CAMDEN — The Camden News presents today the fourth installment of “Cold Case Files,” a new series that the paper will run - only online - on Thursdays.
Each case will run over the course of several weeks and will feature cold-case files from the Camden Police Department and the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Department.
Between the cold cases from the CPD and the OCSD, the Camden News will feature a missing persons case
The first case that we have delved into covers information and interviews after the murder of the Rev. Lee Otis Fort who was killed in February of 1987 outside of the church he pastored - Macedonia Baptist Church. The case of the murder of Fort will be outlined through the replication of pages from the files of the CPD.
The first installment of the case showed that Fort had a brush with death before the February incident. The case file shows that Fort was leaving the church at around 11:45 p.m. in December of 1986 when four rifle shots came from a wooded area north of the church. One shot struck him in the left shoulder, but he survived, only to be shot to death a few weeks later and the shooting - once again - occurred at the church.
The second installment of the murder was published on Aug. 8 and it described the crime scene. The report stated that after being shot, Fort’s body came to rest around 80 feet from the doorway on the north side of the church, and not too far from his vehicle. On the ground by the driver’s side of the vehicle’s door were a handwritten letter in red ink, a set of car keys, a Bible, and two envelopes.
One of the doors at the church had a small, glass window, and it had been partially broken and there were glass fragments inside and outside of the building. A bloody hand print was seen on one of the car’s doors.
The installment - and the ones to follow will have the replication of many pages of interviews with people over a period of time after Fort’s murder. The interviewing of persons shown in the following pages does not automatically mean the person was a suspect and had anything to do with Fort’s murder.
This series an attempt to bring closure to those affected by the murder, and justice for the victim. Anyone with information about this case can call the CPD at 870-836-5755.