On September 3, 1950 a young man by the name of Leroy Henson decided to skip school. Leroy was 15 years old. He had left his home in Shields Holler at 6:30 on a Monday morning. He was going to the bus station to shine shoes until it was time for school. He had been wanting to quit school and get a job. His mother had not heard from him for four days and she was beginning to get worried.

His mother’s name was Edgar Henson. On Thursday September the 7th, she went to the sheriff’s office and reported that he was missing. She stated that her son Leroy had done disappeared. She said her son had been missing for four days. The sheriff asked her why she was just now reporting him missing. She said she thought he had just run away from home since he hated school so much. The sheriff asked if he had a habit of running away from home but Edgar said no. The woman left and the sheriff’s office sprang into action. The sheriff obtained a list of all the boy’s relatives including his father who was off working in Detroit.

One of the sheriff’s deputies named Buren Grant drove out to Shield’s Holler and checked the route that Leroy would have taken that Monday morning. After having no luck he went to his school teacher and asked if she had seen or heard from him. She said the boy had failed to report to school on Monday or any other day of the week. The local news station had posted pictures all of town of Leroy. This caused leads to flood in to the sheriff’s office but after further investigation they all were found to be a false alarm.

The following Monday morning a woman who operated a small Murphy café phoned the sheriff and said she was sure that she had seen Leroy on the railroad track just beyond the depot. The sheriff and deputy Grant went to investigate. They walked the train tracks for hours searching but found no sign of the boy.

On Saturday the 16th, almost two weeks after the disappearance, the telephone rang in the sheriff’s office and the sheriff answered. A low harsh voice said “Hello, is this the sheriff?” The sheriff said yes and then asked who was speaking. The voice said never mind who just listen. The voice said that Tom Maple was cleaning his gun and it went off and killed Leroy Henson. He also said that Tom got Gus Jones, a guy who works at the filling station, to take the boy off and bury him. When the sheriff once again asked who was talking the caller hung up.
The sheriff traveled to the Maple Service Station and confronted Tom and Gus. Tom was tying up his boots and getting ready for a hunting trip. After some casual conversation the sheriff asked Tom where he was on the day that Leroy disappeared. Tom said he was right there at the service station. The sheriff also asked if Gus Jones was there with him and he said that he was. Tom thought the sheriff was trying to connect him with the murder. The sheriff told Tom about the report that he was cleaning his gun and shot Leroy. Tom denied this and said someone has given him false information.

Months went by and no more new information came in about the murder. On the morning of December 28th 1950 two farmers two farmers where out hunting and stumbled upon a skeleton. They immediately notified the sheriff and he was on the scene in minutes. The sheriff studied the body and said that it was indeed Leroy because he found the shirt that his mother said he was wearing the day he went missing. The sheriff also found a leather strap which was connected to a tree and was also tied around Leroy’s neck. After coming to the conclusion that the boy had been choked to death the sheriff took custody of the body.

He now had to find out who would do something like this to an innocent boy. After a few hours the police realized that the boy’s Uncle named Will Henson always carried a white sack and tied it together with a leather strap. They noticed he had not been carrying the sack since the disappearance of Leroy. The sheriff went to investigate. He knew that Will worked as a logger and went to find him. He finally located him cutting down trees in the woods near his house. He questioned him and said he had nothing to do with the death. After minutes of threats from the sheriff to get Will executed he finally gave in and said he was guilty of the murder.

The sheriff had no idea why Will would do this. After more questioning Will stated that Leroy had wandered into the woods and found Will’s liquor still. Leroy threatened to tell the police so Will said he had no choice but to kill him by choking him to death. The sheriff came to the conclusion that it was Will who had called him on the phone and blamed it on Tom Maple. The sheriff asked why he did that he said he hated the Maples and didn’t want to get caught.

On April 4th, 1951, Will Henson went on trial before the judge and pleaded guilty to the murder of Leroy Henson. He got a life sentence to the North Carolina State Prison.