THOMASVILLE — A woman being held in an Oklahoma jail in lieu of a $1 million bond admits fatally shooting her elderly husband, a former Grady County resident.

Herbert Hoover “Harry” Williams was leaving his wife, when she shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun early on the afternoon of Monday, April 13.

Williams, 79, was struck once. Various news reports differ about where the shotgun blast struck his body.

Mark Clark, assistant district attorney for Comanchee and Cotton counties, said the location of the entry wound will not be known until autopsy results are available.

The incident is not the first time Iona Allen shot Williams, according to Lady Ann Williams Cox, the victim’s daughter.

“He would call me and tell me he was scared, that he couldn’t take it anymore,” Cox told the Times-Enterprise during a telephone interview from her DeRidder, La., home. “She shot him once in the arm.”

Cox, who was known as Sandy while growing up in Thomas County, said the previous shooting took place in 1998 or ’99. The bullet could not be removed because to do so would harm a nerve and paralyze the arm, she explained.

“He chose at that point to tell the law that it was an accident, that he was cleaning his gun,” Cox said, adding that only a contortionist could have suffered a gunshot wound in the arm from the position her father was in to clean the firearm.

Cox said her father was struck once in the upper back in the shooting two weeks ago outside the couple’s home in Walters, Okla., a town of 5,000 to 6,000, southwest of Oklahoma City on the Texas border.

“He died instantly, because one of the pellets hit the jugular vein. He was dead when he hit the ground,” she explained.

Williams was holding his dog, Oscar, when the shotgun blast struck him. The dog, who was not injured, went everywhere with Williams and slept with him. The dog is making his home with the grandchild who gave him to Williams.

A Pelham native, Williams grew up in Thomasville and attended Thomasville High School. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he lived in Grady County, where he had a farm. Williams left Grady County about 15 years ago.

Cox, 58, a 1969 graduate of Central High School, and her father, who has four other children, were estranged for a number of years. For the last 15 to 20 years, they have kept in contact.

The last time Cox saw her father was Thanksgiving 2005 at his Oklahoma ranch.

“After (hurricanes) Rita and Katrina got through at our house, we didn’t have much. We went to his house for Thanksgiving,” Cox recalled. It was the first — and only — holiday she spent with her father.

On the way to Oklahoma from her home — 45 miles from the Gulf Coast — Cox had a wreck. She suffered two concussions and was treated at a hospital emergency room.

“I could not get my head to stop hurting the entire time I was there,” Cox said.

When asked about her relationship with her husband’s wife, Cox said, “I just kept it sweet and kind.” Allen, 66, kept a former husband’s last name when she married Williams, Cox explained.

Williams called Cox and told her was leaving Allen and was headed to his daughter’s home in Louisiana. When he did not show up as planned, Cox called Oklahoma and learned he had been killed.

“At that moment, I fell to my knees and screamed so loud people across the street heard me,” Cox said. “The next four or five days, I went through a gamut of emotions.”

Allen is being held in the Cotton County Jail in Walters. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Monday, June 9.

Clark, the assistant district attorney, said Allen is charged with second-degree murder, which, upon conviction, carries a penalty of 10 years to life in prison.

Clark said the charge against Allen possibly could change to first-degree murder. Oklahoma has a death penalty.

As to Allen’s $1 million bond, Clark said, “It was appropriate in this case.”

Bond, he said, is set to ensure a suspect’s appearance in court and for the protection of the community. “She has admitted to shooting him with a 12-gauge shotgun,” Clark said, pointing out that bond is sometimes denied in homicide cases.

Someone who usually functions on an even keel, Cox is experiencing emotional ups and downs as a result of her father’s death.

After years of estrangement, Cox was excited about her relationship with her father. She was experiencing the joys of cooking through him.

Cox did not learn to cook until recent years. She would call her father from a meat market and ask him what cut of meat to buy. When she arrived at home with her purchase, she would call Williams, who would talk her through preparation of the dish.

Williams’ daughter is grateful for her renewed relationship with her father after decades of little or no communication. She is experiencing the grief that accompanies the death of a parent, this time a violent end at the hands of someone she knows.

While discussing her father’s life and death with local and state law enforcement officers and a district attorney, Cox is making arrangements for his Saturday funeral in Thomas County.

“This is something no child should ever have to deal with,” Cox said.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.