Five members of the Guys and Dolls Square Dancing Club in Texarkana testified Thursday that a 67-year-old square dancer on trial for capital murder was irrationally jealous of nearly every woman who came near her estranged husband.
All of the witnesses who testified in Virginia Ann Hyatt's trial Thursday morning described Patricia "Patti" Wheelington, 59, in glowing terms under questioning from Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Black.
"Patti was one of the best friends I ever had," Barbara Ricketts said with tears. "She would do anything for anybody. She was very giving and she was always happy. Her big charity was the Texarkana Animal League."
Ricketts said she and her husband, Charles Ricketts, became acquainted with Virginia and James Hyatt when they joined the square dancing club in 2007.
"I never heard that woman say one good thing about her husband, not one word," Barbara Ricketts said. "And I never heard James said one bad word about Virginia."
Ricketts said Virginia Hyatt would "sit in a chair and pout" if James Hyatt danced with another woman. Ricketts said experienced dance couples would often split up and dance with inexperienced dancers to help them learn the steps.
"It was quite evident early on that Virginia did not like Patti," said 84-year-old Harvey Cook. "She was jealous of everybody, though, not just Patti. She was jealous of any woman that walked in the door. She even jerked one off the floor one night and told her, 'You can't dance with my husband. Go get you a husband.'"
Cook said Hyatt would give Wheelington "the finger" at the dance hall Guys and Dolls used, which Wheelington and her husband, Ray Wheelington, had built. Ray Wheelington died about a year before the murder. Under cross examination by Texarkana lawyer Bruce Condit, Cook said he had seen Hyatt stumble on curbs before but she had no physical difficulty dancing.
"She was a good dancer. She knew every step," Cook said. "She didn't look good on the floor, but she could dance."
James Hyatt testified Wednesday that he became such a close friend to the Wheelingtons that they named him as executor in their will. As Ray Wheelington's health and mental acuity declined, James Hyatt said he became closer to Patti Wheelington, and the two became intimate in 2009. James Hyatt told the jury he and his wife had not shared a bedroom in years and that he slept with his door locked at night.
He said he decided to leave town and file for divorce after his sisters told him in November 2013 that they were afraid Virginia Hyatt planned to do him harm. James Hyatt hastily packed a few belongings and began driving with a sister to Florida on Nov. 29, 2013, the day after Thanksgiving, while Virginia Hyatt visited her mother in a nursing home.
Hyatt said he waited until he was about 50 miles out of town before calling his wife to tell her he was gone and filing for divorce.
Phyllis Nabors said Virginia Hyatt was overwrought when she spoke to her the same day.
"She was hysterical, saying, 'He's gone, he's gone. He's taken his best clothes,'" Nabors said.
Guys and Dolls member Reese Baker said Virginia Hyatt called him Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013, asking if he knew where Patti Wheelington was.
"She said she'd driven by several motels looking for his (her husband's) or Patti's cars. She'd said she'd driven by Patti's house, and that the first night there was one light on and on the second night there were two," Baker said.
Wheelington was in New Orleans with a female friend the weekend after Thanksgiving in 2013, witnesses testified.
Baker said Wheelington called him late Sunday night to ask if he planned to attend square dance class the following evening and suggested the two could dance together if Baker's usual partner didn't show. Baker said he was relieved when his partner arrived at the dance hall the evening of Dec. 2.
Barbara Ricketts said Virginia Hyatt's presence at the dance hall that night had a sombering effect on Wheelington.
"Patti was just pale. She told me Virginia had come to her house that morning, throwing a fit, ranting and raving, screaming at Patti on her front porch. She said, 'Virginia has got me freaked out.' Those were her exact words," Ricketts said.
Witnesses testified Hyatt left the dance hall to play Bingo with Phyllis Nabors but returned a couple of hours later with a red shirt of James Hyatt's. Witnesses said Virginia Hyatt confronted Wheelington, threw the shirt at her and said, "Here, you'll be seeing him before I do."
Cook said he, Wheelington, Baker and several others met at Applebee's restaurant in Texarkana after dance class that night because Wheelington feared Hyatt might follow her.
"We begged her not to go home," Cook said. "And that was the last time I saw her."
The following morning, Dec. 3, 2013, Wheelington was shot five times on her front porch. Ken Caldwell, who died not long after the murder, told police he was talking to Wheelington at about 8 a.m. when she told him she had to hang up because Virginia Hyatt was approaching. Circuit Judge Randy Wright ruled the jury will not hear what Caldwell told his friends and investigators because he is not available to testify.
Friends who were concerned for her welfare repeatedly tried to call Wheelington throughout that day, but thought she was not answering because she was busy doing volunteer work for the human services agency from which she had retired. That afternoon, Ricketts and Nabors went to Wheelington's home to check on her.
"We both knew right away that she was dead," Ricketts said. "I walked up and took the back of my wrist and touched her and she was just ice cold."
Nabors said Hyatt had been at her house around 10 a.m. the morning Wheelington was killed.
"I remember because 'Price Is Right' was on," Nabors said. "Everytime I looked at her, she would be grinning from ear to ear."
Nabors said the dramatic shift in Hyatt's demeanor struck her as odd.
"She hadn't smiled in four days. She hadn't quit whimpering in four days, 'Where's my James, where's my James,'" Nabors said. "I'd never gotten over a divorce in four days."
Testimony is expected to resume this morning at the Miller County Courthouse. Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black previously announced the state is not seeking the death penalty. If convicted of capital murder, Hyatt faces life without the possibility of parole.