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Published April 18, 2023 English Teachers Russell Hergesheimer and Gail Vasilkioti Attacked in Savannah Georgia
written by Josh Eaton
Russell Hergesheimer and Gail Vasilkioti were violently attacked in Savannah Georgia by an armed African American male. Gail was killed. The animal was motivated by money, but also by the thrill of violence, according to Savannah prosecutors. This incident occurred in 1999. It was never reported in the Metrowest Daily Newspaper, despite Russell Hergesheimer's long time career as an Ashland High School English teacher. Gail, his girlfriend of many years, was also an English teacher at another high school. The Savannah Georgia newspaper articles, the only newpaper to report this tragedy (albeit reluctantly), have been virtually erased. This is part of a company-wide pattern by Gannett New Media Investment Group, the largest print newpaper distributor in the nation. Gannett also owns the Metrowest Daily News. Ashland News has done a painstaking search and investigation, and is now publishing a detailed report of the incident and surrounding circumstances, so that the history of this will not be erased from the internet and public record. Gail and Russell's lives mattered.
Gail and Russell had taken a trip to see Savannah's historical district. On September 12, 1999, at around 9:30 PM, Russell and Gail had walked back to their hotel, "The President's Quarters", after having dinner at a local restaurant. As they approached the first hotel entrance, a local girlscout troop was blocking the entrance way. The mothers and the girlscouts were aggressively selling their factory-made soy-based cookies to tourists. To avoid appearing rude or uncharitable, Russell and Gail continued down the sidewalk, intending to use the second entrance. This was an innocent and fatal mistake that would cost Gail her life, and leave Russell a broken man for the rest of his.
A dark figure appeared in front of them, there wasn't any illumination in that particular spot. He pointed a sawed-off shot gun at them, and said something to the effect of demanding their possessions. Surprised, Gail panicked and turned to run. The savage shot, destroying half of her waist and pelvis area. He didn't have another loaded shot if he intended to shoot Russell. The savage ran to a waiting car. Russell tried to hold Gail together while he yelled for somebody to call an ambulance. Gail told Russell that she didn't want to die in a gutter. Another couple were walking on the other sidewalk across the street. The man turned and took a step in their direction as if to help, but the woman grabbed him by the arm, and the couple continued down the sidewalk, pretending not to notice. An ambulance arrived and took them to the hospital. Gail turned out to be a true warrior, she survived for 43 more very difficult and very painful days. She was 55 years old.
The lives of Gail and Russell meant nothing to this savage. Good people who worked hard their entire lives, foregoing more lucrative careers so they could give of themselves unselfishly. To teach young men and women the skills and understanding which enable them to succeed. Skills that are the very basis of our civilization, the ability to read and write, and also to think and to reason. To learn from, and to pass on knowledge learned, by written word. Russell and Gail indeed embodied western civilization itself. A civilization under attack.
Is it a crime to intentionally not report a murder in the local news? Is it a crime to try to erase the historical record of a murder? It's not a crime, and what most people don't know is, the media can lie without any legal consequence. There is however an unwritten Christian duty for a news reporter to report such things, and to never destroy historical record. The people running the main stream media are not Christian however, and they operate by a different set of values.
The local Savannah media tried to cover up this crime by not reporting it. 'Savannah Now', the only local newspaper, only reported on this incident for the first time, nine days after the shooting, and only after they were asked to publicize a $10,000 cash reward that Russell and Gail's family had offered for information leading to the arrest of the killer. At that point there was no way the newspaper could ignore the situation any longer. When finally reported, it came as a major surprise to the local community. A local contractor not seeking recognition immediately posted an additional $10,000 cash reward. Savannah Now reporter Paula Reed Ward at that point began writing article after self-serving article, using the tragedy to sell newspapers, do damage control, and praise the community. One article in particular written 9 days after Gale died, was titled, "Tourists Find Safety on Savannah's Streets", where a police spokesman named "Bucky" is quoted as Saying Savannah's streets are safe. A deadly lie, as there had already been 30 homicides that year alone, according to an article Ward had written only a month before. According to statistical data, Savannah's historic district at the time was surrounded by high-crime African American neighborhoods. Today, the entire area is over run with crime. (maps)
Just as the newspaper had tried to not help the situation, not one person in the surrounding African American community came forward with information for 9 or 10 days, until the cash rewards were publicized. At that point, it only took about 24 hours for police to identify the suspect, despite the fact that apparently the murderer had been bragging about the attack to many people that entire time.
The murderer finally received the death penalty, which is rare in these kind of attacks. The murderer's friends and family in the African American community mourned his lose. That doesn't really begin to do justice though. There were many people complicit in this. The African American community, who knew this animal had shot Gail, but didn't report it until money was offered. The African American Mayor who did nothing to help, and wouldn't return Russell or the family's phone calls. The newspaper which tried to not report this, hindering justice for Gail and Russell, and putting the lives of tourists and the public at risk by keeping them unaware of a killer lose in their neighborhood. The local police spokesman who intentionally deceived the public. All these people bear responsibility.This incident came very close to being buried forever. When I first started to investigate it about 3 years ago, my intention was to simply inform the Ashland and surrounding areas of what had happened, even though it was about two decades overdue. Due to the overwhelming scope, I had to put it on the back burner several times since then. When I resumed over this past year, the online articles were gone. In fact I could barely find any evidence Russell and Gail had even lived at all. I searched the web for two consecutive days, nothing. About 3 weeks later I tried again, and Again I searched for about two days. I searched websites that archive other websites. I did every type of search with every combination of keywords I could think of. Again I came up empty. It seemed hopeless, but growing up in the 80's, giving up is not an option. No way was I going to let this go. I opened up the savannahnow.com website, and began to check every single link, on every page of the site, one by one. I found an obscure link to an 'archive'. I paid $20 and I was able to search by date. I found the articles. Gannett/Savannah Now had made the server unsearchable. That is, invisible on the internet to search engines. I never expected them to do something like that.
This is the end of Part 1. Please check back within the next month for Part 2 of this report. Links to copies of the 'Savannah Now' articles are listed below. Please share the link to this article with those to whom this may concern. -Thank You.
Recovered Savannah Newspaper Clips: (still uploading)
2-2-03: Death Penalty Case to Begin...
2-4-00: Vasilkioti Family helps another victim.
2-11-03: 10 witnesses compete for reward money and lenient sentences of their own.
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