Dubose had Wednesday hearing

Edward Russell Dubose was scheduled to go before the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles Wednesday seeking release from a life sentence he received for the 1988 kidnapping, rape, sodomy and murder of 16-year old Stephanie King.

As of press time Wednesday the Tri-City Ledger had not heard about the parole board's decision.

King was a student at T.R. Miller High School when she was abducted from Alco Baptist Church on Oct. 22, 1988.

In 1990 Dubose was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Dubose's conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered. Prior to the second trial, Dubose pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. He has been denied parole every time since then.

King was a member of Alco Baptist and served as the organist and worked as a part time custodian.

She was at Alco Baptist on the morning of Oct. 22, 1988, cleaning up the church when she disappeared.

Her body was found later that day inside her 1976 Ford Maverick on a dirt road off of Pea Ridge Road and Cunningham Road.

Autopsy reports showed she was raped, sodomized and died from strangulation from a draw string taken from her sweat pants.

Witnesses had put Dubose in the vicinity of the church that morning on the campus of Jefferson Davis Community College. DNA samples taken from Miss King's body were later matched to Dubose by Lifecodes of Valhalla, N.Y.

Dubose was arrested on Dec. 27, 1988.

Former Sheriff Grover Smith was serving as the Brewton police chief in 1988 when King was murdered and said he hasn't changed his mind about Dubose.

"He committed one of the most cruel and vicious crimes this county has ever seen," Smith said Wednesday. "I see no reason he wouldn't do it again."

Smith noted that Dubose never showed any regret and never apologized to the family.

"He's a cruel and heartless person who needs to stay in the penitentiary until he takes his last breath," Smith said.