Jerry Mitchell

Clarion Ledger

The nation’s oldest prosecution of a serial killer suspect is slated to begin Aug. 8.

Felix Vail, a 76-year-old Mississippi native, is accused of killing his wife, Mary Horton Vail, whose 1962 death in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was originally ruled an accidental drowning.

“We would love to have a verdict my brother would be alive to hear," said Will Horton, 68, of Lafayette. "That’s what we want.”

He said his 82-year-old brother, Allen, is now on oxygen.

Vail is the last known person with his first wife, Mary, and two other women: his common-law wife, Sharon Hensley, who disappeared in 1973; and his wife, Annette, who disappeared in 1984.

The Louisiana Supreme Court is allowing the disappearances of these two women as evidence in the trial.

Vail, who grew up in the Montpelier community about a half hour north of Starkville, has insisted on his innocence, blaming his arrest on The Clarion-Ledger, prosecutors, money and the women’s families, saying "a large amount of money, hate and political ambitions are behind them."

He insisted his first wife, Mary, fell accidentally into the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles and that he had nothing to do with the women’s disappearances.

Louisiana authorities reopened the case after The Clarion-Ledger published its 2012 story “Gone,” in which a forensic pathologist pointed to a bruise on the back of her head and a scarf 4 inches in her mouth as proof of homicide.

Felix Vail was arrested seven months later. The Calcasieu Parish coroner, who is also a forensic pathologist, ruled her death a homicide.

Months prior to her death, Vail took out two life insurance policies, including one she didn't sign.

Despite receiving insurance payoffs, he never contributed any toward his wife's funeral, burial or headstone, according to documents and interviews.

The Clarion-Ledger has also tracked down other potential new witnesses who say Vail discussed killing his first wife.

One of them, Rob Fremont, said he was bicycling with Vail across California when he first admitted to killing his wife, only to later give more details, including that he hit her over the head and drowned her in the lake.

“It popped up out of nowhere,” Fremont said. “I’m thinking, ‘What the hell? Why would anyone do such a thing?’”

When Vail said those words, “there was such emotion, like he was still pissed off about it,” he said. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.