On March 14, 1985, 16-year-old Sue Ellen "Suzi" Holliman (June 30, 1968 – March 14, 1985) was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Lexington, North Carolina. Initial investigations led to the arrest of one suspect, who confessed to the crime. However, Ricky Lee Sanderson, a prisoner who was serving life plus 110 years in prison for rape and attempted murder, confessed that he was the real killer, and further investigations later confirmed that Sanderson was indeed the murderer.
Sanderson was found guilty of murdering Holliman and sentenced to death in 1987. His death sentence was overturned twice before it was reinstated in 1991 and 1995 respectively. Sanderson was executed in the gas chamber on January 30, 1998, after he waived his remaining appeals against the sentence.
Murder On March 14, 1985, 16-year-old Sue Ellen Holliman, better known as Suzi, disappeared from her family home in Lexington, North Carolina. Holliman, who fell sick and stayed home from school, was last seen by her father L. Hugh Holliman at 12:30pm, and he checked on his daughter after coming home during lunchtime. After about ten to 15 minutes, Holliman's father left home after seeing that his daughter had become better. Later in the afternoon, when Holliman's mother returned home, she noticed that her daughter was missing, and it prompted her to call the police.State v. Sanderson , North Carolina Supreme Court (United States).
An extensive search was conducted to find the missing girl, and many people, including local law enforcement officers, Rescue Squad members and friends of Holliman, participated in the search. Holliman's parents also believed that their daughter did not run away from home. Crime Stoppers, a community program aimed to provide crime-solving assistance, offered a reward of $1,000 for information to ascertain the whereabouts of Holliman.
On April 14, 1985, a month after the disappearance of Holliman, in the east of Lexington, a farmer discovered the body of Holliman in a shallow grave while plowing a nearby field. An autopsy was later conducted on the victim, and the medical examiner certified that the cause of death was a result of three stab wounds on the victim's chest. When the body was discovered, Holliman's underwear and sweat pants were being pulled down partially, and her bra was partially torn, although there was no clear evidence of sexual molestation.State v. Sanderson , North Carolina Supreme Court (United States).
Investigations and initial arrest After the discovery of Suzi Holliman's body, the police investigations reclassified the case as murder and therefore put up a public appeal seeking information and potential witnesses to assist the authorities to solve the case.
On May 15, 1985, 26-year-old Elwood "Woody" Jones was arrested as a suspect behind the murder. Jones was an employee of a business managed by the victim's family.
On May 16, 1985, Jones was charged with first-degree murder. He reportedly confessed that he went to the house of Holliman on the date of the crime, and therefore implicated himself in this case. Additionally, Jones was taken to the crime scene where the body was found, and he described the killing and admitted to two inmates and an SBI informer that he killed Holliman.
In October 1985, Jones was scheduled to stand trial for the murder of Holliman on March 3, 1986.
Confession and charges of Ricky Sanderson Before Woody Jones was set to stand trial for the murder of Suzi Holliman, a prisoner named Ricky Lee Sanderson met up with Davidson County police officers on January 21, 1986, after he requested to talk to them, and he confessed that he was the real murderer of the Suzi Holliman case, and investigations eventually verified that Sanderson was indeed the perpetrator instead of Jones. On February 21, 1986, Jones was released after the prosecution dismissed the murder charge against him.
At the time of his confession, Sanderson was serving a life sentence plus 110 years since November 6, 1985, for a May 1985 rape case. In this case, Sanderson kidnapped, assaulted and raped a woman in High Rock Lake on May 16, 1985. He was additionally charged in the April 4, 1986, rape of a woman from South Carolina inside a motel.
In his confession, Sanderson admitted that on the morning of 14 March 1985, he broke into Holliman's house to steal money to buy drugs, and encountered Suzi Holliman. He raped Holliman before he abducted her from her home and confined her in his car, before he escaped in his car and drove for two hours. After reaching a rough dirt road, Sanderson locked the victim in the car trunk while he used a shovel to dig a grave for Holliman. Sanderson recounted that after digging the grave, he choked Holliman and also stabbed her in the chest with a knife, therefore killing her. He buried the corpse and drove back home, and also threw the knife off a bridge.
On March 3, 1986, a Davidson County grand jury formally indicted Sanderson for one count of murder.
Trials of Sanderson Background
Ricky Lee Sanderson was born on February 25, 1959, and raised in severe poverty amidst extreme family dysfunction. He and his siblings moved frequently between their mother in Texas, their father in North Carolina, and foster care, often forced to scavenge for food after their parents separated. The siblings endured horrific abuse: their father physically beat Sanderson and his brother, and repeatedly raped their sister over a six-year period until his arrest and 15-year prison sentence for incest. Amid this tumultuous and traumatic upbringing, Sanderson turned to drug use during his adolescence.
Plea of guilt and sentencing On April 7, 1986, Sanderson pleaded guilty to the murder of Suzi Holliman. A sentencing trial was set a month later on May 26, 1986, and the prosecution planned to seek the death penalty. The trial was also moved out of the county to Statesville due to extensive pretrial publicity, which may potentially hinder Sanderson from receiving a fair sentencing outcome.
On May 26, 1986, Sanderson's sentencing trial was held as scheduled, and an Iredell County jury was selected to hear the case. The defence planned to argue before the jury that when the former suspect, Woody Jones, falsely admitted to the murder, Sanderson willingly confessed to the crime after undergoing a religious conversion, which should be in his favour. The prosecution, however, planned to go ahead with seeking the death penalty on account of the aggravating factors of the case. The jury was set to hear testimonies on May 28, 1986.
On May 30, 1986, Sanderson was sentenced to death upon the jury's unanimous recommendation for capital punishment. Judge Walter Allen set an execution date of August 1, 1986, but the date would be stayed pending a mandatory appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Sanderson was additionally sentenced to the maximum of 40 years for the kidnapping charge.
Rape trial and sentence Apart from his trial for Suzi Holliman's murder, Sanderson also faced a second trial for the unrelated April 1985 rape of the South Carolina woman. He pleaded not guilty to the rape and burglary charges on March 6, 1986.
On September 9, 1986, Sanderson was sentenced to a second life term after he changed his plea to guilty for the rape charge, in addition to ten years for the burglary charge.
First re-sentencing On August 30, 1990, the North Carolina Supreme Court revoked the death sentences of Sanderson and two other prisoners on the basis that they were sentenced to death under a state law that the U.S. Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional. Sanderson was therefore granted a re-sentencing trial, and District Attorney Butch Zimmerman expressed his intent to pursue the death penalty once again for Sanderson.
The re-sentencing trial of Sanderson took place on May 19, 1991, before a second jury. The hearing was delayed at one point due to the defence and prosecution debating whether to let the jury hear about Sanderson's confession to a rape case.
On June 3, 1991, the jury voted to sentence Sanderson to death a second time, and Greensboro Superior Court Judge Joseph John meted out the death sentence in accordance with the jury verdict. An execution date of August 5, 1991, was set for Sanderson, but it would be stayed pending an automatic appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Before the North Carolina Supreme Court could review his case, on April 19, 1992, Sanderson filed a handwritten petition and sought to forgo his direct appeal against the death sentence, and he stated he wished to be executed rather than continuing to live his life behind bars. Days later, the North Carolina Supreme Court denied Sanderson's request and ordered that his appeal should proceed for hearing in the following year.
Second re-sentencing On April 8, 1994, the North Carolina Supreme Court once again overturned Sanderson's death sentence and ordered another re-sentencing trial, on the basis that during the first re-sentencing trial, District Attorney Butch Zimmerman showed improper conduct by attempting to distort the testimony of a psychiatric expert who testified for the defence.State v. Sanderson , North Carolina Supreme Court (United States).
On October 20, 1995, Sanderson's second re-sentencing trial took place at a Iredell County trial court, and a third jury selection phase was underway to choose eligible jurors to decide on his sentence.
On November 4, 1995, the jury once again imposed the death penalty for Sanderson, and Judge Thomas W. Ross formally reinstated the death sentence, and he also scheduled an execution date of January 6, 1996, for Sanderson.
On July 24, 1997, the North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed Sanderson's direct appeal against his third death sentence.
Execution In August 1997, Ricky Sanderson filed a motion to the Davidson County Superior Court, seeking to waive his remaining rights to appeal against the death sentence, and he once again affirmed he wished to be executed rather than spend the rest of his life in prison.
In early January 1998, Sanderson's death warrant was authorized, and he was scheduled to be executed on January 30, 1998.
Before his execution date, Sanderson was given the option to choose between two methods of execution: the gas chamber or lethal injection. He chose to be executed in the gas chamber, making him the second person from North Carolina to select this method since the nationwide reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, following David Lawson.
Nearing the date of Sanderson's scheduled execution, Governor Jim Hunt conducted a review of Sanderson's case to decide whether or not to grant Sanderson clemency and commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.
On January 28, 1998, two days before Sanderson's execution date, Governor Hunt denied Sanderson clemency and upheld his death sentence.
On January 30, 1998, 38-year-old Ricky Lee Sanderson was put to death in the gas chamber at Central Prison. He was pronounced dead at 2:19am, about 18 minutes after the cyanide pellets were dropped into the chamber. Prior to his execution, Sanderson declined to request for a last meal, stating his move was to protest abortion and in his own words, the aborted babies did not have a chance for a last meal and he made this decision in their memory. However, he accepted a honey bun before he was taken to the gas chamber. Before inhaling the gas, Sanderson said his last words, "I'm dying for a deed I did and I deserve death for it and I'm glad Christ forgave me."
Aftermath Ricky Sanderson was the second and last person to be executed in North Carolina's gas chamber. In June 1998, three months after the execution of Sanderson, a bill was proposed to abolish the gas chamber and allow the state to only execute criminals with lethal injection, and this was passed and approved by the General Assembly.