Author Lovejoy Boteler described it as a typical summer day in Mississippi, hot, humid and steamy, as he plowed the fields on his family farm in Grenada, in 1968. Just out of high school the 18-year-old had no way of knowing the fear that he would face that day when he was kidnapped at the hands of escaped Parchman inmate, Albert Lepard.
This past Friday, a large crowd gathered in the Meeting Room of the Winston County Library to hear Boteler’s description of the kidnapping, the aftermath, and what led him to delve into Lepard’s hardscrabble background, in Attala County.
Researching the book, Crooked Snake: The Life and Crimes of Albert Lepard, Boteler interviewed more than 70 people who were familiar with Lepard and his family, including neighbors, law enforcement and correction officials and more to learn as much as he could about the man who took him captive.
According to Boteler, Lepard grew up dirt poor and illiterate, in Attala County's Seneasha Valley; Seneasha is a Choctaw Indian word meaning crooked snake. Boteler thought the name quite appropriate for the title of his book, considering the life of the man he was describing.
At the time of the kidnapping Lepard was an inmate at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman where he was serving a sentence for murder; he had just escaped for the fifth time.
The book tells the story of the kidnapping, of Boteler being driven to Memphis where he was released, and where Lepard and an accomplice were later captured.
Boteler read a passage from the book to those gathered at the Library, answered questions, and signed books, making it an enjoyable gathering for all.
