Roger Keith Pitts: 20 Years Later

Roger Keith Pitts, 42, of Waterloo has been arrested in a long string of recent robberies in the west end of the county. Pitts is no stranger to the news; in 1992 he was tried for a senseless killing and found guilty. Not everyone will remember Pitts' heinous act; their reaction to Pitts' crime at the time would have depended greatly on their mindset and the depths of their feelings.

It was Christmas Eve 1991 when George Taylor traveled from his Rhodesville home to Florence. It had become a regular trek for Taylor whose wife Elizabeth was recovering from heart surgery at ECM. When Mr. Taylor returned home, he found Bucky Taylor lying in a pool of blood, his head missing.

Bucky had been a member of the Taylor family since he was a three week-old fawn. The four year-old stag and his mate Babe loved and greeted everyone. Roger Keith Pitts took advantage of that, luring the deer to him and shooting him at point blank range. Pitts then decapitated Bucky, took photos, and bragged to fellow yobs how he had killed the deer while hunting.

George Taylor was able to identify pictures of Pitts with Bucky's remains, and two weeks after the killing, Pitts was arrested. He was found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail. Was the sentence appropriate?

The Taylor's children were grown, and it was well known in the community that Mr. Taylor had been batching it while Mrs. Taylor was hospitalized. We have to wonder what would have happened if Mr. Taylor had discovered Pitts on his property. Would he also have been the victim of sometime tree-trimmer Roger Pitts?

Let's hope the Lauderdale County District Attorney's office manages to put Roger Keith Pitts away for a long, long time.

Shoalanda