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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

Unsolved Murder

October 20,1992

Darlene Messer, age 33, was found dead, floating in Swift Creek in Union County in 1989.

She had been bludgeoned to death: “death by blunt trauma.”
Two days earlier, a customer had walked into the Suwannee Swifty on Highway 100 near
Lake City expecting to see Darlene working her regular shift but nobody was there. There were signs

of a struggle so the Sheriff’s Department was called. An extensive search followed. Two days later
a train was crossing Swift Creek and an engineer saw Darlene’s body. Investigators recovered her

body but found no clue as to who had killed her or why.
I had learned the details of Darlene’s death from the paper. I did not know her. When her

funeral was announced, I decided to go because the paper said she was from far-away Canada and
I was afraid the service might be poorly attended. So it happened that I joined a small group of

mourners at Biggs Funeral Home to pay respects to a woman I never knew.
Darlene’s mother sat at the front near the casket. She was a handsome woman, dignified,

composed. She sat erect, seemed deep in thought.
Toward the middle, sat a row of Suwannee Swifty Company Officials, there to pay final

tribute to a dedicated employee who had lost her life in the line of duty.
Mike Brown, pastor of Southside Baptist Church, directed the service. Mike is a striking
figure - young, tall, dark, handsome. Thoroughly dedicated to God, Mike is a serious man in the

pulpit.
Mike told us about Darlene. She was a good person, a friendly neighbor, a friend to many,

she had been a good student in school. She enjoyed life.
In a steady voice, Mike read reassuring scriptures and prayed a comforting prayer. Then he

turned to Darlene’s mother and spoke to her, spontaneously, from the heart:
“I cannot explain to you why this awful tragedy has happened but God knows and I ask you

to trust Him. Nobody in this chapel knows exactly how you feel today because nobody here has lost
a child in the violent, mysterious way that you have lost Darlene. I can only say that later in your life

you may encounter someone else who has lost a child in the terrible way you have - and you may be

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