This is Hemphill's first known arrest. Around noon, he snatches the purse of a 64-year-old woman next to an AutoZone on a busy commercial strip of Getwell Road in Memphis, a little more than a mile from his mother's house, where he's been living. He flees the scene through a drainage ditch. Witnesses see him rummage through the purse and then drop it. The cops catch up with him a couple of blocks later and arrest him. Hemphill admits to taking money out of the purse totaling $1.26. He'll later plead guilty to misdemeanor theft and receive nearly a year of probation.

Right off the same commercial strip of Getwell Road, just before 6 a.m., a man matching Hemphill's description, according to a security guard, approaches a 42-year-old woman outside a Kroger supermarket. While holding a black .38 revolver, he demands her purse. Then he hits her in the face with the gun, takes her purse and runs. A bystander and the Kroger security guard, Cliff Fowler, pursue the suspect to a nearby Texaco gas station. Along the way, they see him dump the purse in a trash can. When it's later recovered, only $8 is missing.

At the Texaco, the suspect approaches a car with its motor running, whose owner is crouched down next to it filling her tires with air. The suspect jumps in and drives away, leaving the woman with air hose in hand. As he speeds down Getwell Road, the suspect notices that the woman's 5-year-old son is sitting in the passenger seat. He stops the car in the middle of the street, pushes the boy into the road and drives off. Hemphill is never charged in connection with these incidents, but he's later linked to them by Fowler, the Kroger security guard.

Cops recover the stolen car the next morning. They attempt to lift fingerprints off of it, but aren't successful because the outside of the car is wet.

Two weeks later, again just before 6 a.m., a black man with a thin build, according to the police report, snatches the purse of a 31-year-old woman walking into the same Kroger supermarket off Getwell Road. The suspect doesn't say anything or show a weapon. He just grabs the purse, which has $110 in it, and runs off.

The following night at 11 p.m., Hemphill is caught by store manager Charles Lee stealing a pack of Kool cigarettes from the Kroger. Lee makes a citizen's arrest and snaps a Polaroid of Hemphill. He immediately calls in Cliff Fowler, the security guard who'd chased the perpetrator to the Texaco two weeks earlier. Fowler says Hemphill's the same person from the earlier incident, according to the police report. Lee calls the cops and tells them, according to the police report, that "there have been numerous purse snatches at [the Kroger at] 4075 American Way, and [he] feels this subject is possibly involved in some of these." Hemphill is arrested. He is arraigned the next day on a charge of misdemeanor theft.

While Hemphill's being held in jail, police ask two of the victims from the earlier incidents if they might be able to ID their perpetrators. Both say they didn't get a good look at his face and wouldn't know him if they saw him.

Hemphill is caught drinking a Budweiser he didn't pay for at Kelly's Stop & Go, a convenience store on Highway 51 in Winona where Curtis Flowers' father, Archie, worked for many years. Hemphill tries to run from police but is arrested. Four days later, he's convicted of public drunkenness and possession of an open container by the Winona municipal court judge.

Hemphill's mischief at Winona's foodmarts continues with an afternoon arrest at the downtown Piggly Wiggly supermarket. He's caught stealing two packs of Kool cigarettes, drunk, with a "double-edge Pakistan knife" tucked into the cuff of his pants. During the same incident, according to police records, he also punches a man in the head and "maliciously destroy[s]" a number of food items — boxes of oatmeal, jars of jelly and apple butter — worth a total of $63.03. Hemphill is taken to jail, and later pleads guilty in the Winona municipal court to shoplifting, possession of a concealed weapon, public drunkenness, malicious mischief and simple assault. He's ordered to pay $63.03 in restitution. He also incurs a $157.50 fee. That fee will cause him trouble for years to come.

Hemphill returns to the Kroger supermarket in Memphis that he was banned from after his April 1991 arrest there. This time he has a loaded .32-caliber pistol in his pocket. Officers who happen to be in the store arrest Hemphill and take him to jail. He's charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and criminal trespassing. Three months later, Hemphill doesn't show up for a court date stemming from these charges, and a warrant is issued for his arrest.

Hemphill steals a 40-ounce bottle of beer from Kelly's Stop & Go in Winona. Hemphill is arrested, booked into the Winona jail, and released the same day, according to The Winona Times. According to municipal court records, Hemphill appears in court five days later without an attorney — he says he can't afford one — and pleads guilty to shoplifting. He's ordered by Judge Donald Bond to either pay a fine or enter a work program. Hemphill's address is listed as "Branch Street."

Hemphill is arrested for punching his girlfriend Monkra Moore in the head. He's initially charged with simple assault. The next day, he's convicted of the lesser crime of disturbing the peace by Judge Donald Bond in Winona's municipal court.

Hemphill walks into the Kroger in Memphis where's he's been a repeat offender, loads three 12-packs of Budweiser into a cart and walks out right past the cashier. A Kroger security guard stops Hemphill outside and asks him for a receipt. Hemphill says his girlfriend has the receipt inside the store. He appears to be intoxicated and resists arrest. The guard uses physical force to overpower and handcuff him. According to the police report, Hemphill is "screaming and acting irrational." He is taken to the store office and searched. He has a box cutter in his pocket. In the office, Hemphill has to have his legs cuffed. According to the police report, he thrashes about violently and hits his head against the floor. He's given some sort of "agent" to calm him.

Hemphill refuses to give officers his name. He's booked into the Memphis jail as a John Doe, on charges of theft, assault, unlawful possession of a weapon and public intoxication. The following day, jail employees identify him and realize there's a warrant out for his arrest stemming from the May 1992 incident when he brought a gun to the same Kroger.

Two weeks later, Hemphill pleads guilty to theft and weapons possession charges, and is sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined more than $300. The same day, he also pleads guilty to a weapons charge from the May 1992 Kroger incident and receives a 60-day sentence.

Hemphill is creeping around a Shoney's restaurant in his Memphis neighborhood late at night. A Shoney's employee hits the hold-up alarm. When police arrive, Hemphill is gone. The Shoney's employee tells them that the suspect had been lying in the flower bed outside the restaurant, looking in. Officers track down Hemphill and drive him back to the Shoney's, where the employee IDs him as the lurker. The employee "advise[s that] last time they were robbed, a short thin man had laid down in the flower bed in the same spot," according to the police report. Hemphill is booked into jail for felony robbery, but is released the next day without being charged.

Hemphill steals half a case of Budweiser from a Jitney Junior convenience store in Winona, near where he's living on Branch Street. Days later, he pleads guilty to shoplifting and is sentenced to either pay a fine or complete a work program. Several days after that, he's brought in on a contempt of court charge connected to the case. He spends the night in jail.

In a confrontation with girlfriend Monkra Moore at her father's house in Winona, Hemphill hits Moore in the head with a two-by-four and a stick. Then he hits her neighbor, Jackie Olton, in the mouth with the two-by-four, knocking out two of her teeth. He's arrested and booked into the county jail. Two weeks later, Hemphill is convicted of two counts of simple assault before Judge Donald Bond in the Winona municipal court.

Hemphill goes back to Jitney Junior in Winona and steals a 24-ounce Budweiser and a half pack of Newport cigarettes. He's charged with shoplifting. The police note that it's his third offense, which makes him eligible for felony prosecution. Municipal Judge Donald Bond passes the case to a grand jury for possible indictment. It seems likely that the grand jury declines to indict, because there is no record of the case being pursued in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Hemphill goes for a drive through Winona on a Sunday afternoon in a 1976 Ford LTD. A Winona police officer sees him weaving and driving off the road near Walmart. Hemphill comes to a stop in the middle of the street and approaches the cop car behind him. Hemphill doesn't have a driver's license and he's intoxicated; he admits to having had some beer and marijuana. There's already a warrant out for his arrest, so the cop takes him to jail. Hemphill refuses to take a breathalyzer. He's charged with a DUI and driving without a license. Two days later, he's found guilty on both charges by Judge Donald Bond at the Winona municipal court and released from jail.

Hemphill allegedly steals a white and gold 1973 Chevrolet Impala in Winona. He's charged with grand larceny. An undated Winona municipal court record doesn't list a final disposition for the case.

Hemphill robs a Texaco gas station on Highway 82 in Winona. A Texaco employee pushes the hold-up alarm. Hemphill, who seems to have been recognized by the employee, leaves the scene in a pickup truck before officers arrive. According to the police report, "Suspect Willie Hemphill took (2) 18 pks of Budweiser Beer and brought back all but (2) 12 oz. cans which he did not pay for." He's charged with petit larceny.

Nearly a month after the Texaco beer theft, and only five days after the murders at Tardy Furniture, Hemphill is arrested by Winona police on a "city warrant." It's unclear what the warrant is for. According to Hemphill, he turns himself in to the jail after hearing from his mother in Memphis that there is a manhunt out for him. He's booked into the Montgomery County Jail at 4:15 a.m.

The same day, Hemphill signs a waiver of his Miranda rights when he's questioned by law enforcement officers in connection with the Tardy Furniture murders. According to Hemphill, investigators interrogate him for several hours, record his statements, take photos of him and examine his shoes — Fila Grant Hill high-tops — the same type of sneakers that had left bloody shoeprints at Tardy Furniture on the day of the murders.

The Mississippi Attorney General's office has claimed that Hemphill's July 21 arrest was in connection with the June 27 theft of the two 12-ounce beers from Texaco. However, that wouldn't explain the multi-state manhunt for him.

Hemphill is convicted of petit larceny in connection with the beers stolen from the Texaco a month earlier. However, he's not released from jail. He's held for another nine days.

Hemphill is released from the Winona jail after being held for a total of 11 days and being questioned about the Tardy Furniture murders.

Hemphill is at the hospital in Winona and causes a scene there after police order him out of the ER and into a waiting room. He's arrested on charges of public drunkenness, disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. He's taken to jail and released three days later, when Judge Donald Bond finds him guilty on all counts and orders him to a work program.

Hemphill steals an 18-pack of Budweiser from the Texaco Gas Mart in Winona. This is one shoplifting too many. At a preliminary hearing in Winona municipal court on Dec. 17, Judge Donald Bond will send this case up to the felony court.

Hemphill steals a 32-ounce Budweiser with a retail value of $1.49 from the Jitney Junior in Winona. His numerous shoplifting cases are adding up, and he's now facing jail time. There will also be a Dec. 17 preliminary hearing in this case. It too will be bound over for felony prosecution.

Back in Memphis, Hemphill is arrested at night for trespassing in an apartment complex near his mom's house. He's taken to jail. A few days later, he'll plead guilty to misdemeanor trespassing and be sentenced to 10 days in jail.

The next day, before he's even released from jail, he's arrested again on an outstanding warrant for contempt of court. The warrant was issued in April 1994 by a Shelby County judge, seemingly because Hemphill had defaulted on payments owed for his Kroger-related convictions from November 1993.

A grand jury in Montgomery County indicts Hemphill on two separate counts of felony shoplifting in connection with his two August 1996 beer thefts. Because Hemphill has at least two prior misdemeanor shoplifting convictions, he's now facing real jail time. Hemphill pleads guilty in both shoplifting cases, and Circuit Court Judge Clarence Morgan, who later presides over the first four Curtis Flowers trials, sentences Hemphill to five years in prison, with three-and-a-half of those years suspended, two years of probation after release, a $500 fine and $248 in court fees. "Mr. Hemphill, that was pretty expensive beer, wasn't it?" Morgan says.

A year after being convicted of two felonies, Hemphill is let out of the Montgomery County Jail on supervised release.

According to The Winona Times, Hemphill is arrested for probation violations, including possession of illegal drugs or alcohol, not reporting properly to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, and non-payment of fines and fees. Judge Clarence Morgan orders Hemphill to work at the Leflore County Restitution Center in Mississippi until he has paid off $1,101 in court and supervision fees, and completed drug and alcohol treatment. After that, he's to be released to serve out the rest of his probation.

Hemphill's probation is revoked by Judge Joey Loper because of seven total violations, including refusing to work, being fired from work, leaving the restitution center, and testing positive for alcohol and marijuana. He is ordered to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Hemphill is finally out of the jail-restitution center circuit and into the state prison system. On this date, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Hemphill goes through intake at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. His term to serve is listed as five years, his religion is listed as Baptist, his recreational interest is fishing, his highest educational attainment is a GED and he's worked in landscaping, carpentry and as a cook at Shoney's. He has a tattoo that says "M.D." on his left arm and "Sweet Berna" on his right arm, likely a reference to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Bernadette Nash.

During the next 13 months, Hemphill is cited for a number of rule violations, including not following orders from the guards and attempting to have sex with a female guard. Later during his sentence, he becomes a jail trusty, meaning he has special privileges.

Hemphill is released from the Marshall County Correctional Facility, having completed the two-year shoplifting sentence he had to serve in custody after his probation was revoked.

Memphis police officers respond to a nighttime call at the apartment Hemphill shares with his girlfriend Bernadette Nash. Nash tells officers that Hemphill beat and choked her. "Victim says this has happened several times. Victim had small cuts and a large knot on her head where she said suspect had hit her," says the police report. Hemphill is arrested and booked into jail on a domestic violence charge. Hemphill's occupation is listed as "french fry flipper" at McDonalds.

Memphis police again pay a nighttime visit to the apartment Hemphill shares with his girlfriend Bernadette Nash, after a witness overhears an altercation coming from their bedroom. When the witness gets the bedroom door open, Hemphill pushes his way past her and leaves the apartment. Nash is lying on the bedroom floor bleeding.

Nash tells officers that she and Hemphill had been talking about him moving out of the house. According to the police report, "she was telling him she wanted him to leave, when he became violent and started cutting and stabbing her with a knife or box cutter."

When In the Dark reporters talked to Nash at her home last year, she recalled the weapon being a screwdriver. "He stabbed me thirteen times with a flathead screwdriver. Broke my collar bone, punctured my lung," Nash said. "He said, 'I'm going to commit homicide-suicide.' That's what he said. If I see him today, I'm going to take off running in the other direction. Cause he tried to kill me and I'm scared that he may possibly want to finish the job."

Hemphill shows up in Shelby County court in Memphis for a 9 a.m. trial date in connection with his November 2000 attack on Bernadette Nash. Instead of going to trial, he pleads guilty at the last minute to misdemeanor assault. He's sentenced to 180 days, with credit given for seven days served and the remaining 173 days suspended, meaning he's free to leave that day. He's also given 11 months and 22 days probation.

Hemphill is arrested for stealing two cartons of Newport cigarettes from Walmart and sent to the county jail. Within days, municipal judge Donald Bond sends the case up to circuit court.

In October, Hemphill is indicted on one count of felony shoplifting by a grand jury in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Shoplifting is usually a misdemeanor, but since Hemphill is a repeat offender he's facing real prison time. But after he pleads guilty at a December hearing, Hemphill receives a sentence of five years, with all but three months and 22 days suspended. He's released on time-served within days.

He is supposed to serve out four years and 253 days of post-release supervision in Mississippi, but he fails to appear for any meetings with his Mississippi Department of Corrections case officer after January 2, 2002. On May 20, 2002, a warrant for Hemphill's arrest is issued for violating the terms of his release. But Hemphill's already left the state.

A warrant for Hemphill's arrest is issued in Tennessee, stemming from his February stabbing of Bernadette Nash. But within months, Hemphill leaves the state for good, relocating to Indiana.

According to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office in Memphis, the warrant is still active, making Hemphill a fugitive, and it's for aggravated assault, a serious felony that could send him to prison for years. According to the Memphis Police Department, the warrant was never added to the interstate system, called NCIC, meaning law enforcement officers outside Tennessee wouldn't have known about it. That explains why Hemphill has never been picked up on this warrant in Indiana, though he's been arrested there many times.

With warrants out for his arrest in both Mississippi and Tennessee, Hemphill makes his way north. He's not in Indiana long before he gets in trouble.

At 1:30 a.m. on this date, Hemphill assaults a woman in Marion, a city of 30,000 about halfway between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. According to the police report, Hemphill is waiting for the woman, an acquaintance, outside her apartment. When she threatens to call the police unless he leaves, he attacks her. Hemphill pulls her hair and punches her in the face. He then rips the phone cord from the wall and knocks over her television. He eventually takes her car keys and flees in her car.

Two hours later, Hemphill runs off the road in the woman's Toyota minivan and abandons it in a ditch alongside the highway. A sheriff's deputy in Huntington County spots him walking away from the scene with a duffel bag. Hemphill tells the deputy that he'd fallen asleep at the wheel and that he doesn't have a driver's license, but that he'd once had a permit. The deputy is unable to confirm this because the Bureau of Motor Vehicles' computer system is down. Hemphill is let go. When the system comes back up, a dispatcher informs the deputy that Hemphill has never had a learner's permit.

The following day, Marion police go to Hemphill's house to arrest him for the battery. He's taken to the Grant County Jail. As he's getting booked in, officers find a clear baggy with a "greenish brown plant" in his pants pocket. This results in an additional charge of possession of marijuana.

On May 3, Hemphill will also be charged in Huntington County with driving without a license.

Hemphill pleads guilty to two counts of battery, one count of criminal mischief and one count of marijuana possession in connection with his April attack on the woman in Marion and subsequent arrest. Hemphill is sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 108 suspended. He's released the next day on time served and put on probation for one year.

Hemphill is booked into Huntington County Jail on charges of driving without a license. Four days later, he appears in Huntington County Court and pleads guilty. He's sentenced to 60 days in the local jail, with 54 of those suspended. He's released the same day, on time served. He's ordered to serve a year on "informal probation" after his release.

In September, Hemphill is again arrested in connection with this case, apparently after failing to make court-ordered payments and missing a required court appearance. He bonds out of jail an hour after he's booked in.

Marion police officers are called to the home that Hemphill shares with his new girlfriend around 4 a.m. The woman needs medical attention, and her carpet is stained with blood. Hemphill is gone.

According to the police report, she tells officers that Hemphill was intoxicated and demanded that she give him money. When she refused, he began to push and choke her. He then punched her repeatedly in the head. She grabbed the phone to call for help, but Hemphill ripped it out of the wall and began to beat her with it (when police take it into evidence, it's smeared with blood). She managed to run outside in an attempt to get help from her neighbors. Hemphill followed her outside, pushed her down the porch steps, kicked her repeatedly, and then dragged her back into the home. The woman told officers that she "feared for her life." Hemphill told her not to move or yell and then fled the house.

The police report notes that Hemphill already has two outstanding warrants for his arrest. The officer requests a third that night. Hemphill isn't arrested for more than six months.

Hemphill is booked into the Grant County Jail in Marion, Indiana, just before 8 p.m. He's been brought in on the warrant issued after he attacked his girlfriend six months earlier.

In October, Hemphill pleads guilty in Marion City Court to battery, intimidation, interference with reporting a crime and violating the terms of his probation. He is sentenced to serve a year in jail.

Hemphill is released from the Grant County Jail after serving fewer than eight months of his year-long sentence.

An on-again, off-again girlfriend of Hemphill's files a paternity suit against him in Grant County Court. She claims they have an infant child together. Much of this case file has been sealed by the court. As of June 2019, Hemphill owes more than $20,000 in child support in connection with this suit.

Just before 4 a.m., Hemphill assaults the girlfriend who had recently filed a paternity suit against him. There are four children sleeping in their house in Marion, ages 12, 7, 6 and 5 months. The infant is Hemphill's son.

Officers arrive to find the house in disarray and smeared with blood, the back door ripped off its frame, and the woman bleeding profusely from a head wound and covered in lighter fluid.

She tells police, according to the incident report, that Hemphill had moved into the house about two months earlier. That night, they began arguing and she asked him to leave. Hemphill flew into a rage and beat her with a metal pipe as she crawled along the floor. She told her 12-year-old daughter to call police, but Hemphill ripped out the phone cord. The woman and her children then locked themselves in the bathroom. Hemphill tried to break the door down and said he was going to blow up the house. He eventually got the door open and poured lighter fluid on the woman, threatening to set her on fire. Her daughter jumped out of the bathroom window and ran to get help. While she was gone, Hemphill dragged her mother out of the bathroom and onto the back porch. The woman pretended to be unconscious and when she became too difficult to drag, Hemphill let go and fled.

Hemphill is arrested three days later, on June 8, and booked into Grant County Jail in the afternoon. The next day, charges are filed against him in Grant Superior Court. They're serious: criminal confinement, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, two counts of intimidation with a deadly weapon and interference with reporting a crime. Bond is set at $150,000. He will spend the next year in jail awaiting trial, before finally pleading guilty.

Having reached a plea agreement for his latest assault on a girlfriend, Hemphill appears in court for sentencing. He pleads guilty to battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a felony. The other four charges against him are dismissed. He's sentenced to six years, with two suspended, and he's given credit for 448 days already served. He's also ordered to attend an anger management program.

Hemphill is released from New Castle Correctional Facility and placed on probation.

Hemphill is arrested by Marion police at 3:06 a.m. after breaking into a girlfriend's house and beating her up. According to the police report, Hemphill had been dating the woman for about a year. At a party that night, he punched her after she told him she wanted to leave and broke her MP3 player as she drove off. She returned home to call the police. Hemphill followed her there on a bicycle. After she told him the police were coming, Hemphill kicked in her door, chased her down and began choking her before fleeing.

Later that night, police locate Hemphill several blocks away and take him to the Grant County Jail. Two days later, he's charged with felony breaking and entering, criminal mischief and two counts of battery resulting in bodily injury.

Hemphill is still on probation from his conviction for the 2004 attack on his girlfriend and her children. On this day, following his most recent battery charges, Hemphill's probation is revoked and a judge authorizes his arrest.

Hemphill pleads guilty in Grant Superior Court to two counts of misdemeanor battery resulting in bodily injury in connection with his latest attack on his girlfriend, after leaving the party. The breaking and entering and criminal mischief charges are dropped. He's sentenced to serve 180 days.

The same day, Hemphill goes before a judge and admits to violating the terms of his probation stemming from his previous domestic violence conviction. He's sentenced to an extra 180 days, 90 to serve and 90 on probation. He is released from the Grant County Jail on May 20.

Hemphill steals a 62-year-old woman's winnings — $319 — at a bingo night at the Eagles Lodge in Marion. Witnesses tell police he was acting drunk and rowdy before he grabbed the woman's purse and ran from the building. He's arrested fleeing the scene just after 9 p.m. When cops catch up with Hemphill, they find a bag of marijuana and a brown folding knife in his pants pocket, in addition to the purloined cash.

Hemphill is booked into the Grant County Jail that night. Five days later, he's charged with felony theft and misdemeanor marijuana possession in Grant Superior Court.

Hemphill pleads guilty to felony theft, in connection with the bingo night incident. The marijuana charge is dropped. Hemphill is sentenced to a year and a half in prison, but is released on parole in May 2010.

After being released from jail, Hemphill moves from Marion to Indianapolis.

His sister-in-law wakes up one morning to discover that, overnight, someone stole her 42-inch flat-screen TV. It appears that the perpetrator stood outside the window of her Indianapolis home, broke the window, and cut out the screen to gain entry. Then he let himself out the back door. She reports the theft to police and tells them that she suspects Hemphill, her brother-in-law, who witnesses spotted riding away on a bike while carrying a TV.

It appears Hemphill is never arrested or charged in connection with this incident.

Hemphill's neighbor calls the Indianapolis police just before 10 p.m. When the cops arrive, the neighbor tells them that Hemphill appears to be drunk and threatened to shoot him. He says that Hemphill shouted, "I'm going to fucking shoot you ... you fucking wannabe George Zimmerman motherfucker. I know how to do it ... you security George Zimmerman wannabe!"

The cops walk over to Hemphill's house across the street. He is yelling as they approach.

He's intoxicated and has a knife clipped to his pocket. Hemphill is arrested and taken to jail. He's charged with felony intimidation the next day in Marion Superior Court. He's held in an Indianapolis jail for 11 days and then released on his own recognizance.

Hemphill appears in Marion Superior Court and pleads guilty in connection with his dispute with his neighbor. The felony intimidation charge is dismissed. He's instead allowed to plead to misdemeanor trespassing. He's sentenced to a year in Marion County Jail, with 311 days suspended, and only 54 days to serve. The court also orders him to stay away from his neighbor.

Hemphill is arrested around 10 p.m. by state troopers in Hamilton County, just outside of Indianapolis. He's stopped along the highway for a traffic violation — seemingly driving while intoxicated — and when the troopers search him, they discover marijuana and a handgun.

He's taken to the Hamilton County Jail and charged with possession of marijuana, dealing marijuana, possession of a handgun without a license, and operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Seven months later, all the charges are dismissed, though it's unclear why. The court record was destroyed in 2017.

Just after midnight, Indianapolis police are dispatched to Hemphill's house after his neighbor, who is home with her children, reports hearing shots fired there. When officers arrive, Hemphill's neighbor tells them that she and Hemphill had been arguing over an electric bill. Cops find six shell casings on Hemphill's doorstep. Hemphill's wife gives the cops permission to look for a gun inside their house. During their search, police discover a box of 9mm bullets, four baggies of a green plant substance and a digital scale, all of which they confiscate. Hemphill is arrested and booked into Marion County Jail on charges of possession of marijuana, dealing marijuana, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and criminal recklessness.

In July, he pleads guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession in Marion Superior Court. The felony gun charge is dismissed. He's sentenced to 140 days in the county jail with 70 days credited back to him. He is released the following day.

Hemphill is driving his new white minivan just after 2 a.m. Someone calls the Indianapolis Police Department to report that he's acting suspicious. When cops arrive, Hemphill attempts to flee in his car and fights off officers at the scene. He's armed with a Cobra handgun and a Smith & Wesson folding knife. He's arrested and taken to the Marion County Jail. The same day, he's charged in Marion Superior Court with failure to signal for a turn, unlawful possession of a firearm by serious violent felon, two charges of resisting law enforcement, and felon carrying a handgun. Three of these are felonies.

After agreeing to plead guilty, Hemphill is convicted of misdemeanor resisting arrest and felony firearm possession in connection with the October 2015 traffic stop. The traffic citation for failure to signal had been dismissed several months earlier. The other resisting arrest and firearm charge are dismissed as part of the plea agreement. He's sentenced to one year for the resisting arrest conviction and one year for the firearm conviction, to be served concurrently. He's credited for 137 days already served and released on parole in July 2016.

Hemphill is arrested for drinking in the American Legion Mall, a public park in downtown Indianapolis, along with two other people. Police seize 16 baggies of marijuana that they find in his pants pocket, totaling just under 30 grams. Hemphill is taken to Marion County Jail and booked on charges of possession and sale of marijuana. He's released the following evening after an initial hearing and sent to Marion County Community Corrections, which administers work release programs and ankle monitoring.

Hemphill is again arrested at the American Legion Mall park in downtown Indianapolis in the evening. This time he's got two big bags filled with smaller baggies of marijuana. He's booked into Marion County Jail on charges of possession and felony sale of marijuana. He's released on his own recognizance the following morning after an initial hearing. He's ordered to stay at least six blocks from the park, where he's now twice been picked up for selling drugs.

Hemphill is arrested a third time in the same place: the American Legion Mall in downtown Indianapolis in the evening. He's charged with possessing and selling marijuana, again. He is released three days later. Before he's released, a judge grants a stay away order, for the same park he's already been told to stay out of.

Cops try to pull Hemphill over while he's driving in downtown Indianapolis late at night, but instead of stopping, he flees. He eventually crashes his car into a construction site and then gets out of it and runs. According to the police report, he is ultimately "apprehended by a K9 officer" and taken to the hospital. He is later booked into Marion County Jail on charges of marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license and resisting law enforcement.

Hemphill appears in Marion Superior Court for a pretrial conference. It seems to be connected to all four of the marijuana cases he's racked up in the 18 months prior. A judge orders Hemphill to be held in custody. He is again booked into Marion County Jail. He's held until June 5, 2018, at which point he's released to the Duvall Residential Center, a work-release facility.

Reporters meet Hemphill at a 1:30 p.m. hearing in an Indianapolis courthouse. In several hours of interviews over two days, Hemphill reveals that he was a suspect in the Tardy Furniture murders. He says that police questioned him for hours, fingerprinted him and examined his shoes. He says they released him because he had an "airtight alibi."

In a hearing addressing all four of Hemphill's open marijuana cases, Hemphill pleads guilty in exchange for a generous deal. He's facing four separate charges of possession of marijuana and three charges of dealing marijuana. All but one of those are dismissed. Hemphill pleads to a single charge of misdemeanor possession, plus resisting law enforcement and driving with a suspended license in connection with the May car chase. He's sentenced to 124 days in the county jail with credit for 62 served in connection with one for the charges. For another, he's sentenced to a year of house arrest and ordered to undergo weekly drug testing. And then after the house arrest, he's sentenced to 180 days of probation. As part of the plea deal, Hemphill agrees to serve out the rest of his sentence in the Marion County Jail if he violates the terms of his house arrest.

Hemphill is arrested in Indianapolis on a warrant for $19,000 of unpaid child support in Grant County. According to the arrest report, he's living at a homeless shelter. Hemphill is taken to jail in Indianapolis and, after two days, transferred to Grant County. He is released a day later — on New Year's Eve — on time served.

At a probation hearing on the very same day that the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Curtis Flowers' conviction, Hemphill is confronted by In the Dark reporters about the fact that his alibi for the morning of the Tardy Furniture murders doesn't check out. Hemphill becomes angry, hurls vulgar insults at the reporters and denies committing the murders.

Willie James Hemphill is charged with disorderly conduct. He was "swinging a machete and causing a disturbance" at about midnight on Sept. 20 at the Indianapolis trailer park where he lives, according to court records. He'd apparently become agitated after being pepper-sprayed by a woman whose trailer he'd approached while spouting profanities. After being Maced, Hemphill reportedly yelled, "I'll be back for you bitches with something else," and then went to his own trailer to retrieve his machete. When another neighbor attempted to intervene, Hemphill "charged at him while holding the machete over his head." Hemphill was taken to jail and released the following afternoon with a hearing scheduled for a few weeks later.