I first read about the Molly Wrazen murder about a year ago. And tonight, as I re-read back through my notes, and the linked pages about her death, I was just as shocked as I was the first time I read it. This case, to me, seems to just scream cover up and hidden agendas. There are far too many unanswered questions.
I am quoting directly from the articles I mention, and will also link to each one. I hope this blog serves as a depository of information on this incredible case. May we all pray that justice is served as it should be.
The first site I reference to is Molly Wrazen.com:
Word for word, here is what is contained on the very first page of that website: (I am emphasizing in bold the parts of this that I want to highlight)
The young woman in the photo is Molly Wrazen. She was a 1998 graduate from the University of Pittsburg School of Pharmacy and member of Chi Omega sorority. Her male associate is a fellow named Justin Hembree. Molly worked as a retail pharmacist. Her last place of employment was the K-mart pharmacy in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It is unknown exactly what sort of work Justin was doing when he met Molly, but he was working as an undercover narcotics police officer for the town of Mount Pleasant at the time of Molly’s death. How he made the meteoric rise from uniformed patrol officer to under cover narcotics in just nine months is also unknown.
Justin was required to attend the police academy in Columbia SC as are all officers given police powers by the state of SC. He checked up on Molly often while he was out of town for academy training, not just to confirm that she was safe, but to also determine exactly who she was seeing and where she was going.
Justin came into the K-mart pharmacy often after graduation. He seldom spoke to anyone but Molly; and it unnerved the pharmacy employees that Justin, conspicuous in his police blues, would simply stand and stare at Molly. He disliked it when she would go out with her friends and he threatened anyone he perceived as a potential male suitor. Apparently he did a good job challenging other suitors, because once threatened, they never came back.
We were never quite certain about how or why their engagement ever took place. It was told that Justin took Molly into a back room during a family event to present and pressure her into taking the ring. Molly cared for Justin, but such formality in the relationship was not what she wanted. Her tactful insistence on waiting met with pleading and begging and more pressure to accept the ring. Molly was extremely generous and kind, and even in the end when she knew she must get away from him, she didn’t want to hurt Justin. She was not at all prepared to spend the rest of her life with Justin and told him so, but she did finally acquiesce and take the ring.
After “the engagement” it didn’t take long for Justin’s controlling and possessive nature to fully manifest itself and for Molly to recognize it as a threat. She did seem to “try on” the engagement for a while and even introduced Justin as her fiancé. But this was short lived. Molly tried to give the ring back on more then one occasion. She would take it off at work, leave it by the computer, and then scramble to retrieve it and put it on when Justin came into the store. I believe it was at the Coroner’s Inquest that someone told a story of going to pick up Molly at the airport, only to find her frantically digging for the ring in the bottom of her purse when she discovered that Justin, too, was coming to meet her. At some point she did manage to return the ring back to Justin, only to come home to a locked house and find it sitting on the dresser in her bedroom.
Justin tracked Molly’s movements. As a Mount Pleasant police officer driving a marked police car, he had no reservations about putting the emergency blue lights on to pull her over. Much to Molly’s displeasure, he did this on more than one occasion. Justin tracked her to Myrtle Beach one weekend when she tried get away with some friends that included a male acquaintance from her home state of Pennsylvania. Molly had worked at the K-mart Pharmacy in Myrtle Beach and Justin knew which hotels she had stayed in. He contacted the hotels and (we believe he) used his police credentials to compel the managers to reveal whether or not Molly was a guest. When he found the right hotel he called the room and screamed at Molly over the phone. When she hung up on him he sent a note up to the room just to let them all know that he was close at hand.
Justin apparently kept Molly’s house under surveillance. When he discovered that the male friend was visiting Molly at home one weekend, he called Molly, screamed at her, told her that he had run this guy’s tags through the police computer, and described the exact clothes the fellow was wearing at the time.
Molly’s parents had retired, sold their home in Pennsylvania, and were in hopes of building a home in Mount Pleasant. Molly invited them stay with her while they decided where to build; and it was not long before they developed a deep concern about Justin. They were profoundly worried about his jealous and possessive nature. They also found it more than just a little disconcerting that Justin, when invited into Molly’s house, would go directly to the phone and check the caller ID to see who had been calling Molly. Justin was not bashful about calling the numbers to see who would answer on the other end. He would also change the code in her cell phone so Molly could not retrieve her messages, but he could.
Although never rude to Justin, Molly’s parents were concerned about his angry reaction to any friends that Molly would socialize with, male or female. They were pleased when Molly reached the point where she no longer considered herself engaged, but knew she would have difficulty in dissolving the relationship. Justin was determined not to let her go, and she had better be wearing that ring if she was around any of his police friends or his family.
Justin had wanted to take Molly to an upcoming family reunion (his family) for the weekend. She was his trophy. She was witty, pretty, extremely kind and generous, radiated an innocent charm, and had a smile that would truly warm your heart; not to mention a great career as a pharmacist. She was indeed a trophy and Justin treated her as such.
Molly refused to go with Justin to the family gathering and elected instead to go see her sister in Columbia, SC. Justin either learned where she was going or tracked Molly to Columbia and confronted her at her sister’s apartment. Justin, of course, just wanted to patch things up, and when she finally acquiesced and got in the car after Justin’s incessant pleading “please get in the car and let’s talk”, the next stop was his family’s home in Anderson, SC. Molly’s car, keys, cloths, and cell phone were still at her sister’s apartment in Columbia.
Justin told Molly she could file a complaint against him with the police regarding his behavior toward her, but for her to remember that he was the police, that they stick together, and that no one would lift a finger to help her. Molly did confide her concerns about Justin to the State Department of Health and Environmental Control officer who had inspection and enforcement jurisdiction over her pharmacy. This DHEC officer advised a Mount Pleasant Police Sergeant that the Mount Pleasant Police Department had a problem in Justin Hembree and that the department needed to do something about it. This DHEC officer described several of the instances Molly related to him about entry of her home, of Justin stalking her and of his threats to others. Although this sergeant provided a business card to the DHEC officer to give to Molly, the Mount Pleasant Police now deny that this conversation ever took place.
Molly could, at times, be a little disorganized. She thought she had been keeping up with her continuing education requirements, but when a random audit showed she was a few hours short she ended up having her pharmaceutical license suspended and ultimately lost her job. In retrospect, many of her friends and colleagues wondered if she had not done this on purpose.
A woman from the Board of Pharmacy testified at the Coroner’s inquest that Molly was contrite and apologetic about getting behind and having her license suspended. Molly immediately enrolled in and completed continuing education courses (that surpassed the minimum requirements) so she could have her license reinstated. It also appears that by this point in time Molly’s plans to move to Jacksonville, Florida were already in the works. Her license would in fact have been restored the next time the full board met. This woman was neither a close friend nor coworker, but Molly had spent enough time with her to confide that she was uncomfortable living in Mount Pleasant because Justin seemed to follow her everywhere. Molly had in fact accepted a job out of state because she was tired “of living under a microscope.”
The pharmacy manager who hired Molly testified that Molly had truthfully divulged that she was working to have her license reinstated after falling short on continuing education hours. All of this was noted on the application to transfer her license from South Carolina to Florida. This was of small concern to him since Molly would have to pass the Pharmaceutical Law exam in Florida before she could become registered there. He had made arrangements to put Molly in a store where she would be working as a technician, under the direction of a licensed pharmacist until she could get registered. He definitely wanted that smile and bubbly personality working in his store as soon as possible. Many of the Mount Pleasant K-mart Pharmacy customers related that they looked forward to having their prescription refilled just to have the pleasure of visiting with Molly.
Molly had a new job, had a contract on her home, found an apartment, and was making plans to move to Florida with her parents the first week in November in 2003. The planned move never took place. Molly was shot and killed on Monday November 3, 2003, the day before election Tuesday; three days after she delivered a “Dear John” letter to Justin, and three days before the moving van was to come for her furniture.
Those of us who knew Molly, and knew of Justin’s outrageous obsession with her, knew instantly what had happened when we learned that Molly had been shot. It seemed to us that it just wouldn’t take SLED (the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division) very long to figure this one out. There was little in the news about Molly following her murder in Mount Pleasant. At first we thought this was good; that SLED was keeping things quiet and that the trial could be held in Charleston County since there wasn’t any “prejudicial” information getting out through the media. We just had to be patient.
What SLED had to work with was this:
1.Molly was found shot to death in Justin Hembree’s apartment by officer Hembree, ostensibly when he returned from working narcotics that day. (He started to slip in the 911 audio and name (or couldn’t remember the story of) who he was supposedly working with, but he quickly recovered and said “working narcotics”.)
2.Molly had been shot with a small 22 caliber, seven shot Rossie revolver that belonged to officer Hembree.
3.Two bullets in the gun had been struck. The first one was a dud. The second round was struck, fired and entered her body above the left breast and traveled down through her heart. Molly was right handed.
4.The cylinder had advanced to a third shell. The gun was not cocked but was in the down position. There was a live round under the hammer. (If you understand pistol mechanics you’re on your feet at this point.)
5.There were no latent finger prints on the gun and it was first reported that there was no gunshot residue on Molly’s hands. (The gun shot residue story changed just prior to the Corner’s inquest, after Hembree’s attorney was granted full access to SLED’s records. Hembree was not tested until late that evening for residue. None was found.)
6.Molly was retrieving her personal belongings from Justin’s apartment. Some of her dresses were laid across the end of the bed in the room where she was killed.
7.Molly was found lying on the floor, on her back, next to a bed that looked like it had just hosted a street fight. There were bruises on both ankles.
Justine Hembree is a hunter. A look in his “trophy room” revealed an intimacy with the brutality of death that far surpassed merely pulling the trigger. He kept the small revolver in a zippered case in this room. Molly hated that room and would not go in it because the walls were literally filled with the heads of animals he had killed.
Molly disliked guns as much as she disliked going in that room. Justin compelled her to accompany him to the firing range one day so he could teach her to shoot. She couldn’t stand the violence or the noise. Justin refused to take her home until he had finished his practice; so she just sat in the car and cried until he was done.
To this day, Justin has never spoken to Molly’s parents following her death. He has never expressed his regret to them, nor did he ever return any of Molly’s possessions that were in his apartment, including the keys to her house. The canvas bag in which Molly carried bills, phone records, check book and other documents has never been found. The Mount Pleasant Police allowed Justin to keep the keys to Molly’s car so he could pillage through it at will.
But all we had to do was be patient. We were certain that SLED would figure it out.
You can imagine our shock, surprise, and pure outrage when a May 2004 article in the Post and Courier revealed that SLED’s “profiler” had decided that Molly’s death was “most consistent with suicide.” Fortunately for us and for Molly’s family, the Charleston County Coroner, who was at the crime scene that night, was not at all convinced that Molly had died by her own hand. A rare Coroner’s Inquest was convened on Molly’s behalf in early August 2004. It took the jury longer to fill out the paper work than it did for them to conclude that Molly’s death was a homicide.
Friends of Molly who attended the inquest found it interesting and moderately satisfying that the profiler was made to look a perfect fool during examination on the witness stand. Lead agent Matt Ford came across as a pure incompetent and was reported to have lost his job after the inquest closed in August 2004. Agent Ford was clearly inept, but this had to have been known by the SLED hierarchy before he was assigned to the case. We still wonder if someone wanted to assign Mr. Ineptitude to the case so it could be spun as a suicide and quietly put away.
Even though subpoenaed to appear at the Coroner’s Inquest, Justin Hembree invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to testify. The police spun it as not wanting to compromise Hembree’s undercover status. Interestingly, his undercover coworkers were conspicuous at the hearing, but they disappeared after the first day.
The May newspaper article had some information on the case that was indeed news to friends and coworkers. Someone had tried to scramble the hard drive on Molly’s laptop computer. Hembree professed a certain knowledge and competency with computers and was at her home on the Friday (Halloween 2003, ostensibly to help pass out candy) before she was killed. The lawyer for Molly’s family had the computer examined, and it was found to contain evidence of narcotic pain killer purchases over the internet. These orders for schedule III narcotics were delivered to Hembree’s apartment complex. Federal Express records show that one delivery was made directly to Hembree’s apartment. It was signed for in Molly’s name, but the signature was not hers. Justin never signed for any of these, but are we to believe that the girlfriend (no! the loving fiancé according to Hembree) of Mount Pleasant’s rising star in undercover narcotics was moving massive quantities of drugs through his apartment without his knowledge?
Justin stalked Molly and knew her every move. Molly often commented on how Justin would show up every where she went. She couldn’t hide from him or go anywhere undetected. So how could she possibly conceal drug purchases that were being shipped to his apartment complex? On one of the documents recovered form Molly’s computer, the phone number listed as the primary contact turned out to be Hembree’s cell phone.
It is ironic that this movement of drugs and Molly’s murder took place within a few blocks of the police department. The alibi provided by his narcotics buddies on the day of the murder also puts him within a few blocks of the apartment during the time of her death.
This news of the internet drug purchases triggered an audit at the pharmacy where she last worked. Large amounts of narcotic painkillers were found missing. Hembree’s attorney, in a retaliatory smear campaign after the inquest, proudly announced that $80,000 to $90,000 worth of drugs were missing (and or purchased, I forget whether his total included internet purchases) from the Pharmacy where Molly last worked; the implication being that they had passed through Molly’s hands. (So why didn’t his client, the undercover narcotics officer catch on to this?)
We know of no instance where drugs went missing from any pharmacy where Molly worked until she started dating Justin. And, oh yes, how was it again that this fellow made the unheard of jump from uniformed patrol officer to undercover narcotics officer in just nine months? Did he arrive with some currency that made him a player? Justin used to toss an endless supply of small stuffed animals over the counter to Molly, just the right size to conceal a bottle of pills. She gave most of them away to the children of co-workers and friends, but not all were accounted for. Justin would also walk Molly from the Pharmacy to the checkout counter at night when the Pharmacy closed. A noble gesture, but then who would check a police officer escorting his girl friend out of the store at night.
None of these drugs were found in Molly’s body after careful screening during the autopsy. She was not a user. An examination of her personal accounts and bank records showed no deposits of movements of money that would indicate that she had income aside from her salary.
We expected the police, at least at first, to close ranks around their man. Hembree apparently caused no difficulties at work, and must have been productive as a new narcotics officer. But in light of the testimony from the inquest, of how he stalked Molly, and how he used his police authority to extend his control over her; not to mention $90,000 worth of drugs that passed under his nose, how can this guy possibly keep his job? And, more importantly, how can the State of South Carolina give authority and accreditation to a police officer who refused to testify in the shooting death of his girlfriend in his apartment?
Some peculiar forces are at work.
Both the Mayor of Mount Pleasant (Harry Hallman) and the Chief of Police were contacted on Molly’s behalf after the story broke in May 2004. Neither of them seemed too concerned with the actions of officer Hembree, and both were quick to point out that his attorney would most likely sue the town of Mount Pleasant if Hembree were dismissed from the force. We found this laughable since it was rumored that the Mount Pleasant Police immediately secured the services of this attorney on behalf of officer Hembree; but we do not know this for certain. What did seem certain was that both Mayor and Chief of Police jumped to this assertion that the town would be sued way too early in their conversations with those who spoke on Molly’s behalf. It all seemed a very prearranged line for any inquires that would come form the community.
It wasn’t until after the Coroner’s inquest that Hembree was put on administrative leave. The local news media fell all over themselves to get an interview with Hembree’s attorney, who was very unkind in his assessment of Molly’s character. It was a brutal thing for Molly’s mother to endure.
An assistant attorney in the solicitor’s office assured those who inquired from the community that they were carefully looking into Molly’s death. Once again we were simply stunned when we learned that the Charleston County Solicitor ordered SLED to turn over all of their files on the Molly Wrazen case to Hembree’s attorney, and then recused himself, suddenly recognizing that he had a conflict of interest in pursuing this case.
So why would the Charleston County Solicitor compel SLED, the top law enforcement agency in the state, to turn over files on a open case, to an attorney for a person who had not been charged or even listed a person of interest? Is this the good-ol’ boy network at work?
We have had access to SLED hierarchy in Columbia and we want to believe that SLED will properly sort this out. They do not determine guilt or innocence. All they can do is assemble the facts and present what they have to the State Attorney General for a decision on arrest and possible prosecution. We do not know what political forces may affect the decision of the State Attorney General. SLED turned over their new findings to the State Attorney General on July 29. It is said to be the biggest report they have ever produced. We have confidence in the integrity of SLED and the AG’s office, but this case has suffered a series of unusual events that breed questions that remain unanswered.
Molly was from the town of Laflin, Pennsylvania. She was adored by everyone she met. It is a sad thing to say, but it is our earnest belief that if Molly Wrazen were a daughter of the South, then Justin Hembree would be in jail right now. She has been treated by the Mount Pleasant police as a transient and a throw-away.
Molly Wrazen was in fact as kind and generous as she was lovely.
Molly’s murder is the story of unexplained obscurity of the obvious. A young woman, who was moving to get away from her boyfriend by moving to another state, was found shot to death three days before the moving van was to arrive, ostensibly discovered by the boyfriend, in his apartment, shot with his gun.
Many of you who have been directed to this website have been asked to perform a specific task on Molly’s behalf. Please take the time to get involved. It could make a world of difference.
In the Lord’s time this will all get worked out.
Blessings to you all for taking the time to get involved.
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This next article, is written by Tony Bartelme and Glenn Smith(reach him at tbartelme@postandcourier.com or 937-5554. Reach Glenn Smith at gsmith@postandcourier.com or 937-5556.
http://www.palmettocops.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5645&PID=17674
 Topic: Inside the Wrazen case filesPosted: September 24 2006 at 5:38pm |
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By TONY BARTELME AND GLENN SMITH
On Nov. 3, 2004, Justin Hembree sat down with two investigators in a dingy room at the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. The date was significant. Exactly one year before, Hembree had found his fiancee, Molly Wrazen, dead on the floor of his bedroom with a single gunshot to the chest. Now, on this grim anniversary, Hembree would talk for six hours about what happened that day, the months leading up to it and the aftermath that would change so many lives. “No matter what you put in your report and what I find out down the road,” Hembree said midway through the interview, “this is what I’ll always believe: I believe Molly loved me unconditionally and wanted to marry me. I believe Molly was happy with a simple police officer from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.” A transcript of Hembree’s interview is among the 3,000 pages of records and reports that state and local detectives gathered in their effort to solve a mystery: Did Wrazen commit suicide, or did someone kill her? South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster opened the case file to the public two weeks ago, saying investigators weren’t able to answer this question. As far as he and the State Law Enforcement Division were concerned, the case was closed. A review of the case files shows how investigators traveled to Virginia to chase leads, tested DNA from Hembree’s apartment, interviewed friends and colleagues of Wrazen and Hembree, and subpoenaed financial and telephone records. This investigation was more thorough than the one immediately after Wrazen’s death. In that one, SLED agents failed to interview witnesses and failed to properly gather forensic evidence. It was botched so badly that SLED Chief Robert Stewart fired the agent assigned to the case and reprimanded two supervisors. But the second investigation, like the first, still failed to answer the most puzzling questions in the case: Why would Wrazen, a popular 28-year-old pharmacist, kill herself while making extensive plans to move and find a new job? Why was she buying thousands of prescription painkilling pills off the Internet in the months before her death? Fading memories The second investigation did turn up intriguing leads. At one point, agents learned that an 11-year-old boy coming back from school supposedly heard a woman screaming “help” from the apartment building where Wrazen died. But when agents finally caught up with the boy’s mother, she said the child had moved out of state and couldn’t remember details of that day. Investigators also learned that in addition to buying more than 2,100 pills from the Internet, Wrazen apparently stole about 10,000 Lortab, Vicodin and other similar painkiller pills from the Kmart in Mount Pleasant where she worked. But investigators weren’t able to figure out where all these pills went. Tests after Wrazen’s death showed no signs of painkillers in her system. Her bank accounts showed no unusual deposits. So the question remains: If she wasn’t using the painkillers and wasn’t profiting from them, why was she buying them? During the second investigation, agents also scrutinized Hembree’s movements the day of Wrazen’s death. Hembree, a narcotics officer with the Mount Pleasant Police Department, said he left for work at about 10:30 a.m. and didn’t return until about 6 p.m. and found Wrazen. His supervisors vouched for his whereabouts, as did his partner, Michael Lynch. Lynch told investigators that Hembree acted no differently that day than any other. If Hembree had been involved in a homicide, “I think I would have noticed that in one second,” he told investigators. Lynch took a polygraph test, and an examiner found no signs of deception. Then, Lisa Mills, a manager at Hembree’s apartment complex, told investigators that Hembree paid his rent in person on the afternoon of Wrazen’s death, a statement that contradicted comments from Hembree and his partner. Mills also remembered that Hembree was less talkative than usual and had his head down. She said that a few days later, after Wrazen’s death, Hembree came in again and pointedly told her that he was on a stakeout that day. “It bothered me because I knew he had been on property that day because he handed me his check, and I had talked to him, and he had given me a totally different story.” But, several months later, Mills told investigators that it was possible that Hembree paid his rent the morning of Wrazen’s death, not in the afternoon. Multiple lives Investigators also interviewed Wrazen’s and Hembree’s friends, colleagues and family members, many for the first time. Transcripts of those interviews paint a portrait of a young woman living multiple lives, torn between marrying Hembree and her desire to please her parents. Many described Wrazen as a bubbly young woman who smiled often and seemed hopeful about her future. They described her as “a people-pleaser” who worked overtime to straighten out insurance problems and deliver medications to people who couldn’t make it to the store. They also said this people-pleasing sometimes went too far, especially when it came to ending relationships. “She never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings,” one friend told investigators, “and the end result would be that she spread herself too thin.” Several friends and colleagues told investigators they were concerned about Hembree’s behavior toward Wrazen, and that he used his position as a police officer to control her. One ex-boyfriend said that when he visited Wrazen, she let him listen in on a phone call from Hembree. During the call, Hembree said he had run the ex-boyfriend’s tag through police computers, knew which room in Wrazen’s home he was spending the night and what clothing he had worn the night before. Some co-workers and friends also said that Wrazen told stories about how Hembree had used his police cruiser to pull her over, and that he went into her home late at night unannounced. But many of Hembree’s friends and family painted a much different picture of the couple. They said the two were happy together, and that Wrazen was excited about marrying Hembree. Hembree and Wrazen sometimes double-dated with another Mount Pleasant police officer and his wife. The officer told investigators that his wife chided him once, saying: “Why can’t you hold my hand like that?” At one point Wrazen told the officer’s wife that she loved Hembree, wanted to get married, but feared how her parents would react. She told investigators that she believed Hembree was “the good part” of Wrazen’s life. Examining the gun Investigators studied the case file from the original investigation. Forensic experts said no fingerprints were on the gun. They also had discovered that the gun’s cylinder rotated after the fatal shot. This could happen if someone tried to cock the gun, or possibly when the gun fell to the floor. They re-interviewed the Medical University of South Carolina pathologist who performed Wrazen’s autopsy and who said she didn’t find any bruises or marks that would suggest Wrazen struggled. She added that gunpowder was on the back and front of Wrazen’s hands, and that she thought the death was a suicide. Wedding called off Investigators traced Wrazen’s and Hembree’s steps before her death. During the summer of 2003, Wrazen lost her job at Kmart because she failed to get enough continuing education credits. One of Hembree’s friends said she seemed to have a lot on her mind. Two months before Wrazen’s death, she and Hembree went to Florida to get married. Investigators acquired a marriage license that the couple obtained on Sept. 5, 2003, and receipts for a wedding ceremony they had planned at a Key Largo beach resort. Wrazen and Hembree were to be married on the bay with a ship’s captain in dress whites presiding. No other guests had been invited. Just two hours before the ceremony, however, they called off the wedding, a receipt shows. After returning to South Carolina, Wrazen began making plans to go back to Florida. Without telling Hembree, she leased an apartment near Jacksonville and had several job interviews. ‘Molly wanted to stay’ Investigators finally sat down with Hembree on the first anniversary of Wrazen’s death. They set up a tape recorder to record their exchange. In the beginning, Hembree was flanked by his lawyer, Andy Savage. Savage left after a short period. On Savage’s advice, Hembree had declined to talk publicly about Wrazen’s death, citing the ongoing investigation. Hembree also refused to testify during a coroner’s inquest in July 2004. Now, investigators told him it was his chance to tell his side of the story. Hembree told investigators that he met Wrazen at a pool after he jumped in to help a young girl struggling in the deep end. Wrazen’s parents had moved in with their daughter. He said he never got along with Wrazen’s mother. “I wouldn’t hang out with her parents too much if I didn’t have to.” Hembree said when they went to Florida to get married, Wrazen called her brother at the last minute. “She said her brother told her that her mom was going to flip, and that the mom was gonna probably not talk to her anymore and all this stuff. Molly became very upset and said ‘I don’t know how I could live my life if my mom stopped talking to me ever.’ So that was obviously a worry, and it made a great day (into) a terrible day.” An investigator asked, “You’re an intelligent young man, obviously … did a realization ever come or set in – did a light switch ever go off and say, ‘This ain’t going to work, I mean, her mother is never going to accept me’?” Hembree responded, “Sure. … How do I answer that and tell you if you were in love with a girl and you felt that she was in love with you and she was telling you she was in love with you, what would you do? You’re gonna sit around and wait until she’s got that strength.” Investigators learned that during the trip to Florida, Wrazen stopped at a hospital to buy painkillers. Hembree said he had no idea this happened, or that she was buying pills over the Internet and that some packages were delivered to his apartment. “I would have flipped had I known.” Later in the interview, he said that, “I feel a little bit guilty that I didn’t notice … that’s what I do for a living. And I didn’t know. I have so many questions for you guys about that.” Investigators revealed that Wrazen was dating other men at the time she was seeing Hembree. Hembree seemed surprised. An agent said, “Let me ask you this, and this is a $100,000 question. Apparently it’s your understanding that Molly is comfortable and enjoying the relationship she had with you. Yet it’s also painful and obvious that she’s lying to you. … Can you offer me any justification or explanation (as) to why she was lying to you?” “I have no idea.” “Was she afraid of you?” “She had no reason to be.” The investigator pressed. “I’m just trying to put logic in this thing, and of course you can’t always do that. … Could it have been that her love for her mother was greater than her love for you?” Hembree answered, “I would think so. I love my mother more than a girl” The investigator continued, “I just can’t find logic to this whole thing.” “I can’t help you. … I know in my heart that Molly did not want to break up with me and go. Molly wanted to stay with me. There’s no doubt about it.” Investigators asked whether Hembree used police equipment to track Wrazen. Hembree said he hadn’t, then added that, “I don’t know what you guys call it at SLED, but we do the ‘I love you,’?” explaining that if he was behind her car, he would flash a police blue light quickly, and she would flash her brake lights three times in response. Hembree also denied running tags and using police equipment to check on potential boyfriends. As for breaking into her house, he said he had a key. “I was welcomed there, so would I open the door with a key if it were locked and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on,’ whatever? Yes.” He added that “there was so much complication by her mother” that it was “common that Molly would actually raise up her window and talk to me. I’d knock on her window and, she’d raise it up and talk to me. And that just would be so that I didn’t have to walk into her house and risk her mom waking up and having a big argument at 1 in the morning. But no, I never like, walked into her house without her knowing I was coming or anything.” At one point, Hembree asked investigators: If he was such a great stalker, why didn’t he know about all of Wrazen’s lies? Near the end, an investigator asked, “If I were to ask you the question who’s responsible for Molly Wrazen’s death, what would you say?” “Molly,” Hembree responded. “If you were asking who is responsible for the stress leading up to Molly’s death, I would have to say her mother and Molly, ’cause she didn’t have to lie. There was zero reason to lie.”
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Below, is another article written by the same two gentlemen:
State attorney general’s office continues probe into ex-fiancee’s death
Mount Pleasant – Narcotics officer Justin Hembree was on desk duty as state and federal detectives tried to unravel the mysterious death of his former fiancee, Molly Wrazen.
Tired of waiting for the state attorney general to decide what to do with the case, Mount Pleasant Police Chief Roddy Perry has ordered Hembree returned to full duty.
‘I think 23 months of administrative leave is ample time to investigate and reach a decision,’ Perry wrote in an e-mail to Mac Burdette, town administrator.
But members of the Wrazen family question the move, said Tim Kulp, the family’s attorney. ‘Especially considering this is the second anniversary of their daughter’s killing.’
Exactly two years ago, Hembree found Wrazen’s body in the bedroom of his apartment. She had been shot once in the chest with one of Hembree’s guns. Hembree was immediately placed on paid administrative leave.
Since then, the case has frustrated and infuriated family and friends of Wrazen who accused the State Law Enforcement Division of assuming her death was a suicide and failing to investigate other possibilities. Hembree’s family and lawyer, meanwhile, said the lingering questions cast a cloud over his career.
Last year, in a rare coroner’s inquest, a jury determined that Wrazen’s death was a homicide, not a suicide. The inquest shed light on some shortcomings in SLED’s investigation. As a result, one SLED investigator was fired, others were reprimanded, and a state and federal task force was created to look at the case.
This summer, the task force delivered a report to the attorney general. Prosecutors have declined to discuss the case, but in his e-mail to Burdette, Perry suggested that investigators had found no wrongdoing.
‘I was unofficially told by those close to the task force investigation that Hembree
had passed three polygraphs and that Molly Wrazen had gunshot residue on her hands and Hembree had none, that nothing new had been uncovered that would indicate involvement by Hembree,’ Perry wrote Burdette in the e-mail. Mount Pleasant police provided it to The Post and Courier.
Perry and Burdette couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, but Mount Pleasant police Maj. Harry Sewell said Hembree was back on duty Oct. 26.
Andy Savage, Hembree’s lawyer, said there is no reason to keep him sidelined at this point. ‘I know of nothing that has been uncovered, other than emotional statements saying that he was involved.’
Savage said he is disappointed that the attorney general’s review has taken so long. Hembree has fully cooperated at every stage of the investigation, he said.
Trey Walker, a spokesman for S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, said there is no projected time line to complete the investigation. He said it was a two-pronged probe into Wrazen’s death and the competence of SLED’s initial investigation.
‘This is not a routine criminal investigation,’ he said.
Walker said prosecutors had not briefed Perry on particulars of the ongoing investigation.
Wrazen was a popular 28-year-old pharmacist who worked at Kmart in Mount Pleasant. According to friends and family, she broke off a relationship with Hembree days before her death and was about to move to Florida where she had rented an apartment and found another pharmacy job.
Her death raised many questions. Among them: Why was the gun that killed her found cocked? Why were no fingerprints found on the gun? Why would she take her life when she was making so many plans to move?
Many of Wrazen’s family members and friends were convinced that she hadn’t taken her own life, and during the coroner’s inquest, they spoke about how Hembree tracked her movements, called her constantly, threw food at her during an argument and used his police cruiser to stop her.
It was discovered after her death that she was buying thousands of dollars in painkillers over the Internet, and that some pills were sent to Hembree’s Mount Pleasant apartment.
Investigators have yet to say publicly why she was buying those pills and where they were going. An autopsy showed she wasn’t taking any painkillers.
On Wednesday, Charleston County Coroner Susan Chewning said she had nothing to say about Hembree’s return to active duty. ‘I maintain that this case has never been about Justin Hembree. It’s always been about Molly,’ she said. ‘My whole point was that Molly deserved a good investigation.’
Kulp questioned whether Mount Pleasant police were acting too soon. ‘Hembree’s return to full duty would be confusing to our community,’ he said, adding that town officials have consistently said that they would allow state authorities to handle the matter to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
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Another important blog that deals with all cases the writer can find that are similar to this in nature; Behind the Blue Wall:
http://behindthebluewall.blogspot.com/2008/05/blogger-looks-for-lessons-in-molly.html
After reading the linked article here, make sure you check out the blog in general.
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Personally, I keep feeling that our legal system in many cases is a system gone totally wrong in a lot of branches. Just the simple fact that a police officer somehow can manage to twist things around the way it appears that this man did, sends cold chills up my spine.
Can we make it stop?
Justice Be Served 