VIDOR BILLBOARD MYSTERY MURDER FINALLY SOLVED

And by "solved," I don't mean that the murder itself was solved.

For nearly a decade everytime I've driven east on I-10 from Houston to New Orleans or Baton Rouge, I've seen a very odd billboard in the notoriously racist Beaumont suburb known as Vidor. Thanks to yet another Beaumont 18-wheeler flaming disaster traffic jam, I was finally able to take a picture on my way back from Austin:



When I first saw the sign years ago, I thought "Of course the cops were covering it up." And that just wasn't my chronic anti-police bias at work: Vidor is a town where Klansmen have no shame running around in t-shirts with KKK insignias, and with similar bumper stickers on their pick-'em-up trucks; towns like that historically have crooked cops. But I had no idea what the overall story on the murder was until I was able to look up the guy's name.

From the Orange Leader:

Vidor father maintains vigil to find daughter’s killer

Over the years Fulton, of Vidor, has placed billboards along Interstate 10 as a reminder that the case has not yet been solved.

“The billboards are one thing I have to do,” Fulton said.

According to Vidor Police Chief Steve Conroy, Katherine “Kathy” Page, 35, was found strangled in her vehicle May 14, 1991. The 1991 black Mercury Tracer was found around 4:20 a.m. in a ditch about a block from her home on Boliver Street in Vidor.

“The accident appeared to be staged traffic accident,” Conroy said.

The vehicle had very little damage to it, but Page had bone fractures around her larynx, a broken nose, blackened right eye, and a bruise to the right temple, Conroy said. Page was separated from her husband and had two young daughters at the time of her death.

“I have lost a daughter, grandkids and great-grandkids because of this,” Fulton said.

The Vidor Police Department has been working diligently on the case since 1991, Conroy said.

Click here for the rest.

Unfortunately, the article isn't very good. It doesn't mention a word about Fulton's obvious belief that Kathy Page was killed by her husband, or the civil case, which, according to the billboard, and as with OJ Simpson, found Steve Page financially responsible for his wife's murder. Nor does the article make any reference to Fulton's assertion that Vidor cops are running interference for the presumed murderer. So I guess there's still some more mystery here. Maybe a more lengthy Google search is in order.

Nonetheless, after nearly ten years of seeing this billboard, it's nice to know a little more about the case. Weird, huh?

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