The 1984 Cold Case Abduction & Murder of 12yo Jessica Lee Sterling Hatch, Richmond, Virginia
#J4J #Journey4Justice #Justice4Jessie
My mom Shirley, and Jessie’s mom Ellen, were sisters - all three now RIP. I like to think they are together, with Granny, and Hugh, and Jack, and Roy!
1971, February 14th, Jessie was Born on Valentine's Day 💕
When she was still with us, we correlated her birth date with her natural character, she really was an exceptionally sweet girl. Valentine's Day is different for my family now, not so much flowers and sweet celebration, more so bittersweet melancholy and solemn remembrance, as the Journey for Justice for Jessie continues.
1976, Lynchburg & Roanoke
My sister and I lived with my Aunt Thelma in Lynchburg for the 1976-1977 School Year, we spent more time w/cousin Jenny than ever, and cousins Jason & Jessie were nearby in Roanoke, w/Aunt Ellen living at Granny's.
I'm kneeling far left, Jason is in the middle, my sister Dianne is kneeling far right, Jenny is left-front in overalls, and Jessie is right-front in gingham.
1977, to Maine
After a year w/Aunt Thelma, my sister and I rejoined our mother and step-father in Maine, the Summer of 1977, prior to the start of first and second grades.
1981, January 18th
I would love to know the circumstances and artist behind this lovely sketch. My mother must have scanned this original, I can see her novice corrections in Jessie’s hair. Not that I could do better, I would have left it alone, but I am smiling at the thought of my old-lady mom determinedly tinkering away in photoshop, or poor thing, probably in Microsoft Paint.
1982, January 25th, a Letter from Jessie
1982, Summer in Richmond
My sister and I had moved from Virginia to Maine in 1977, so did not spend much time with our extended family in Richmond, but we did go (by ourselves!), for several weeks or a month, in the summer of 1982. I recall that summer very fondly, we spent a lot of time with Jason & Jessie & Jenny, our maternal cousins and family, and with Roy and our paternal family. We rode en masse in the back of my uncle's pickup truck to swim in the James River. We played hide and seek in the thick fragrant Virginia honeysuckle. We role played with Barbie dolls. And we played Atari - oh, how we played Atari! Jessie was the most intense player! She scowled and tensed, and leaned her little frame into it as if she were the controller itself, tilting herself around in the easy-chair as her screen character dodged the alien invasion, she was a fierce sight to behold!
1984, February 5th, Jessie was Abducted
Just nine days prior to her 13th birthday, she left home for the very routine walk to our grandmother's, but she never made it there, and was never seen alive again.
Very tragically, Jessie left rather in a tiff, and some unpleasant words were exchanged as final parting shots - the exasperated banter of a mother and her daughter who didn't want what was being served for dinner, and the rivalrous banter of siblings with no need for an excuse to spat. I imagine those final words haunted their grief for a long time.
There is a newspaper account of other last words, but those words include too much spot-on hindsight, and seem to have been contrived after-the-fact. My account is from my recollection of the time, as conveyed by my mother to me as a child. Obviously I was not there, but it does make sense to me that Ellen would have shared with my mother (her sister) a truth more painful than publicly revealed.
1984, February 9th, the Jessica Hatch Fund
Ellen looks so broken. She and Fred both look so young.
1984, February 14th, Her 13th Birthday
She'd been been missing nine days.
1984, April 12th, Jessie’s Body Was Discovered Two Agonizing Months Later
I was only seven months older than Jessie, also just 13, so my parents protected me at the time from many of the details, but she had been abducted and mutilated, only parts of her body were recovered, the death certificate reads unspecified "homicidal violence."
1984, July, Jessie’s Family Summer in Maine . . .
2003, Ritual Child Abuse
I was overcome by maternal impulse (as I carried my first child) to explore (for the first time) the public info I could find on Jessie’s case. There was not much, and what I found was unofficial, but it was horrific in its implication. I had to set my search aside, my pregnant self could not cope with this.
Copyright © 1997 Believe The Children
Many ritual child abuse cases never are prosecuted due to the disbelief of authorities or the unlikelihood that young, severely traumatized children will be able to withstand cross-examination. A 1993 survey by the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and Family Law determined that 26 percent of prosecutors nationwide have handled cases involving ‘ritualistic or sexual abuse.’ (Ross, 1994). The ritualistic aspects of the crimes often are not presented in court but are clearly indicated in the victims’ accounts.
Virginia - Richmond
In 1984 two children, ages 7 and 5, were removed from their home due to allegations that they had been sexually abused by their mother and her boyfriend. The children said they were forced to witness the murder of a 12-year-old girl during a cult ritual. The mutilated body of 12-year-old Jessica Hatch was discovered in a remote area of Hanover County. She had disappeared on February 5, 1984, while walking to her grandmother’s house.
Police found candles and occult paraphernalia, but said the children “would freeze up… we couldn’t tell whether they were telling the truth or fantasizing.” (Ross, 1986). The children were ruled incompetent to testify and the sexual abuse charges were dismissed.
Gary Jay Beattie, 28, a convicted ‘peeping Tom’ and friend of the other two suspects, was arrested for making indecent proposals to a 9-year-old girl and two 13-year-old girls. All three girls knew Jessica Hatch and said that Beattie had also propositioned her. Beattie was acquitted of accosting the 9-year-old, but entered a plea bargain on outstanding sex charges involving the 13-year-old victims. His 5-year prison sentence was suspended.
In 1988 Beattie was arrested again on multiple charges of voyeurism. At his first trial in July 1988, he was sentenced to 60 days and a $500 fine. He received a 3-year prison term in the second trial. A third trial in October 1988 resulted in a mistrial because one of the jurors was related to a police officer who investigated the case. A retrial was held in December 1988, and Beattie was convicted on a misdemeanor charge, with a 12-month jail term suspended.
No one has ever been charged with murdering Jessica Hatch, but local newspapers referred to Beattie as the “closest thing to a suspect.” County authorities cited a “strong possibility” that Jessica Hatch was killed in a satanic ritual. (Times-Dispatch and News Leader, 1988-1991).
2014, April 4th, Another Homicide
I thought one family was unlikely to experience multiple homicides, I really thought our having suffered one, would somehow spare us another. I was wrong. My biological father Roy was brutally slain in his own home, with over 100 sharp force injuries, any number of which alone would have killed him. So his murderer stabbed him to death, and then kept stabbing, and kept stabbing, and kept stabbing.
2016, February 6th
“More Than Three Decades Later, Death of Jessica Hatch Still Haunts”
https://richmond.com/news/local/crime/article_8f820093-bd1c-57f7-8668-d204b6e94a40.html
by Debbie Truoung, Richmond Times-Dispatch
2016, February 7th
“Hopes for New DNA Lead in 30yo Murder of Little Girl”
2016, September, My Own Daughter is Almost 13
I have always been keenly aware of the widespread family trauma caused by Jessie’s abduction and murder, it’s a lived experience that reverberates through the years, impacting the way we parent, and the way we love. But it wasn't until my own daughter reached Jessie's tender end age, that I fully appreciated the depth of my aunt's loss. At that age we can see the women they're becoming, we can see the future they're starting to plan . . . so much opportunity was taken, from Jessie, and Jason, and Ellen, it’s heartbreaking.
2018, December 15th, Rest in Peace Ellen . . .
2021, February 14th, Jessie Would Be 50 . . .
2022, February 24th
Was distressed to learn today that the Hanover Sheriff's Office does not have a continuity plan for cold cases - as there is no investigator assigned to Jessie's case since the last guy retired. Not cool.
2024, February 14th
I had lost touch w/Jessie's brother Jason, but am pleased now to be back in touch. 💕
No comments:
Post a Comment