Debra Izzett Skelley has reason to believe her son Donald Lee Izzett Jr. was shot to death and his body burned and buried in Pike County in May 1995 when he was 19.
After years of investigating on her own, she has filed a civil lawsuit accusing a Washington State man of homicide, and has hired an archaeological firm to dig for the remains — the fourth such search in Pike County so far.
“I’ve always known that my son was killed on the property and burned up here,” Skelley said Tuesday afternoon as archaeologists got under way at a remote, partially wooded site in Fernwood.
The estate of Donald Lee Izzett Jr. is suing Shane Guenther of Bremerton, Wash., in Pike County Circuit Court alleging Guenther killed Izzett in 1995. Guenther, who reportedly lived in Fernwood as a child, has never been charged with the crime.
The lawsuit, which names Izzett’s parents Donald Lee Izzett Sr. and Debra Izzett Skelley as Izzett’s wrongful-death beneficiaries, is filed by and through Pike County Chancery Clerk Becky Buie as administrator of the estate.
Skelley has a degree in criminal law, and when Baltimore law enforcement officials were unable to identify her son’s killer, she fought for years to get them to turn over their files.
“I sat for three months at my table nonstop going through his file,” she said.
The name of a California man kept popping up but he had never been interviewed, so Skelley contacted him. Over a period of conversations, which she recorded, the man admitted helping burn and bury the body — leading to the identification of the alleged killer.
Skelley said the informant even took her to the property.
“I’ve been on the grounds with the person that helped burn my son’s body,” Skelley said, adding her son was shot three times and stuffed in the trunk of a car.
“He lived for, like, 40 minutes, begging for his life,” she said.
The killing took place May 25, and on May 27 — 24 years ago Tuesday — “they burned his body up there,” Skelley said.
“After about 10 hours of burning the body up, the skull wouldn’t burn, so they got shovels and kept hitting it.”
She said she’s known all along in her heart that her son is buried on the Fernwood property, even though prior digs came up empty.
MRS Consultants of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is handling the dig. On Tuesday, workers used flat-bladed shovels to scrape off thin layers of soil identified as suspect areas by a magnetromic survey and previous digs.
“We’re uncovering areas where we have anomalies,” or irregular spots, said Lynn Funkhouser, the company’s principal investigator on the project.
In particular, the archaeologists are looking for areas where burning has occurred.
Also on hand Tuesday were Pike County sheriff’s detective John Glapion and District Attorney investigator Truett Simmons.
If human remains are found, “some people have got some questions to answer,” Glapion said.
Citing the previous digs, Glapion said it would be “a miracle” if Izzett’s remains are found and identified but said, “I want closure for the family.”
Simmons said if remains are found, investigators will try to extract DNA, though that will be difficult since the body was burned.
“If we find human remains, we would go to the grand jury with it,” Simmons said.
Skelley was more optimistic.
“All I have to do is identify them as human and we can make an arrest,” she said.
According to the lawsuit, “on or about May 25, 1995, while in the presence of and accompanied by the defendant, Shane Guenther, an altercation occurred between the two individuals and the deceased, Donald Lee Izzett Jr., was a victim of a homicide perpetrated by the defendant, Shane Guenther.”
The lawsuit said Izzett “sustained serious bodily inuuries and as a result of those injuries he died on or about May 25, 1995.”
The suit said “the acts of the defendant were tantamount, wilful, intentional and maliciously done and/or his negligence was so gross as to be tantamount to intentional wrong doing.”
The suit demands $1 million in actual damages, $1 million for loss of enjoyment of life and $5 million in punitive damages.
Izzett’s estate is represented by McComb attorneys Bill Goodwin and Ronnie Whittington.
Whittington said the burden of proof is less in a civil case than a criminal one. A civil case requires a “preponderance of the evidence — which is more likely than not,” Whittington said. A criminal case requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
While there is no statute of limitations on murder, there is a three-year limit on a civil accusation of wrongful death. Izzett was officially declared dead a month ago when his estate was opened, Whittington said.
“Our position is that didn’t start until he was pronounced civilly dead,” Whittington said.
Izzett and Guenther were reportedly partners in 1995 and allegedly got into a fight in Guenther’s grandmother’s yard, Whittington said. The two then left, and “that was the last time he was seen.”
Added Goodwin, “We believe strongly that the civil aspect of the suit is well taken, that we can prove our case and that there is substantial evidence that Shane Guenther is responsible for the death of Donald Izzett.”
Guenther, who is represented by Cynthia H. Speetjens of Madison, filed a response in circuit court and had the case removed to the U.S. District Court, Southern District in Natchez.
The response said no connection has been established between Guenther and the death of Izzett.
“His body has not been found, and no arrest has been made in connection with the death of Donald Lee Izzett Jr.,” the legal response said.
“Because the plaintiff is without any viable proof of any connection between Shane Guenther and the death of Donald Lee Izzett Jr., she (plaintiff) is necessarily not in possession of any viable proof of the cause or manner of Donnald Lee Izzett Jr.’s death, or even the location of his death, much less any evidence that Donald Lee Izzett Jr. endured pain and/or suffering as a result of any wrongful or negligent act committed by Shane Guenther.”
