00:00:00
Phoebe Judge: This episode contains
descriptions of violence and is not suitable for everyone. Please use discretion.
Melinda Dawson: We took a little drive about
00:00:11
a mile from our house and she parked
in this little park area and she said, "I'm not your birth mother, but I am your mother
and I love you as if you were my own daughter.
00:00:30
But you came from a clinic in Georgia
and the doctor was selling babies, and so we paid money for you."
[Music comes in.]
00:00:43
I just didn't really understand what she was
telling me, except for the fact that she loved
00:00:49
me and I was her daughter, regardless.
Phoebe Judge: This is Melinda Dawson describing a conversation she had with her mother,
00:00:58
Judy Johnson, in 1970, when
Melinda was just 7 years old. Had your mother had a hard time
getting pregnant herself? Had she
00:01:09
and your father been trying to get
pregnant and not having any luck, and so kind of came to adoption through that?
Melinda Dawson: Right. She was told that she
00:01:17
was not able to have children because of an
assault that she had endured at a young age.
00:01:31
Yes, they tried, and so she wanted a baby
very badly, and that's where I came in.
00:01:38
Phoebe Judge: Melinda says her mother and father
had looked into adopting a baby through official
00:01:43
channels, but it wasn't easy or cheap to meet
the requirements. Back in the '60s, you could be
00:01:49
turned down if you'd ever been divorced, you often
needed to own your own home. And that's when they
00:01:54
heard about a clinic in Georgia that didn't ask
any questions. Like a lot of people in and around
00:02:00
Akron, Ohio, Melinda's father and grandfather
worked in the tire business. This is the home
00:02:06
of Goodyear, Goodrich, Firestone. And someone at
Goodrich was acting as an intermediary between the
00:02:13
clinic and people looking to bring home a newborn.
[Music fades out.] Melinda Dawson: And let people know that if
they wanted to get a baby, that they should
00:02:24
call this number and talk to Dr. Thomas Hicks
in McCaysville, Georgia. I guess they made the
00:02:32
decision to be put on the list and didn't know
when they were going to get a call, just waited.
00:02:41
She told me that the instructions were to get to
Georgia within 12 hours, once they were called,
00:02:51
come in the front door, sign the birth
certificate, and head out the back door,
00:02:56
and get out of town as quickly as possible.
Phoebe Judge: That's exactly what Melinda's
00:03:01
adoptive parents did in February
of 1963. For a long time, Melinda's mother wouldn't tell her how much it
cost. But eventually when Melinda was an adult,
00:03:13
her mother told her they'd paid Dr. Hicks $1,000.
Melinda Dawson: We had a discussion and she said,
00:03:20
"We paid $1,000 for you," and back in
the 1960s, that was a lot of money. It didn't matter to me if they
would have paid a dollar for me,
00:03:33
none of that made a difference to me, ever.
Phoebe Judge: As Melinda grew up, she asked more questions. Her mother did
everything she could to answer them. They
00:03:44
both assumed that Melinda was one of a few babies
who couldn't, for one reason or another. Be kept,
00:03:50
and that when this happened, Dr. Hicks quietly
paired them with couples who couldn't conceive.
00:03:56
They had no reason to think otherwise until
Melinda went to the county courthouse and
00:04:02
McCaysville, Georgia, and asked for
a copy of her birth certificate. Melinda Dawson: I noticed that the clerk of
courts was very ... almost like a movie. There
00:04:16
was this great big spotlight on her and she
was like, "Aha." There was an 'aha' moment
00:04:20
for her. And there was a whole list of birth
certificates in this one particular file drawer,
00:04:27
because when I told her that I was born at
the clinic, that aha moment came to her like,
00:04:32
oh, this is one of the babies.
She gave me my birth certificate and asked if I could talk with the
probate court judge, Linda Davis.
00:04:43
Phoebe Judge: Judge Davis had already
noticed something very odd about the birth
00:04:47
certificates coming out of the Hicks Clinic.
Melinda Dawson: There's one telltale sign if
00:04:51
you're a Hicks baby, and that is that your
birth certificate says that you were born
00:04:57
at the Hicks Clinic. On the left side of it,
it'll say non-resident. Like you live in Akron
00:05:04
and you're going to travel all the way down
to McCaysville to this little, little clinic
00:05:09
and give birth and then go all the way back to
Akron. That's just absolutely ridiculous. So,
00:05:15
when they filed the birth certificates, they
would put it as these people were at the clinic,
00:05:20
gave birth, and they were a non-resident. That's
the telltale sign that you're a Hicks baby.
00:05:26
[Music comes in.]
Phoebe Judge: Talking with Judge Davis, Melinda discovered the scale of
the operation she was a part of. She's one of
00:05:34
at least 200 babies that were illegally sold
to couples in six states from 1951 to 1964.
00:05:42
And when your very arrival in the world
is marked with a fake birth certificate,
00:05:47
you learn that you can't
believe everything that you see. I'm Phoebe Judge, this is Criminal.
[Music up to full volume.]
00:06:04
Melinda says she grew up really happy.
Her mother did everything in the world to make sure she felt like part of the family.
Melinda Dawson: I have natural red hair, and
00:06:13
so she started dying her hair red. She was very
funny. I've got to tell you, she was about 5 foot
00:06:22
tall, maybe 100 pounds, and when I started growing
up, I'm 5 foot 10, nowhere near a hundred pounds,
00:06:31
but she never made me, none of my family ever
made me feel like I was an outsider. I mean,
00:06:39
they were my family, she was my mom,
I was her daughter. And proud of it. Phoebe Judge: Her mother and father eventually
divorced and her mother later remarried. In the
00:06:51
second marriage her mother was actually able to
become pregnant in spite of what she'd been told,
00:06:56
and she gave birth to Melinda's younger sister.
[Music fades out.]. In 1981, Melinda got married herself to a
man named Clarence Elkins, and they had two
00:07:06
children. And when she had children of her
own, she got curious about her biological
00:07:11
family's medical history. There were some
health issues that couldn't be explained.
00:07:16
By this time, Dr. Hicks was dead. The clinic was
long closed, and of course, there are no records.
00:07:24
All anyone knew was what they'd been
able to piece together with the help of Judge Davis. And the more questions they
asked, the more complicated the story got.
00:07:34
Melinda Dawson: Some of the parents that purchased
the babies were told that the mother had died,
00:07:42
when in reality, the doctor was also
telling the mother that the baby had died,
00:07:47
and he would take care of the funeral.
And then he would sell the baby. [Music comes in.]
Phoebe Judge:
00:07:56
Here's what we know about Dr. Hicks. Thomas J.
Hicks got his medical degree from Emory in 1917
00:08:02
and opened the Hicks Community Clinic
in McCaysville, Georgia, in the 1940s, after completing a federal sentence for selling
drugs just over the border in Tennessee.
00:08:14
That conviction cost him his medical license, but
only in the state of Tennessee. So he just crossed
00:08:20
the border into Georgia and opened a new practice.
The Hicks Community Clinic became a thriving
00:08:26
abortion facility during a time when abortion
was illegal and birth control was basically
00:08:32
nonexistent. Many of his patients were wealthy
out-of-towners, so much so that a private airstrip
00:08:39
was built nearby so that the rich could fly
in and out for their appointments. The locals
00:08:45
knew about the abortions too, but Dr. Hicks was
regarded as an upstanding figure. He was handsome
00:08:51
and charming. His wife taught Sunday School at
First Baptist church. They were very well liked
00:08:57
in town. One woman even told The New York Times,
"He gave the most terrific Halloween candy."
00:09:03
Melinda Dawson: He did a lot of good things
for the town and so the townspeople are very...
00:09:13
They hold him in a high regard, and
my mom did too, because she said, "Had he not given me you, I wouldn't have you,"
and so she held him in a really high regard. Now,
00:09:29
we know a lot about Dr. Hicks over the years
that we've been doing our research, and yeah,
00:09:35
he was a very good guy, but he had a dark
side as well. Once the practice of selling
00:09:44
the baby and getting the money became
'on a roll,' as you can say, he profited,
00:09:50
big time, on selling us to our parents.
Phoebe Judge: Melinda believes that Dr. Hicks was purely profit-driven, but the truth is
we just don't know. Some of the adoptive parents
00:10:05
were told the $1,000 payment covered the cost of
the biological mother's care. $1,000 back then
00:10:13
comes out to about $8,000 today. But the only way
for the Hicks babies to figure out whether their
00:10:20
biological mothers were helped or exploited
by Dr. Hicks would be to find them and ask.
00:10:27
In May of 1997, an article came out in the
Akron Beacon Journal telling Melinda's story and
00:10:36
describing the efforts by Judge Davis and another
Hicks, baby, Jane Blasio, to create a birth
00:10:43
registry matching babies with biological mothers.
[Music fades out.] Melinda Dawson: The majority of the
babies were sold to Akron couples because
00:10:54
that was where the money was being made in the
rubber industry. And so when this kind of liaison
00:11:01
between Dr. Hicks and the potential buyers,
that's where it was targeted. Either from, you
00:11:09
worked at Goodrich, Goodyear, or Firestone, a lot
of babies' parents worked in those industries. So
00:11:18
when it came out in the Akron Beacon Journal,
a lot of people still lived in the area.
00:11:24
Phoebe Judge: And some of those people
were mad. Judge Davis told the LA Times,
00:11:30
"There are some people who are very opposed to
this whole thing being brought to light. There's
00:11:35
an air of protectiveness about Dr. Hicks." The
Hicks babies around Akron tried to work as a
00:11:42
group to manage the story, but eventually they
splintered into two camps. Those who felt they
00:11:49
should come up with one message and stick to
it. That faction called itself Silent Legacy,
00:11:54
and those like Melinda and her mother
who said, "Hey, this is our story. We can talk about it however we like." Here
they are in The Maury Povich Show in 1998.
00:12:04
[Applause fades in.]
Maury Povich: Hi, everybody. Thank you. Today, we are talking to women who were all told
they were orphans. They were all adopted when
00:12:12
they were babies. What they didn't know was that
they may have been sold illegally, on the black
00:12:18
market. Judith is an adoptive mother who is here
with her daughter, Melinda. Give us a picture of
00:12:24
exactly what happened, because you would go
down to this small town in Georgia, right?
00:12:28
Judy: We walked in and then they wrote out the
birth certificate. They did not write it out in
00:12:34
the mother's name, they wrote it out in my name.
Maury Povich: So the name on the birth certificate
00:12:37
is yours.
Judy: Yes. Maury Povich: When it comes to parents.
Judy: She never had her. I
00:12:41
had had her. There's no way.
Maury Povich: Was your daughter being born then, or had she already been
born? Judy: She had already been born.
00:12:48
Maury Povich: How old was she at the time?
Judy: She wasn't even a day old when we got
00:12:51
there and started back.
Maury Povich: Right. [Clip fades out.]
Melinda Dawson: So after the show, the
00:12:55
local news picked up on this and people would call
my mom and say, "Are you the lady that was on the
00:13:05
TV?" Or, "Are you the lady that was on the news?
I've got something to tell you. How could you
00:13:13
do something so illegal? You should be punished
for that." And we didn't know what that meant.
00:13:20
Phoebe Judge: The threats were
from people who were saying, "How dare you do something like this?"
Melinda Dawson: Yeah.
00:13:27
Phoebe Judge: Primarily.
Melinda Dawson: Yeah. Or: how dare you put Dr. Hicks in a bad light?
00:13:34
I think that maybe we were kind of a target
because we were out there more and so accessible.
00:13:43
And so that's when I told my mom, "We need to
have a watch put on our house." And that's what
00:13:54
terrified me so much when I ... that was my first
thought when they told me she had been murdered,
00:13:59
that it had something to do with the Hicks babies.
Phoebe Judge: On June 7th, 1998, Melinda was at home when her
oldest son came to her and said that there were
00:14:11
a lot of police cars outside their house.
Melinda Dawson: I'm screaming at them,
00:14:17
"What is going on?" I mean, you can't imagine
seeing police run out of the woods in full SWAT
00:14:24
gear and running towards your house, and you
don't know where your husband and your oldest
00:14:28
son are. And then they're coming through the front
door, instructing you to come outside. He said,
00:14:37
"I'm going to tell you what's going on, but I
don't want to tell you in front of your boy."
00:14:43
My youngest son was 12 at that time and my oldest
son was 15. The deputy asked me what my mother's
00:14:52
name was, and I said, "Judy. Why?"
Phoebe Judge: The deputy told Melinda that the police department
had gotten a call early that morning that Judy
00:15:04
had been fatally stabbed inside her home.
Melinda Dawson: This is all in one sentence,
00:15:11
and he says his 6-year-old niece is
saying that it was her Uncle Clarence. Phoebe Judge: That's your husband.
Melinda Dawson: Yep. I remember
00:15:23
that feeling where you just kind of ball up
into a fetal position because that pain was
00:15:33
unbearable, and I just screamed. You can't wrap
your head around that, you just cannot. And I
00:15:43
remember snapping to, and saying, "You guys are
crazy. He would never have done something like
00:15:50
that." Because they had him in handcuffs in
the back of a patrol car. So at that point,
00:15:55
they took him and he never came back home.
Phoebe Judge: Not only was Melinda's husband,
00:16:01
Clarence Elkins, charged with
stabbing his mother-in-law to death, he was also charged with the rape, attempted
murder, and assault of Melinda's 6-year-old niece.
00:16:13
Melinda Dawson: My niece was staying the
night with my mom on June 6th, Saturday night.
00:16:22
After the attack, my niece had made a phone
call that was picked up by an answering machine.
00:16:33
Her message to my mom's friend was
that somebody had killed her Mamaw, and she needed help.
Phoebe Judge:
00:16:43
The 6-year-old then went next door to ask for
help, and reportedly told the next door neighbor
00:16:48
that the man who had assaulted her and killed
her grandmother looked like her Uncle Clarence.
00:16:56
So not only was your mother
stabbed, but your niece could have been killed as well.
Melinda Dawson: Yes, and
00:17:06
I later come to find out that my mom was
not stabbed, but she had been so brutally
00:17:13
beaten that it appeared to be like stab
wounds. That's hard. That's hard to say.
00:17:24
Phoebe Judge: How do you even split your
brain enough at that moment to be able
00:17:29
to process the fact that your mother
has been murdered and your husband is being taken away from her —? How do you
even function? Where does your mind go?
00:17:42
Melinda Dawson: I cannot even explain
how that is, because it's such a surreal, spiritual event. Because you're back
and forth. "Oh my gosh, my mom," "oh my God,
00:18:06
my husband," "oh my God, my niece," "oh my
God, my mom." It was horrible and horrendous.
00:18:15
My first thought was, there's no way it's
him. I wondered if it had something to do
00:18:21
with the Hicks adoption, because things were
getting crazy. And once your life goes public,
00:18:30
you're game, you're a sitting duck for some
things. And I really thought and was terrified
00:18:37
that they would be coming after me next.
Phoebe Judge: It had only been two months since Melinda and
her mother appeared on The Maury Povich Show,
00:18:48
and they'd been getting more and more angry
phone calls. And so this is where Melinda's
00:18:53
mind went. She tried to process what
had happened to her mother and niece. She truly believed someone wanted to shut them
up and tried to get the police to consider what
00:19:03
she was saying. But there just wasn't evidence of
any connection. It was a horrifying coincidence.
00:19:11
And if it wasn't related to
Hicks, who did do it and why? What did you know about what
your husband had been doing
00:19:22
the night... Before the murder
happened? Did you know, was he with you? Melinda Dawson: Well, yes, part of the night he
was with me. The other part, he had a bonfire
00:19:35
in our front yard. He went to one of the local
watering holes with some of his friends. So he was
00:19:43
never alone. And I've got to say, we were married
for 17 years at that point, right? And I know that
00:19:52
there are people in this world that can manipulate
others to think that they're some way, and they're
00:19:59
really not. But I mean, we were married at 18
years old. We basically grew up together. And I
00:20:07
knew him in and out. And we didn't have a great
marriage, but he was not a violent, sadistic,
00:20:18
serial killer like they made him out to be. I
mean, it was just ridiculous. I could not even ...
00:20:26
I think that that may me ... what fueled my
anger the most, besides the fact that someone
00:20:35
had actually done that to my mom and my niece.
The other part, they're not out there looking
00:20:41
for the true killer. They're trying to put their
story together and make him guilty when he's not.
00:20:48
Phoebe Judge: Did they have anything to
say that he was near your mother and niece?
00:20:53
Melinda Dawson: No, nothing. Nope, we lived
an hour away. There was no physical evidence.
00:21:01
There was an eyewitness, and she was 6 years
old, who said, "It looked like him, but I only
00:21:05
seen him in the dark. I only seen the back of his
head." That was it. Yep. That was the evidence,
00:21:14
the evidence. That was it. She said, and she
hadn't seen him for over a year, and she was 6
00:21:24
and had been brutalized and traumatized. You could
tell that she wasn't sure because she kept saying,
00:21:35
"Well, it was dark, and I only seen the back
of his head." And the prosecutor was like,
00:21:41
"Well, thank God she doesn't remember."
Phoebe Judge: This tore Melinda's family
00:21:46
apart. Her sister wouldn't speak to her, and
no one wanted her anywhere near her niece.
00:21:52
Clarence Elkins was charged with aggravated
murder, attempted aggravated murder, rape,
00:21:58
and felonious assault. Melinda's niece testified
to what she'd seen. And Elkins' defense attorneys
00:22:06
said he'd been in local bars until 2:30 a.m.,
and arrived home at 2:40 a.m., went for a
00:22:12
walk with his wife, and then went to bed.
Melinda Dawson: When I got on the witness
00:22:16
stand to testify for him, wow. They tried to
make me look like the biggest liar and some
00:22:28
dumb country hick that was standing by her man.
Phoebe Judge: The jury deliberated for three days,
00:22:33
and on June 4th, 1999, they reached a decision. Melinda Dawson: I watched the jury walk
in and I watched them look at Clarence,
00:22:48
and I knew that it wasn't good.
Phoebe Judge: How did you know that? Melinda Dawson: A lot of the men on the jury gave
him a look like, 'you're disgusting, you freak,'
00:23:01
just hateful. Then a couple of the women jurors
were crying/ and the judge read the verdict, and
00:23:12
he ultimately was sentenced to two life sentences,
guilty on three counts of rape and two counts of
00:23:24
assault. And so I remember the prosecutor telling
me, "Well, you're not going to see your husband
00:23:31
for at least 54 years." I remember looking into
the news camera and I said, "You want to bet?"
00:23:39
[Music fades in.]
Phoebe Judge: We'll have the rest of Melinda's story in our next episode.
Melinda Dawson: My niece had said that
00:23:53
it was not Clarence that was there
that night. She was just saying what everybody was telling her to say, what
everybody was expecting her to say.
00:24:07
Phoebe Judge: Criminal is produced by Lauren
Spohrer, Nadia Wilson and me. Audio mix by Rob
00:24:19
Byers. Alice Wilder is our intern. Julienne
Alexander makes original illustrations for
00:24:25
each episode of Criminal. You can see
them at our website, thisiscriminal.com. And learn all about our fall tour. We'll be
in D.C., Durham, New York, Boston, Chicago,
00:24:35
Minneapolis, Iowa City, Seattle, Portland, San
Francisco, Toronto — all new stories told live,
00:24:42
and some surprises. We hope to see you.
Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud
member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection of
00:24:55
the best podcasts around. Radiotopia from PRX is
supported by the Knight Foundation and MailChimp,
00:25:02
celebrating creativity, chaos, and teamwork.
Thanks to Adzerk for providing their
00:25:08
ad-serving platform to Radiotopia.
I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. [Music ends.]
Jingle: Radiotopia. From PRX.