wife, Dorthea had two daughters, Tammy and Tawny. Like many of his generation Dr. Acker was leery of banks. He had lived through the Depression and it was theorized that he kept very large amounts of cash in his home. I say theorized, and it was a theory. It just happened to be a theory that was true.

Dr. Acker's wife died in August of 1984 and it was a severe blow to the family. Their daughter, Tammy took time off from studying psychology at the University of Kentucky to help her father through that time. Reports are sketchy as to just why however she was home with him on the night of August 8, 1985. Some reports say she had returned to school but had come that day to help him and decided to spend the night and return the following day. Other reports say that she had been hanging out with friends, or at least was supposed to but instead stayed home. Regardless of the reason, Tammy was at her father's home that night. Late that evening there was a knock at the Acker door. There were two men who claimed to be agents from the FBI. They wanted to speak to Dr. Acker. Most believe that the two men were actually Benny Hodge and Donald Bartley who were basically career criminals and far from being FBI agents.

Hodge and Bartley, still pretending to be agents, told Dr. Acker that they needed to speak to him about a man that he had been associated some years prior. They claimed they were investigating some sort of fraud case against the man. Some claim that the conversation began outside and later Acker invited the two men in. At this point it seems that Tammy was in her bedroom but had come out into the kitchen when all three men returned to the house. Soon after Hodge and Bartley drew their weapons upon Dr. Acker and his daughter. They were bound and their heads were covered; Tammy was taken into her bedroom.

By most accounts it was at this point that Roger Epperson came into the house. He had been out in the car as it seems that this was not the first time that the FBI ruse had been used and Hodge and Bartley had the clothing to pull it off. It has also been speculated that Epperson waited until the doctor's face was covered as to not be recognized. Epperson was from near the area, and although that had benefited the group in an earlier murder they were involved in, that did not seem to be the case here. While the earlier case, that involved the murders of Edwin and Bessie Morris, it appears Epperson showed his face to them because he did actually know the couple and it helped them gain entry it was widely expected by the trio that the couple would be dead before they left. In this case it appears that it is possible that Epperson gave the initial impression that there may be survivors and they did not want to take the chance that Epperson was recognized. In my personal opinion I do not think that at least Epperson planned to leave any survivors but used this as an excuse to get Bartley to continue to participate, although that speculation could be wrong. While Dr. Acker would survive the attack on his home his age, his fear, a possible concussion and other things likely played a factor in his memory of events. While he could tell what he knew, the only other accounts of what happened or how people felt or reacted came from Hodge, Bartley, Epperson and later their wives. Those who are facing prison time have an absolute reason to place blame on others or feign feelings of guilt.

While Tammy was placed in her room, bound, the trio began drilling Dr. Acker about the location of a safe within his home. This crime had been planned based on the information that Epperson had received that Dr. Acker had recently purchased a safe. Rumor around town was that he had done so to put all the cash he had at his home inside. This rumor was in fact true, but of course until they saw the safe for themselves they did not know for certain. Dr. Acker had indeed bought a safe recently. It was said that he had kept money in a truck on his back porch for years and after his wife's death he either decided on his own or was convinced by others that not only was it not safe to keep there, but was also senseless. A lot of the money had still been exposed to the weather elements and was ruined so he had gotten rid of the truck and put the money in the safe. It also appears that he never kept track of how much there was.

Dr. Acker finally gave in, likely to save not just his life, but the life of his daughter and told the three men, one of whom he had barely seen the face of, the location of the safe as well as how to get inside. The trio had hit the jackpot!! They emptied the safe, obviously not taking the time to count it, but their night at the Acker house was not over. A knife was obtained from the Acker kitchen and most believe that it was Benny Hodge who then went into Tammy Acker's room and began attacking her. There were questions on this and whether it was Hodge who ultimately stabbed Tammy more than 10 times, leaving the knife not only left in her back as she lay on the floor, but also left the knife embedded in the wood flooring. Prosecutors would later go with Donald Bartley's version of the story and when questioned argued that only Hodge was big enough and strong enough to have wielded the knife with such force. Reality as far as the law was that technically it did not matter which of the three men murdered Tammy. By law they were all responsible. The only reason that it mattered was the fact that prosecutors had to have a theory and in order to get that theory they relied on Donald Bartley. The defense attorney's of course would argue that Bartley's story benefited him greatly and that he was placing more blame on Hodge and Epperson and less on himself.

After the safe had been opened Dr. Acker's face was once again covered and so his view of the perpetrators was once again gone. Donald Bartley would later claim that he had in fact attempted to strangle Dr. Acker with an electric cord. But, as I have stated previously it sounds as if he downplayed this role. Bartley's claim was that Epperson not only had planned the entire case but that he insisted that Bartley murder Dr. Acker because Bartley had not participated in the actual murders of the Morris' just a few weeks before. The theory, at least by Bartley's account, was that by forcing him to murder Dr. Acker Bartley would have less reason to turn on Epperson and Hodge if they were ever apprehended. Bartley claims that he gave it a half-hearted effort to murder Dr. Acker but that Epperson was unhappy with that effort and took over with the electrical cord. For the record, this obviously was not done lightly and Dr. Acker was also beaten in the process. He would lose consciousness and the trio believed their “work” was done. They left the home with the money they had stolen believing that both Dr. Acker and his daughter were dead. They piled into their vehicle and headed back down to Florida where their women were waiting. They had gone quite a ways before Bartley realized he had left a briefcase that he had carried with him inside but they decided not to turn back and continued on their journey.

Dr. Acker was not dead. It is estimated that he remained unconscious for just over an hour before he woke up and made his way to Tammy's room to check on her. One look and he realized that she was dead. He then made his way to the telephone where he called for help. Fleming-Neon is a small knit community where not only was Dr. Acker well known but so were his daughters. Most of the investigators and even the coroner knew them well, some had even attended school with Tammy so it was an emotionally charged crime scene for many of them. The brutality of her murder and the fact that the knife was still embedded in the floor affected all of those involved. Among the items found within the house was the briefcase that Donald Bartley had carried in. It was dusted for prints that while one is to believe results were immediate likely took more than a few days. While it was very important in sealing the deal for investigators in knowing who they were looking for there were other things that came into play. The town was in an uproar and began reporting anything that had appeared odd or out of place. One of those things was a car that had appeared to be in some bush on a hill overlooking the Acker home with three occupants. A few people had driven by and it seems that the vehicle, which was described by several had hovered in the area for a few hours. At one point it had come down the hill and the occupants had gone into a convenient store. This all coincided with the times that Dr. Acker gave about when he returned home and when the alleged FBI agents arrived. If nothing else it was showing investigators that the crime had apparently been planned and premeditated. The vehicle was obviously waiting for Dr. Acker to return home. They already had their suspicions based on some descriptions. Benny Hodge and Donald Bartley were already on the radar of law enforcement for other crimes they had committed and they began leaning that way. They also knew Roger Epperson was likely with them and the descriptions given of things at that point had them believing this was the trio they were looking for. The realization that the fingerprints on the briefcase belonged to Bartley likely sealed the deal.

Within just a few days investigators, that now really did include the FBI were on their trail. With the help of an informant the three men were arrested about a week after the murder of Tammy Acker. Hodge and Bartley were arrested outside an Ormond Beach condo they had rented and Epperson was arrested a short time later, just a few miles down the road in Daytona Beach Florida. But, a week was a week when you have three men, and their wives spending money, the likes of which they had never seen before.

As I stated earlier Dr. Acker really did not know how much money was in his safe. He had estimated it was anywhere from two to three hundred thousand. According to Sherri Sheets-Hodge after the men returned to Florida the money was counted and it was allegedly just short of two million. Today that would be the equivalent of nearly five million. Sherri Sheets-Hodge was apparently the “banker” and the one in charge of dividing it and keeping track. By all accounts and by her own admission she did not divide it evenly between the three couples, leaving more, although how much more was never determined, for she and Benny. Over the next week, before their arrests, they all went on spending sprees buying cars and other things, including a bar.

The trio was already also suspected in the murders of Edwin and Bessie Morris that had occurred in Gray Hawk Kentucky a few months before the Acker murder but they weren't charged until later with that crime. But, upon their arrest is when another twist in the story came with the entrance of defense attorney, Lester Burns.

Aside from the money that they had on them and the vehicles that the investigators could prove had been bought with the Acker money, little more was recovered from the men and their wives, and nothing more in cash. Epperson told his wife, Carol to contact the prestigious defense attorney. I am not sure I can say that Lester Burns was completely the “Racehorse Haynes” of Kentucky as it I did not find any real other high profile cases involving either the rich or famous but he had money. He drove around Kentucky in an RV and owned several homes and properties. Burns had represented someone in Epperson's family at one point so that is how he knew him. No one, including Burns, seemed to understand his next actions. He agreed to represent Epperson but at a high price totaling over $100,000. At that point no one knew how much money had been taken from the Acker home so theory was that Burns never thought that the money could be obtained in the first place. Once he did know, he had to have known that the money came from the spoils of the crime, which in and of itself made it a crime for him to accept. But accept it he did. The fact that he was very careful in his attempts of how he transported that money from Florida to Kentucky (another crime) and deposited it into accounts (or not), also showed that he at the very least suspected that the money had been obtained at the Acker home. He even went further in contacting fellow attorney's to get someone to represent Hodge, who Sherri proceeded to give money to, although it was much less than Burns had received. Eventually Burns was caught through an FBI sting all but admitting to taking that money and knowing it's origins as well as a few other crimes, one of which involved faking or false reporting an auto accident for clients to get money from an insurance agency. But, before that he had a job to do in representing Roger Epperson.

Donald Bartley reached a plea deal with investigators. He agreed to tell his story not only about the Acker crime but also the murders of the Morris'. Bartley knew less about the latter crime and specifics since according to him he remained in the car as the lookout while Hodge and Epperson went inside. He also agreed to testify against Hodge and Epperson. Eventually he would receive a sentence of life with parole after twenty-five years. He was up for parole in 2009 and it was unanimously denied. I have looked at the Kentucky Department of Corrections website and obviously he is still there but strangely there is no notation there, or in any article that I read which stated when he may be up for parole again.

Hodge and Epperson were tried together in 1986. It appears that really the biggest contention was who did what, not who was there or the intention. Bartley would claim that Epperson was the “brains” behind the crimes. His defense would argue then and apparently to this day, that he was not smart enough to plan the crimes due to a brain injury. I have to argue against that notion if for no other reason than the fact that these crimes occurred in an area that only Epperson was familiar with. Then there was the issue as to who in fact had wielded the knife into Tammy Ackers body. The prosecution argued that Donald Bartley was too small to have done it. But, in fairness, they had to argue that seeing as the defense was arguing against Bartley's story claiming he was pushing more blame on the others and since the prosecution was using him as a witness they had to go with his story. In the end both Epperson and Hodge were found guilty of first degree murder, attempted murder, robbery and burglary. They were both eventually sentenced to death. Later the sentences were overturned but it did not matter because in 1996 they were again sentenced to death. In September of 1988 Hodge and Epperson were once again convicted for murder, robbery and burglary in the murders of Edwin and Bessie Morris. Once again they were sentenced to death.

Dr. Roscoe Acker died in 2001 and appeals for the men were still taking place but I am pretty sure that he likely believed that both men at the very least would die behind bars. Lester Burns had actually given Dr. Acker all the money back he had taken as well as a vehicle he obtained from Carol Epperson but that obviously did not replace his daughter.

In November of 2019, after filing yet another appeal, the state of Kentucky and attorney's representing Roger Epperson came to an agreement regarding the Acker case. The state agreed to convert his death sentence to life without parole if he agreed to not appeal the case any longer. The theory was that appeals would not end before Epperson, who was approaching 70 years old, would be in his 80's. It seemed senseless to continue fighting it and costing the state more money for the court fees. Plus, he still had the death sentence for the Morris case. To add to this Kentucky has only executed three people since the death penalty because legal again in 1976. Two of those men had actually voluntarily ended their appeals and asked to be executed and the last one of those occurred in 2008. I have often wondered why states such as this one even argue for the death penalty other than in name only when clearly they are not executing prisoners. It costs much more to care for a death row inmate considering their appeals obviously can go on for decades.