By Barry Porterfield
A name has now been released for the man who kidnapped his former wife before he fatally shot himself when confronted by authorities earlier this week.
Garvin County officials confirmed it was 55-year-old Fred Hesser who died Tuesday night when he pulled the trigger of a .22 caliber revolver he placed under his own chin.
The deadly incident came as Hesser, surrounded by a variety of law enforcement officers, stood by his truck on a dirt road several miles south of Stratford.
The fatal gunshot came after Hesser forced Lisa Hesser from her Stratford home, took county deputies on a high-speed pursuit and held off officers during a standoff on that same road stretching about an hour.
With the death of the male Hesser the case for the county sheriff’s office now moves into the paperwork phase.
“We’re finalizing the reports and getting them to the district attorney’s office,” Sheriff Steve Brooks said.
“We do that so they can do a review of all the information and evidence collected at the scene,” he said.
“Obviously it was a suicide, but we still do a criminal investigation.”
Brooks said Hesser had been staying in Connerville when Tuesday’s incident occurred, which is located a few miles north of Tishomingo in Johnston County.
Found on his body were two Texas driver’s licenses with one that included a phony name. Work remains ongoing to find out more about him, Brooks said.
Questions also remain about the marital status of the Hesser couple.
“We’re still trying to verify if they were divorced or separated,” the sheriff said.
He did add the woman appeared to be doing fine the day after the traumatic incident.
For the sheriff’s office the incident began when dispatchers were contacted at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday by a woman claiming to have been kidnapped by her former husband.
Calling from a cell phone, the woman, later identified as Lisa Hesser, told dispatchers she was in a vehicle traveling somewhere south of Stratford on a dirt road.
That road turned out to be Oakdale Road. As the male Hesser turned the truck onto U.S. Highway 177 it was stopped by a Garvin County deputy.
The woman then jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward the deputy claiming Hesser had a gun and he was going to kill her.
Hesser is reported to have pointed the gun at the deputy before stating he wouldn’t be taken alive as the truck left the scene at a high rate of speed.
A pursuit with another deputy then continued on Oakdale Road before Hesser was forced to stop his truck because a bridge was out of commission.
It was there Hesser stopped the vehicle, jumped out and the standoff began as Hesser continued to hold the revolver under his chin while threatening to kill himself.
During that time Hesser is reported to have made several comments to officers located several feet away who were attempting to talk with him.
“I will not put down my weapon. I’m going to finish drinking my beer, smoke a couple of cigarettes and end this one way or another,” Hesser is reported to have said.
“I’m not going back to prison. You’re not taking me anywhere.”
At one point Hesser turned toward a deputy’s patrol car and positioned himself before pulling the trigger, Brooks said.
