Hey there, friends. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a tall glass of sweet tea – extra ice, extra lemon if you like it that way – and let’s talk about the kind of history most folks around here never heard in school.
Over the years, the Florida Panhandle has seen its share of crimes, including some downright chilling murders that somehow slipped between the cracks of public memory. A few of them are the stuff of local legend. Others? They’re the quiet ones, the cases that unfolded on the very streets and dirt roads we still drive every day, yet somehow never made the big headlines that stick around for a century.
I spent decades in law enforcement, working homicides right here in this corner of the state. There’s a special kind of satisfaction that comes with putting away someone who truly needed to be put away, closing the book on a case so a family can finally breathe again. But my own list of investigations looks almost small when I stack it up against the legends who came before and beside me: men like Ted Chamberlain, Buddy NeSmith, Dennis Waldron, John Sanderson, and an entire generation of highly talented detectives (and yes, some remarkable women too) who refused to let a murder victim’s voice go silent.
These investigators worked the long nights, the thankless leads, the pressure from bosses who wanted quick answers, the witnesses who suddenly couldn’t remember a thing, and the defense attorneys who fought every step of the way. They held on like a hound with a bone. Because of them, families got justice. Suspects who thought they’d walked free had to answer for what they’d done. Without that dogged pursuit, a whole lot of cases would still be sitting in dusty files marked “unsolved.”
That’s why I started Sweet Tea Murders.
Most of the stories I’ll be sharing here come from that golden era of Panhandle crime – roughly 1880 to 1950 – when the world was smaller, grudges ran deeper, and the line between neighbor and enemy could be as thin as a screen door on a July night. Some of these cases you may have heard pieces of. Others have been all but forgotten, buried under time, bootleg liquor, family secrets, and the gentle Southern habit of not speaking ill of the dead… even when the dead deserved better.
I’ll be dropping one or two new stories each week right here on sweetteamurders.com. Some will make you shake your head. Some will keep you up at night. All of them are true, pulled from old newspapers, court files, police reports, and the kind of oral history that only comes from people who still remember what their grandparents whispered over coffee.
And here’s the fun part—you’re invited to come sit with me in person.
The very first “Sweet Tea Murders LIVE: An Evening of Pensacola Crime Stories,” is happening on Thursday, May 28, at the old Pensacola Police Headquarters – now the beautiful Pensacola Museum of Art at 407 S. Jefferson Street. We’ll be telling these tales the way they were meant to be told: with the lights low and a chill in the air. Who knows…and maybe one or two of those legendary detectives will show up.
Best part? As part of the cost of your ticket, you’ll receive not only some good stories, but also a handsome program and your very own “Sweet Tea Murders” mason jar of sweet tea to take home and enjoy long after the lights come back up.
Tickets are limited, so if you want a seat (and that keepsake jar), grab yours now at sweetteamurders.com. Come for the stories. Stay for the chills. And leave knowing a little more about the ground we walk on every day—plus a sweet reminder in your hand.
This is our history, y’all…the good, the bad, and the downright brutal. I’m just the one lucky enough to tell it.
See you on the porch,
Michael Earl Simmons
Sweet Tea Murders
sweetteamurders.com
P.S. If you’ve got a family story, an old clipping, or a case that’s been nagging at you for years, drop me a line. The Panhandle keeps its secrets close… but sometimes they’re ready to come out for a glass of tea and a good listener.
