Fatal stabbing continues to stump Bay County authorities

PANAMA CITY - Leona C. Dupriest was making her first visit to Panama City on May 7, 1980, when she and a friend pulled into the Thoni service station on U.S. 231 for a fill-up.

It was about 2:30 a.m., and the night was clear and mild. She had just celebrated her 30th birthday.

When a moment elapsed and no attendant appeared, Dupriest looked around. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large form slumped near the door.

"It looked like big dog, lying in front of the doorway," Dupriest later told officers.

She realized it was the body of a man, curled on his side, covered in blood. The women sped away for two and a half miles until they met a Panama City police officer.

Investigators arrived on scene shortly after 3 a.m.

Though bleeding profusely from more than a dozen stab wounds, the man was still alive. He was taken to Bay Medical Center but died on the operating room table at 6:12 a.m., according to Bay County Sheriff's Office records.

The man later was identified as 71-year-old Archie L. Kennington, the Thoni station clerk working that night.

His killer never was found.

Kennington's slaying is one of the 15 unsolved homicides and two missing persons cases that make up the cold case files in Bay County.

Panhandle CrimeStoppers issued decks of cards to inmates with one of the 17 cold cases featured on each card. Inmates play cards with the decks, and investigators are hopeful putting the faces in front of inmates will help crack the cases. Anyone with information about this case or any other cold case is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS.

Kennington's wallet had been stolen, and he suffered 16 stab-wound lacerations during the attack, most to them to the left side of the body: five in the left arm, five to the left shoulder and two to the left side of his skull, one of which later was determined to be the primary cause of death.

Photographs taken of the scene resemble pictures from a slasher movie. Kennington had struggled after the attack, and blood was smeared throughout the store, along the walls and floor.

Investigators found store keys in the lock of the money drawer. A .38 revolver, untouched, lay in a desk drawer. On the desk was a newspaper, with a still-open novel underneath.

Investigators determined about $75 was missing from the station. Kennington's wallet, which had been attached to a chain that ran from his belt loop, also was missing.

About $360 in coin and currency was left behind.

Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen was an investigator with the sheriff's office in 1980. He remembers being stationed at the hospital where Kennington was taken and was with him when he died.

"We were hoping to get a dying declaration from him," McKeithen said in an interview Wednesday. "Something that might help us identify his killer."

McKeithen recalled having to tell Kennington's wife and son he had died.

"Back in the old days, it was the responsibility of the investigator to inform the next of kin," McKeithen said. "I don't think there is a harder job. It's a tough thing to do."

The sheriff's office attacked the Kennington murder relentlessly, he said.

The department gathered about 75 evidence exhibits and conducted more than 100 interviews with suspects and witnesses.

"We worked on this one for about three or four days, non-stop," McKeithen said. "This one bothered me. He was just an elderly gentleman trying to make a living."

McKeithen said the attacker used a three-quarter-inch blade, and the attack appeared to be a crime of opportunity more than a crime of pre-meditation.

He said he believed the man might have attempted to rob Kennington at knife-point, and Kennington made a move to resist.

On the last day of his life, Kennington went to work about 4 p.m., according to his wife.

He carried with him what he always did: a Thermos of coffee, a pocket knife to slice off plug chewing tobacco and a holstered .38-caliber revolver he kept in a desk drawer.

It was Kennington's final night at Thonis gas station, his wife told investigators. He had determined to retire and was filling the graveyard shift on his off night.

Kennington's social habits were described as poor by investigators.

Kennington's wife said her husband once held a 15-year grudge with a neighbor over a disagreement about some dogs, and the two never exchanged a word again. The majority of Kennington's social callings, his wife said, consisted of trips to Thonis for chit-chat and coffee, even on his days off. She said her husband despised social gatherings, preferring instead to spend his time reading detective novels or westerns or watching professional wrestling on TV.

Kennington's wife said her husband was a small man not more than 5 foot 9 inches and 140 pounds and had quite a temper. He had said to her on more than one occasion that he would resist, with violence if necessary, anyone who attempted to rob the store while he was working.

Still no solid leads

Investigators determined that prior to the robbery, Kennington had been reading a novel but settled down to read the newspaper once it arrived. The newspaper delivery person who dropped off the stack of papers at 2 a.m. was the last known person to see Kennington alive.

A short time later, it is possible the suspect entered the station on the pretense of purchasing cigarettes. Once inside, the killer likely stabbed Kennington as he turned to reach for the pack, investigators said; or, it is possible Kennington began to struggle or made a move to grab the .38 and then was stabbed.

Investigation reports and conversations with law enforcement officials reveal a few suspects.

In 2004, a woman contacted officials and told them her brother-in-law, who had been imprisoned once before for murder, claimed credit for the killing. She said he was assisted by a cousin and would bring it up while he was drinking. Investigators eventually determined the story likely was untrue.

A man investigators can place at Thonis who purchased gas the night in question also remains a suspect. McKeithen said no physical evidence can be tied to the man. His vehicle was destroyed in a junk yard shortly after the crime took place but unlike other suspects, he has not been ruled out by process of elimination.

Often times, investigators can determine that a suspect did not commit a crime. In this case, they were never able to do that, McKeithen said. But that doesn't mean he killed anyone.

McKeithen said the job of the investigator is not to close cases but to find the truth.

He said he has a hunch who killed Kennington, but only a hunch. He keeps an eye on the person, even talks to him every once in a while, he said.

But McKeithen realizes without physical evidence, a witness or a confession, he does not have a case.