The Hazel Alexander Murder
Looking into the abyss of murder is a two-way street. We look into the abyss. The abyss also stares back.
Murder grabs headlines. It is sensational. Shocking the conscience, it leaves those left behind to wonder how something so atrocious could happen. An act of bloodlust leaves the community in a state of shock, distrust, and ironically in wonderment and in awe.
The snuffing out of a human life is also fleeting. Unless there is a close personal relationship, the scar that is carved in the emotional flesh of those left behind is forgotten as more sand passes through the hourglass. The media sensationalizes cold cases because there is a lack of closure, as if there is ever closure when a life is taken violently. But the real tragedy in these cases of a stolen life is forgetting. A case that has conversely been solved but forgotten says so much about society. They were of us, but not one of us and now they are gone. It’s time to move on.
What cannot be forgotten can probably never be understood. It is often quoted by police and prosecutors that they are the last to speak for a homicide victim. This is admirable and speaks to the character of our public protection partners. They speak for the victim. The unspoken horror though lies in not what the police or prosecutors say on behalf of the lost. The real horror lies in what they can’t say for the victim.
If we were to portray what most likely went through the mind, heart, and soul of a homicide victim in their final minutes and seconds, I dare say criminal justice reform would take on an entirely new meaning. We can’t comprehend those moments at the very end when the violence is so overwhelming that death is no longer feared but embraced. Perhaps death becomes a release from the hell they are enduring. Many have the profound privilege of being with a loved one as they let go of life. They are surrounded by loved ones. Homicide victims don’t experience this. They are in the company of someone that is committing the ultimate act of theft, as they are having their life stolen from them in a time and manner that is completely beyond their control.
I had the profound privilege of being with both of my parents as they passed away. It sounds morbid, but it isn’t really. On the contrary, I found it very peaceful. As I came to terms with the passing of my parents, the idea of dying alone or under unnatural circumstances took root with me. How cruel it must seem to the person letting go of life to die alone. Compounding this cruelty is forcing them to meet their creator at the hands of Lucifer.
There are thousands upon thousands of cases that can be framed by this narrative. Across time, our neighbors and loved ones have been taken violently from us only to be forgotten by the marching on of the calendar. To that end, we are all guilty.
I would like to introduce you to Hazel Evelyn Oakley Alexander.
Hazel Alexander was born on October 8, 1924. She was a mother to five children, and she was married to the driver’s education teacher at the local high school. Hazel was a volunteer at her church preparing the weekly bulletin, a task she had joyfully performed for about ten years. In 1970s North Carolina, Hazel was the quintessential southern lady.
On June 23, 1978, Hazel Alexander arrived at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church on Highway 52 in the rural community of Welcome, North Carolina. Located a short drive south of Winston-Salem in Davidson County, the church is a bluish gray contemporary sanctuary on the corner of the highway and a local street leading to a middle school. The church has a brown roof with a cross standing vibrantly amongst the long leaf pine trees that are synonymous with North Carolina. Directly behind the church is a public library. Welcome is largely a nondescript community, but it is anything but quiet. Thousands of visitors travel on this highway annually visiting the home of NASCAR team Richard Childress Racing, the former home of racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.
If this time of year is indicative of a normal summer day in North Carolina, the afternoon was most likely sweltering, like walking into a furnace. The humidity was most likely akin to being wrapped in the clutches of a boa constrictor. Normally the latter part of the afternoon was adorned by thunderheads.
That Thursday Hazel was probably suffering from the heat with her neighbors. It was a day of unknowns. She did not know what was about to happen to her as she arrived at the church to prepare the weekly church bulletin as the volunteer secretary of the church. She did not know that she had said goodbye to her family for the last time. She did not know her attacker, Roger Dale Lawson, but she was about to meet him.
Roger Dale Lawson arrived at the church and entered the vestibule from the rear of the church. The entrance is obscured from the library by a wooded area. Since the entrance is at the rear of the church, it is also not seen by passersby on the highway. Lawson told Hazel that he would like to speak to the pastor. Being alone, she told him that the pastor was not at the church at that time.
Lawson brandished a knife which was noticed by Hazel. The two were standing in a small hallway between the church vestibule and a study. Reports indicated that she yelled “NO!” at Lawson several times. But it would not deter him. Lawson stabbed Hazel several times before ultimately cutting her throat. Hazel bled to death moments later.
The utter irony of being murdered in a church depends on your worldview. To an atheist, this may be the same as being murdered in a convenience store or in your home. For the Christian, this is appalling. The church is called a sanctuary for a reason. A sanctuary is a sacred place. On this day, that sanctuary was violated.
Physically, when Hazel was stabbed and ultimately had her throat slashed, her experience may not coincide with what we see in the movies. In film and television, a stabbing victim may die quickly. That isn’t necessarily a reality. The initial stab wound is met with an immediate shock to the body. Hazel may have felt a sharp impact similar to being punched rather than an instantaneous slicing pain. This most likely was followed by an intense burning sensation along with a warmth from the onset of internal bleeding. Depending on what major organs were impacted, Hazel probably experienced rapid blood loss that was accompanied by dizziness, weakness, and ultimately a physical collapse due to the onset of hypovolemic shock. Due to blood loss, she most likely experienced a rapid drop in her blood pressure. Her skin became cold and clammy, and she may have experienced cold sweats. As blood loss and organ failure accelerated, unconsciousness overtook Hazel as she lost her vision and hearing. How long it took Hazel to die is a mystery lost to time.
The real terror associated with Hazel’s murder regards what she may have experienced emotionally and mentally. While we cannot ask Hazel what she experienced, survivors of knife attacks portray an experience that is beyond horrific. The initial attack produces an onset of overwhelming fear and helplessness. Victims that have survived brutal knife assaults have said that they were in disbelief and panic as the attack unfolded. Moments before she died, Hazel most likely experienced an adrenaline dump that cascaded emotionally. She may have felt intense desperation and anger. As death was imminent, she may have accepted her fate. We can extrapolate from the evidence that just prior to the assault, Hazel went into fight or flight mode by yelling “NO!” at her attacker. As Lawson overpowered her, she most likely went into shock.
The investigation was conducted by the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and would later be joined by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Davidson County Sheriff Paul “Jaybird” McCrary indicated that there was no sign of forced entry int the church. There was nothing apparently taken, and Hazel was not sexually assaulted. An anonymous tip was called in, telling investigators that there was a ”lady in the church who needs attention.” This tip initially led law enforcement officers to Hazel’s body. Investigators interviewed countless people in Welcome, at that time a tight-knit community of about 600 residents. No clear motive for the murder emerged. Hazel was a beloved figure, and no one was known to have a grudge against her leading to such a vicious end to her life. It would later be determined that her assailant was a former neighbor or acquaintance of the Alexander family.
The predator on this day was identified as 34-year-old Roger Dale Lawson. He evaded arrest for approximately three years after this event. News reports vary, but it is suggested that the murder weapon was discarded on Highway 52 traveling south toward Lexington. The established motive by law enforcement was attempted robbery, but there was no clear evidence corroborating this determination. Lawson would ultimately be convicted of second-degree murder and would be sentenced to life in prison. He has been denied parole at least three times, the latest recorded denial being in 2015. No clear motive was ever established for Lawson’s attack on Hazel.
It was just a normal day.
At church.
She died alone.
This has happened before. It happens in the present day. And sadly, it will happen again.
It is left to wonder what the District Attorney said on behalf of Hazel on that day three years after she left this world in the most violent way imaginable.
Hazel most likely greeted Lawson with a smile. After all, that is what the church stands for, being welcoming and helpful. She most likely was cheerful and had no idea that she was standing in the presence of her angel of death. And then it began.
Many victims of violence have testified that the first sign of a weapon presents with a sense of unbelief leading to shock. They simply can’t believe what they are seeing, nor can they accept what is about to happen to them. Bad things happen, but why is it happening to me?
Then came the assault. As the knife plunged into her, what was Hazel feeling? Was she calling out to her husband, silently or otherwise? Inside the church, did she feel like she had been abandoned by God? Many survivors of knife assaults have reported that the first wounds were almost unnoticeable in regard to a pain response. But when the pain surfaces, it is like being struck by lightning. And then the ultimate act of barbarism took place. Lawson cut Hazel’s throat.
Why?
It is highly likely that Hazel asked this question several times before the light of her life was extinguished. Why was Lawson hurting her? Why had God abandoned her in his own house? Why her?
Why is the most important and most dangerous question to be asked in a criminal case. It answers a question that tears at the fabric of human decency. It unveils a monster and the reason for the existence of that monster. But the most dangerous part of asking why comes when there is no reason. Sometimes, evil is evil, and it manifests itself at a time and place of its own choosing.
Perhaps even more disturbing in this case is the moment in which it occurred. We believe that violence in contemporary society is normal. But in yesteryear? That was a safer time and place. Unless you were Hazel Alexander on June 23, 1978.
It is unlikely that many residents of this community will recall that fateful day. The church still stands and is an active institution in the Welcome community. It is left to the imagination how many congregants walk through the vestibule each Sunday past the very spot where Hazel Alexander was murdered. What is important is that she be remembered.
Rest in Peace Hazel.
And so on…..
