Community members held a public bake sale fundraiser on Sunday to help the family of a Texas woman slain earlier this month. Alicia Benefield, 19, of DeBerry was killed allegedly by her boyfriend, Rodris Webster. Sharon Jernigan of Panola was the key organizer of the fundraiser.
On Friday, Mrs. Jernigan told Wikinews, "This murder has devastated the entire community." The fundraiser was held at a small grocery store in the neighboring town of Bethany, which borders the Louisiana–Texas state line. Sunday evening, Jernigan reported, "The bake sale was a big success."
Webster, 25, was arrested early last week and charged with one count of murder and one count of felon in possession of a firearm. Benefield's body was found in Marshall, Texas. Upon hearing of the discovery, a family member of the victim posted to his Facebook page, "Struggling to know how someone could do such a horrific thing." Webster is presently being held on US$1 million bond in the Harrison County jail. Earlier, he was questioned by police on March 16, just two days after Benefield's car was found at a church near her home, but was released after five hours of questioning.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Community members host fundraiser to help family of slain Texas woman