Dec 01 2008
Victims’ Advocate Dies
The name may not ring a bell, but it was 28 years ago that Elizabeth Jewel Harvey lost her 18 year-old daughter, Faith Hathaway, in the most unthinkable way. Hathaway was murdered and her murder spawned a number of trials, a book, “Dead Man Walking,” and a movie of the same name.
Having graduated high school and scheduled to enter the Army, Hatahway was walking home alone after celebrating with her friends. She was spotted by Robert Lee Willie and his friend Joseph Jesse Vaccaro.
Robert Lee Willie was one of the two men described in Sister Helen Prejean’s book “Dead Man Walking.”
Having blindfolded her, Willie and Vaccaro raped Hathaway, and drove her to a remote section of Washington Parish, Louisiana. There they raped her, stabbed her repeatedly, some of her fingers were cut off, her throat was slit, and the rapes continued long after her death. Her body was located eight days later in a cave near Franklinton, Louisiana.
Three days after murdering Hathaway, Willie and Vaccaro kidnapped a young couple from a wooded “lover’s lane” and drove them to Alabama. There they tied 20 year-old Mark Brewster to a tree, raped his 16 year-old girlfriend Debbie Morris, then stabbed and shot him as he was tied to the tree. Brewster survived but is paralyzed from the waist down.
During the trial, Willie blew kisses at the woman he raped, and when Brewster took the stand Willie drew his finger across his throat in a threatening manner, and grinned.
After Willie was convicted of Hathaway’s murder, he pled guilty to the 1978 murder of Dennis Hemby.
Because Willie Transported Brewster and Morris across state lines, they faced federal charges as well as state charges. Because federal time is served before state time, Willie thought he was protected from Louisiana’s electric chair in Angola. He was wrong.
Elizabeth Harvey contacted her congressman, Louisiana Republican Bob Livingston. They told Livingston the tragic story of the death of their daughter Faith Hathaway. Livingston’s office contacted President Ronald Reagan, who signed the papers necessary to release Willie from federal prison and send him back to Louisiana. Willie was executed 14 months later.
Harvey traveled the world advocating victims’ rights and the execution of people convicted of murder. Harvey died November 22, 2008 of lung disease. She was buried next to her daughter, Faith. She was 67.
