More than 50 years after the death of Mary Horton Vail, her husband Felix Vail, now 73, has been arrested and charged with her murder. At the time, Felix told police that Mary had accidentally fallen into the Calcasieu River (where she drowned) after he steered the boat to avoid a stump. Felix was questioned but never charged with her murder. When Clairon-Ledger investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell discovered the disappearance of Vail’s longtime girlfriend Sharon Hensley (1973) and his second wife Annette Craver Vail (1984), Mitchell outlined the circumstances in an article titled, ‘Gone’. Based on the article, the investigation was reopened in 2012.
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Mitchell interviewed a former neighbor of Vail’s, Wesley Turnage, who said Vail told him that his wife Mary “wanted to have another kid. I didn’t want the one I got. I fixed that sorry bitch. She will never have another one.” Felix Vail was arrested in May 2016. His trial was set for November 16 but it has since been delayed as Vail’s lawyer, Ben Cormier, has moved to withdraw from the case. ABC 20/20 will air its investigative report on Friday, July 29 at 10pm.
