Paris Police leaves no stone unturned

Paris Police Department Evidence staff are leaving no stones unturned.

On the morning of July 18, 2010, an individual turned the ring into the Police Department as found property. She stated that she had been throwing trash into a dumpster behind her residence in the 4500 block of SE Loop 286 and noticed a gold class ring lying on the ground next to the dumpster.

Having no leads as to who the ring belonged to, it was secured in the Paris PD Evidence Vault where it remained until May of 2021. At that time, Evidence Technician Michelle Melton made it her priority to return as many “lost and found” items as possible to their rightful owners. She and two co-workers, Beverly Phillips and Jennifer Bacorn, along with their supervisor, Captain Terry Bull, have collectively reunited approximately four- hundred items of property to their owners.

Recently, while auditing an old box of evidence; Michelle came across a 1984, Senior Ring of Plano East High School, and began a quest to identify and locate the owner. Several weeks later a gentleman named Randy called the police department in response to a Facebook post about the ring by Jennifer Bacorn.

Randy was able to describe the ring and was thrilled to learn that his senior ring which had been lost for 13 and a half years would be returned to him. He did not recall a year but stated that he had sold ATMs in Paris for a brief time. Evidence Technician Michelle Melton later met with and returned the senior ring to Randy (depicted above).

The undertaking of reuniting property with the owners did not stop with Randy’s High School ring. More interesting treasures were discovered in the alcoves of the EvidenceVault. After cleaning away decades of dust, Michelle uncovered and subsequently researched the names engraved on a few very old grave-marker headstones. Her investigative prowess and unrelenting resolve resulted in locating the unmarked graves where the headstones belonged.

A gravestone of a Spanish American War Soldier inscribed with the name, “Robert Morris Albright, 1876-1938 Artificer CO.K S Texas Inf., Sp. Am War” was restored to its proper resting place in the Evergreen Cemetery.

This homemade monument (depicted left) with the inscription “Barbara Lynn Hembree” was among the long misplaced gravestones in the evidence property room. A descendent of Hembree was identified and has been contacted by the Police Department to arrange the return of the stone to its proper place.

A monument for an 8-year-old child named Wanda Lee Honeycutt was also discovered. An online Newspaper clipping was found and confirmed Wanda’s identity and resting place in the Union Grove Cemetery. Her headstone was restored to its proper place.]