In Memoriam - Hunter Horgan

From the Daily Comet, August 10. 2007:

By RAYMOND LEGENDRE -- THIBODAUX -- The Rev. Hunter Horgan spent a considerable amount of his three years as pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church providing counsel to both parishioners and strangers when life dealt them hard blows.

Ironically, those who knew him best believe his love for helping others through difficult times may have opened the door for his death and a mystery that has lingered since.

Horgan’s beaten body was discovered Aug. 13, 1992, inside St. John’s church hall. It’s been 15 years since life dealt Horgan the cruelest of blows. Those he once comforted have found only emptiness from the situation as the years have passed, and his murder remains unsolved.

Though police say they have come close to finding his killer, no arrests have been made. With the anniversary of Horgan’s death nearing, Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon said he considers the case one of his department’s highest priorities.

Still, Horgan’s family remains uninspired by the results yielded by Thibodaux Police.

"They have a 15-year track record of losing seasons," Horgan’s brother, Porter, said.
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Horgan, a native of Meridian, Miss., who grew up in Hammond, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from LSU in 1968 and earned a master of divinity, four years later, from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va.

He arrived at St. John’s in 1989 as a supply pastor. Soon after arriving, he became the church’s full-time minister.

"He was easy to talk to and his door was always open to anyone who wanted to talk," said Murray Dennis, a church member since 1980.

"I admired him very much," parishioner Katherine Bourgeois added. "I thought he was a fine man."

Horgan and his wife, Marda, had a son and a daughter and three step-children. The pastor lived in an apartment in Thibodaux, while his wife stayed in Metairie. Their plan was for her to move to Thibodaux after their final child finished high school. She never got the chance.
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Recently, the Thibodaux Police Department began conducting fresh interviews. It is also reevaluating forensic evidence taken from the scene using modern DNA technologies, Melancon noted.

"We feel like we’re moving in the right direction, but we’ve felt like that before," the police chief said.

"I believe we’ve come very close in the past," he continued. "For us to take the case to court, it has to be more than a hunch."

Porter Horgan argues that Thibodaux Police missed their opportunity to make an arrest long ago by failing to interview the proper individuals and evaluate the right evidence. One year after the crime occurred, the family hired a private investigator from Baton Rouge.

"We were amazed they didn’t interview certain people of interest," the minister’s brother said, declining to elaborate.
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The Thibodaux Police Department’s use of psychic Sylvia Browne, best known for her appearances on TV’s "The Montel Williams Show," also drew Porter Horgan’s ire. The California-based psychic was paid $400 for one half-hour reading in 1997, Martin said, noting that most of the department supported the idea, as did then-Mayor Warren Harang.

"The Thibodaux Police Department is lost," the minister’s brother said. "I don’t think they could track an elephant in fresh snow."
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This Sunday, St. John’s Episcopal Church won’t have a big ceremony to honor Horgan. To do so, church pastor the Rev. Ed Robertson said, would be too painful. Instead, Horgan’s name will be mentioned when church members say a prayer remembering their departed loved ones.

"The fact that it’s a case that’s never been solved leaves it as an open wound," Robertson said.

Have you guessed that this is my church? I was not a member when the murder occurred, but since mine is a small town, everyone in the vicinity was shocked and grieved. I can only imagine what it was like for the church members and for the family of Hunter Horgan.

I have the sense that something was amiss with the police investigation from the beginning. With the body being moved by the killer from one area of the parish hall to another and the car taken and parked elsewhere, it would seem that there would have been evidence left at the scene or in the car.

A few years after this tragedy, I made my decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church. Within a few months, I had visited St. John on several Sundays. I liked the rector, I loved the liturgy, and I already knew many of the church members. I had tentatively decided to make the church my home, but the murder was a hurdle that I had to get past. For a while, I was a little spooked each time I went into the parish hall. I never asked in which area of the parish hall the priest was murdered, because I did not want to know. This newspaper account gives more details than I ever knew before.

I'm over all that now. I hardly ever think about it, until the anniversary comes round. The congregation came through the ordeal wonderfully well. The church could have fallen apart. They were a close-knit group, and when trouble struck, they stuck together. God was surely with them. The authorities in the diocese stepped in quickly with help and support.

I admire the priest who answered the call to be rector after the murder. It could not have been easy to keep the thoughts of the tragedy out of his mind. He helped the congregation through a tough time, stayed for eight years, and broke the curse, you might say.

Fr. Horgan's family is not pleased that the crime remains unsolved nor with the actions of the police department, and I don't blame them. What can you say of using psychics to solve crimes? That both the mayor and the police chief promoted a scheme like this is incredible.

I had met Fr. Horgan a few times, and he seemed like a kindly man. The unsolved crime does leave an open wound.

May God grant healing and peace to Fr. Horgan's family, to our church family, and to all who knew him and loved him.