The Murder of Katherine Foster
For this case, I watched an episode of Blood, Lies and Alibis. It’s season 1 episode 7, titled ‘A Campus Killer.’ I had never seen this show before, and it was alright, just a lot of reenactments which I’m not a huge fan of. I have never heard of this case though, and I like talking about underreported cases.
A young college student was murdered in 1980, and it would take over 20 years to bring her killer to justice.
Background
Katherine Foster
Katherine Foster was an 18 year old student at South Alabama University in Mobile, Alabama in 1980. Katherine was described as a very smart and hardworking student, who also had a passion for helping underprivileged children.
Katherine was dating her high school sweetheart Tom Jaudon, who also went to South Alabama on a soccer scholarship. They also had two other close friends, Jamie Kellum and Tish O’Sullivan.
Katherine even had plans with Jamie and Tish on the day she disappeared.
The Murder
On February 23, 1980, Katherine had plans with her friends to go off campus and shop. Katherine apparently had forgotten her purse, and told Jamie she would meet her back at her car. However, she never came back, at least this is what Jamie said. Jamie and Tish figured that Katherine was probably with Tom, and they went shopping without her.
By that night, no one had heard from Katherine, and her family was called. The Mobile, Alabama police were called and a missing persons report was filed.
Two days later, the police and many students went on an area wide search. The search took them to a wooded area near the campus. At around 10:30am, they found the body of Katherine Foster. She had been shot two times in the head with a .22 caliber gun.
The police also described the scene as if Katherine had just laid down to take a nap. Her clothing and hair still looked perfect. Who would have killed such a nice young college student?
Investigation
At the start of the investigation, the police looked into any lead they had, other student and Katherine’s friends.
A student came forward and said she had woken up in the middle of the night due to having asthma, she said while she was awake she heard what sounded like fireworks at around 2:38am. The police wondered if those were the gun shots, but that put Katherine’s time of death 24 hours after they originally thought.
Katherine’s official autopsy results said she was shot twice, at a close range. She hadn’t been sexually assaulted and there was no defensive wounds. The police wondered if she knew her killer.
They did have a few other suspects, a student that worked in the maintenance department and two security guards, but they all had alibis. Katherine’s case went cold.
Michael Maris
A few years later, the police received a tip that a man had been found dead in an apparent suicide. The man’s name was Michael Maris, he was one of the security guards that they had looked into.
The investigation revealed that Michael was a disturbed man. He had become obsessed with Katherine’s case, even having a copy of the autopsy report with some of it highlighted with his own notes. He also was obsessed with death and executions.
This investigation into Michael Maris became even more bizarre, when they found a cage in his attic. The cage was large enough to have held a person, however, it was determined it did hold a person, his grandpa. Michael held his grandpa in the cage because he had dementia, the cage was supposed to hold him so he wouldn’t wander in the neighborhood. Still, this was creepy because why would you hold someone in a cage?
Michael was ruled out, because it was at work for several days before and after the murder of Katherine, and he was even with another security guard the whole time during several shifts.
The Real Killer Emerges
In 2002, 22 years after Katherine’s death, Mike Morgan of the Mobile police received a call from a different police department. The Pascagoula, Mississippi police said a witness came forward that had information about one of their cold cases.
Mike Morgan drove to Mississippi to find out more. The witness was a sponsor of an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), and he said one of his group members had confessed that she killed someone. The woman was Jamie Letson aka Jamie Kellum, the last person to see Katherine Foster that February day.
Jamie was looked was a suspect in 1980, and the police thought her behavior was so over the top that it couldn’t have been real. Jamie had been at the wooded area that day Katherine’s body was found, and she was wailing and crying. Jamie and Katherine’s other friends and family even said her behavior was too much.
Jamie had written her confession in a letter, and it was at her step-dad’s house, the police went to go see this letter.
The Letter
When the police arrived, Jamie’s step-dad immediately knew why they were there. In the letter it said “Dear Katherine, it’s me Jamie, the one who took your life.”
The police were stunned. They wanted to make sure it was legit, so they took the letter in for testing. Jamie’s prints were taken off the letter, as if she was the one who wrote it.
When the police took this case to the district attorney, they said they couldn’t take it to trial because of the time of death. Jamie had an alibi, she had been with her family at the time.
The police knew they had the killer, and they needed justice for Katherine. The police went to talk to the original medical examiner, and he said that determining time of death in 1980, isn’t what it is today. He said he could have gotten the time of death wrong. He said Katherine could have been laying in that wooded area for 48 hours without the body decaying or being affected by insects and larva. The time of death was changed.
Part of the letter, it’s pretty hard to read.
Arrest and Trial
On November 21, 2008, the police finally obtained an arrest warrant for Jamie Letson-Kellum. Jamie was living at a halfway house at the time. Jamie apparently knew that the police were coming for her, and she was arrested without any resistance.
The police took Jamie back to Mobile, Alabama, and asked her if she wanted to make a statement or confession. Jamie confessed, she said she killed Katherine because she was obsessed with Katherine’s boyfriend, Tom. Jamie had apparently followed Tom to South Alabama, after she had been accepted at other schools on a tennis scholarship. She also told her family that Tom was her boyfriend.
Jamie said she asked Katherine to go with her to look for plants for one of her classes, and Katherine agreed. She said she walked behind Katherine and shot her. Katherine was still alive after the one shot, and so Jamie shot her again. Jamie fled, got rid of the murder weapon and got back to campus in time to go shopping.
Jamie’s trial started in 2010, and she pleaded not guilty. She said her confession was made up. Her defense said Jamie had a history of making up stories to get attention.
It didn’t matter, Jamie was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Jamie Letson-Kellum
FINAL THOUGHTS
These type of cases and murders happen WAY too often. An innocent woman was killed because another person was infatuated with their boyfriend. I think Jamie had severe issues, even back then, and no one noticed.
I personally think the police should have looked into Jamie more, but she did have an alibi, so it’s not their fault. I also question Jamie’s family, did they see signs of any mental illness? Did they believe all of her stories? If she had a history of lying and making up stories, did anyone ever question her one what was true and what wasn’t?
I’m very happy that Katherine and her family finally got justice, even if it took 20+ years. I know I questioned the police a little bit, but I actually want to applaud them too, they didn’t give up on Katherine’s case, no matter how long it took.
Sources
https://www.thoughtco.com/woman-arrested-1980-murder-katherine-foster-3969309
https://www.wlox.com/story/9399395/cold-case-arrest-unearths-painful-memories-in-pascagoula/
https://www.picayuneitem.com/2010/06/woman-sentenced-in-30-year-old-ala-murder/
