As a close friend of the late Sharen and Dixon Wilson, I am horrified that a documentary about Sharen’s killer would screen in Vicksburg, and that the Strand Theatre or anyone else in our lovely city would produce, let alone show, such a film.

My husband and I raised our families alongside the Wilsons in Hammond, La. After we moved to Vicksburg in 2001, Sharen and Dixon would come up constantly to spend time with us. They loved the city and decided they would move here.

God found a way, and they found the perfect house, only one block away from us. They fit in beautifully in our community.

Everyone knew them as “Scooter Man and the beautiful lady who worked at Peterson’s.”

After Dixon passed away, Sharen was in the process of making plans to move back to Hammond, where most of their daughters lived. She wanted to be home by the time she was 70, and she almost made her goal.

My husband, John Moore, and I were the last ones to be with Sharen before Rafael McCloud murdered her.

We invited her to go to Mass with us, but she was working. She asked us to pick up Chinese food from Asian Kitchen, our favorite, and we would just visit.

When we got to her house, McCloud was standing on the front walk. I even spoke to him.

Sharen said she was “So glad we were there, because he had passed by the house four times.”

We were the last ones to be with and see Sharen, except for one other neighbor and dear friend.

We begged Sharen to come home and spend the night with us after she witnessed McCloud walking down the neighbor’s driveway. She kept saying no, that she “had a gun and her alarm system.” 

The next 24 hours were an unbelievable hell.

In the weeks, months and years following her death, I apologized to their daughters for the “what ifs” I feel so guilty about.

What if they hadn’t followed my husband and me to Vicksburg?

What if they didn’t live down the street from us?

What if I hadn’t called her that night to go to church?

What if I had made her spend the night with us instead of going home?

The “what ifs” haunt me to this day.

All of our neighbors, friends, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and law enforcement officers stood on the curb across from Sharen’s house all day in vigil, praying she would be found safe.

This shouldn’t happen in your town, not on the same street you live on and definitely not to someone who you have known since 1975.

Sharen’s family does not deserve for this “evil man” (as her oldest daughter described him to me) to be glorified or even recognized.

It was one of the worst things that ever happened in our town. It is something I will never get over.

Sharen Wilson was a beautiful, loving, caring and giving person. She was a devoted and dear friend to me and all who had the privilege of knowing her.

She did make it home to Hammond before she turned 70, but due to the violence perpetrated against her by McCloud, the day she came home was the day she was buried.

I hope and pray no one will devote their time or money to watching such a disgusting tribute to a rapist and murderer. The Strand has pushed the envelope in the past, but this screening displays a blatant lack of respect for Sharen, her husband, their four daughters and seven grandchildren.

Those in Vicksburg who would like to honor Sharen Wilson’s memory are invited to join me in a different pursuit.

After Sharen’s death, I ordered several dozen of Rose of Sharon hibiscus plants and gave them to the neighborhood friends and employees of Peterson’s, where she worked. I wanted her memory to keep blooming after she left this earth.

My husband, John, continues to root the Rose of Sharon plant. If anyone would like to plant one in her memory, we would be more than happy to supply a cutting. Email me at Launom@yahoo.com for more information.

Sincerely,

Launo Moore

Vicksburg, Miss.