WTVY.com
Ken Curtis – July 6, 2015
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Dothan It’s been nearly 16 years since the body of Cynthia Gail Wilson was found in a remote area less than a mile from Ross Clark Circle. Her remains were discovered just off Columbia Highway after police received an anonymous telephone tip.

“There’s always a chance any cold case can be solved,” said Police Lt. Scott Long, who was a young investigator at the time. Long, today, supervises the Criminal Investigation Division of the department. “We spent many, many hours out here processing this particular scene.”

Wilson is believed to have been dead for nearly a month when her decomposing body was discovered October 8, 1999. Police say they received a tip from a pay phone caller telling them where the body was located. The man claimed he was picking up aluminum cans when he spotted it.

WTVY news files reveals the man called a second time after police issued pleas through the media that he do so. Both calls originated outside convenience stores but the man who placed them was never located. Police, at the time, said he was not considered a suspect in Wilson’s killing according to a news report filed by Wayne May who is now WTVY’s assignment manager.

Wilson’s daughter, Latasha Miller, was in her early 20’s at the time her mother was killed. She revisited the murder scene Monday—brush had grown so thick over the years it was difficult to locate the cross.

What is not difficult for Ms. Wilson is remembering the day she learned of Wilson’s death. “We were at my sister’s house and we were all just sitting around when we got the phone call and I was just in shock,” she recalled.

Cynthia Wilson, 44 years at the time of her death, was last seen four weeks before her body was discovered. She was last seen in the 600 of East Newton Street talking to person police have never been able to identify.

Long said it’s unclear if Wilson was killed where her body was found or murdered elsewhere and the body dumped at the site. In fact, Long said the remains were so decomposed that the way she was murdered has never been determined though natural causes and suicide have been ruled out.

“The fact so many years have gone by troubles us a great deal because that person has not been brought to justice. “It’s personal to me, especially since I was one of the initial investigators assigned to the case,” Long said.