“Something terrible has happened, please come,” Norma Jeannette Sims pleaded with a Tallahassee funeral home ambulance service. She stood in her parents’ bedroom overlooking the bound bodies of her father lying on the bed while her mother and youngest sister lie on the beige carpet. 

 

On that Saturday, Oct. 22, 1966, then seventeen-year-old Sims had been babysitting for a family that attended the Florida State football game. When the game ended and the family returned, she returned home with no one there to welcome her. 

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Although the television was on when she returned to her family’s Muriel Court Drivehome, no one was gathered watching it as she’d expected.  She began walking through the house looking for them and eventually entered her parents’ bedroom.  

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Sims found her father, Dr. Robert Sims, 42, lying atop the flowered bedspread bound, blindfolded and shot once in the head. On the beige carpet she found her mother, Helen Sims, 34, bound, blindfolded and shot twice in the head and once in her leg. 

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Diagonal to her mother Sims found her youngest sister, Joy Lynn, 12, still in her nightgown. Joy had been shot in the head once and stabbed six times in the abdomen. 

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When their daughter arrived at home her parents were still alive. Her mother was transported to the hospital where she lost the fight for her life nine days after her husband and youngest child.

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The owner of Bevis Funeral Home, Russell Bevis, and his 16-year-old son Rocky Bevis who first arrived at the home. Upon arriving Bevis sent his son to fetch something to unbind the parents in the attempt to save their lives.

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The first investigator to arrive was Larry Campbell, the 24-year-old who became the lead detective from Leon County sheriff department on the case.

 

 Almost immediately robbery was ruled out as a motive for the murders.  There was no evidence of anything being moved around or stolen.

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The investigation had no leads for suspects. Police searched the area surrounding the house, and even drained a pond in search of the murder weapon or other evidence.

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The case has never been solved, although it’s been re-opened numerous times.

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Campbell proceeded to have a long career in law enforcement, he eventually became Sheriff. The Sims’ case was one that he couldn’t forget.

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The Sims’ murders were always a case that weighed heavily on Campbell’s mind throughout the years. Campbell was repeatedly hard on himself for not solving the crime and also felt haunted by the sights he saw that night. 

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The Sims’ family was admired by their community and people were shaken to their core upon hearing of the murders. They were respected people and a close-knit family; Robert Sims was the director of data processing for the Florida Department of Education and his wife, Helen, the former secretary at First Baptist Church of Tallahassee. The family was buried at Hebron Baptist Church Cemetery, Mississippi. 

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With no arrests, the community feared a killer still at large. There was no trick or treating that year in the neighborhood of the Sims’ family. People became extremely aware of their surroundings and protective of their families. 

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Long years have passed since the murders and now the case has a Jacksonville connection.

It comes in the form of Mary Effenberger, known then as Mary Charles Lajoie. She and Vernon B. Fox Jr., the son of a couple who lived behind the Sims’ family, were a steady item during the time of the Sims’ murders. 

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Vernon was 21 and Mary was 19 at the time of the murders. They later got married and then divorced. The young woman eventually moved to Jacksonville, Florida.

Mary Effenberger had detective Campbell’s attention, she would repeatedly come into the station to just talk to him about the Sims case. Then on July 15, 1987, she came into the police station talking about the state of her mental health, revealing vivid details of Sims’ family murder. 

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She told Tallahassee police during an interview on July 15th, 1987, “I think I would have devised a plan. A very simple plan. Get in there and get out and take care of the problem.”

Campbell spoke to Effenberger during the interview telling her that the details she was giving them were not even mentioned in newspaper articles. Effenberger had claimed she couldn’t remember much from that night.

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For his part, Fox has continued to contend he innocent on online blogs, social media, and the Tallahassee Democrat website.  He has stated his ex-wife‘s statements are not facts, but are rather psychic dreams. 

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The truth about the Sims’ case is that there is no way of knowing exactly what happened over 50 years ago unless the murderer or murderers are caught.

It’s a case that still weighs heavily on many in Tallahassee.

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