Acey "Theo" Welch, Jr.
January 12, 1976
Gulfport, Mississippi

Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009
Widow still waits
Police reopen decades-old murder case

By ROBIN FITZGERALD - rfitzgerald@sunherald.com

GULFPORT, Mississippi - A 20-year-old woman sat in her husband's car 
one cold winter night in 1976 and waited for him to return to a Gulfport 
cab stand.

Her husband, Acey "Theo" Welch Jr., worked a second job to help make 
ends meet. The 24-year-old man repaired tires by day. He drove a taxi 
at night.

She was 7.5 months pregnant and had left their two toddlers with her 
sister for the short drive from their home on 40th Avenue.

Welch had called his wife, Lynn, from the Dog & Burger diner around 
9:30 the night of Jan. 12, 1976.

"He was ready for me to meet him at the cab stand off 30th Avenue to 
pick him up," Lynn said. "The windows were fogged up. I wrote 'Lynnie 
loves Theo' on the windows."

She waited in her husband's maroon 1968 Dodge Charger. She waited and 
waited but he didn't come. She would soon learn he had picked up a 
fare at the diner for a quick ride but was stabbed to death inside the 
taxi. The man who asked for the ride vanished.

Police suspect robbery was the motive.

"He must have put up one heck of a fight and scared the man away," 
said Lynn Welch Mason.

Mason, whose maiden name was Fryou, remarried after Welch died but is 
now divorced and lives in Saucier.

Nearly 34 years after Welch's murder, she's still waiting for his 
killer to be identified.

"I want to know who took the love of my life," Mason said. "I've never 
met a man like Theo. He was my relief, my fortitude, my strength. 
Losing him broke my spirit."

When Welch was killed, the couple's son, Theo III, was a year old and 
their daughter, Becky, was 3. Their daughter, Victoria, was born 
almost eight weeks after Welch died. Welch was not Becky's natural 
father but he adopted her and considered her his own, Mason said.

"He loved those kids and he loved to make us laugh," said Mason, 
now 53. "He was a hard worker and a good man. Girl, girl. He was one 
handsome man."

Theo III is now 35 and lives in Long Beach.

"I have no memories of my father," he said. "I wish I did."

Cold case re-opened

Detective Sgt. Adam Cooper reopened the cold case in 2004 after Welch's 
son contacted him.

"It's frustrating because this case could have been solved back then 
if the techniques we have today were available back then," Cooper 
said.

Police found blood from Welch and the suspect in the cab. At the 
time, blood could be tested for type but not for DNA.

"Most of the evidence has degraded over time," Cooper said. "Back then, 
they put blood in a paper bag and put it in a property room. The 
evidence was preserved right for the time. But today, we preserve 
blood in a refrigerator.

"People from the public have come forward through the years with 
information on persons of interest but there's not enough evidence 
to make an arrest. Somebody out there holds the key to this case."

Killer, knife disappeared

Documents in the case file show Welch was at the diner at 14th Street 
and 27th Avenue when a man approached him and asked for a ride to 
Rolling Meadows off 34th Avenue. Welch notified the cab company of 
his fare. The company was unable to reach him by radio 20 minutes later.

At 10:46 p.m., a homeowner in the 2300 block of 33rd Avenue reported 
a taxi had crashed through his fence. Officers responded to the 
traffic accident but learned it was a homicide.

Reports show the cab's radio microphone was still in Welch's hand as 
if he tried to call for help.

Welch had multiple stab wounds and cuts to his chest, arms, hands 
and legs. He also had defensive wounds, said Cooper. Welch died of a 
punctured heart. The knife has not been found.

Witnesses from the diner described the suspect as black, in his early 
20s, 5 feet 11 inches and 160 pounds.

The suspect had a small mustache and wore a green field jacket, green 
utility pants and black and white tennis shoes. He also wore an 
engineer's cap, which he left in the cab.

Leads ran cold

Larry Haley, now a county process server, was lead police investigator 
on the case.

"I've known Theo and Lynn since they were kids," Haley said. "I hated 
it so bad."

Haley recalled that Gulfport police had only two or three investigators 
at the time.

They were investigating several murder cases and the day Welch was 
killed, the wife of a Gulfport bank official was kidnapped. Edwina 
Marter, mother of two, was held for ransom but was shot while trying 
to escape.

"They caught the man that killed Mrs. Marter," said Mason, "but they 
didn't catch the man who killed my husband."

Haley said he remained on the Welch case but no leads panned out.

Witnesses described the suspect for a composite picture created by 
overlaid transparencies. Today, it's done by computer.

Investigators initially believed the suspect had arrived in town on 
a bus and was bound for the Seabee Base.

"We questioned many people," Haley said. "Nobody recognized the 
suspect. The leads just went cold. If there's one case I wish I could 
have solved, it's this one."

Police obtained "a John Doe warrant" for an unidentified suspect. 
Cooper said warrants aren't prepared that way any more.

A week after the killing, Yellow Cab Co. offered a $1,000 reward to 
no avail.

"If the man wants to call and confess to me, I would be happy with 
that," Cooper said.

Cooper kept Welch's thick case file on his desk before Hurricane 
Katrina but took the file with him before the hurricane struck.

Everything left at the station washed away.

"I'm just glad I took it with me," Cooper said.

Mason said she believes she will be reunited with Welch one day in heaven.

"I still want to know who killed him," she said.
 

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