Murder case remains unsolved from 52 years ago
Wood’s Grocery Store, located nine miles southeast of Adel, was the scene of the brutal robbery-murder of Claude Norris Wood, 66, a prominent Cook County citizen on Friday, Sept. 28, 1973. The original structure is no longer standing. The Country Closet was built basically on the foundation of the old store at the corner of Val-Del Road and Fellowship Road.
Murder case remains unsolved from 52 years ago
By Charles Shiver
In 2019, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released a poster seeking information in one of Cook County’s oldest “cold” murder cases.
Claude Norris Wood was shot and killed at his business (a country store/gas station) at the intersection of Fellowship Road and Val-Del Road on Friday, Sept. 28, 1973. He was 66 years old at the time.
Anyone with information regarding the death of Claude Wood is asked to please contact the GBI Douglas Office at (912) 389-4103.
The case was very much in limbo for years, until the GBI recently launched an effort to clear cold cases and contacted Mr. Wood’s descendants.
The front page headline and article about the slaying of Mr. Wood in the Oct. 3, 1973, issue of The Adel News. This was the centennial anniversary year for Adel, Ga.
According to an article in the Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1973, issue of The Adel News, authorities were searching for two Black men for questioning in the slaying and a white, late model pickup truck that might have been the getaway vehicle. A $2,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the shooting death.
Mr. Wood, a prominent resident of the Fellowship Community and a former County Commissioner (from 1951 to 1953), was pronounced dead upon arrival at Smith Hospital shortly after the shooting. According to then-Cook County Deputy Sheriff J.W. Snead in the 1973 article, the time of the shooting had been narrowed down to about 20 minutes. The shooting occurred sometime between 12:25 and 12:45 p.m.
Snead said there were about 20 people in Wood’s Grocery Store within about an hour of the shooting. The article states, “All but two of the people have been found, given polygraph tests and been cleared of any involvement. Most of the people who had been in the store were either living in that area or working nearby.”
Four convicts from the Cook County Public Camp were working in the area, but authorities also cleared them, according to The Adel News article. Two were mowing and two were on the road grader, according to Deputy Snead.
The deputy told The Adel News that as far as could be determined, the last people to see Mr. Wood alive left the store about 12:35 p.m.
The article continues on with a surprising amount of detail considering what little is typically released by law enforcement in ongoing murder investigations these days:
“At 12:45 a salesman, Hugh Hicks of Moultrie, stopped by the store on his rounds. Martin Hall, a resident of the community, was in the store waiting for Mr. Wood to appear, thinking he might have stepped across the road to his residence.
“Upon looking behind the counter, Hicks saw Mr. Wood lying on his back behind the meat counter. Hall was sent after Mrs. Wood, but Hall instead went after their son, A.D. Wood, who lives about 500 yards from the store.”
An ambulance was summoned from Adel, and Mr. Wood was taken to Hahira.
When the body was first found, it was thought that Mr. Wood had suffered a heart attack, Snead told The Adel News at the time. There were no signs of blood on the floor, nor was any visible anywhere on the body. It was not until Dr. Jessie L. Parrott examined the body in the Hahira hospital that the bullet wound was found. The bullet entered the right lower portion of the back, severed the large artery leading to the heart, and lodged in the left upper part of the chest. Dr. Larry Howard with the State Crime Lab removed the bullet and identified it as a .38-caliber projectile.
According to Harold Greeson, a State DOI Agent quoted in the article, robbery appeared to be the motive for the shooting. However, he said there was no apparent reason for the shooting. There was no sign of a struggle.
Between $75 to $100 was missing from the cash register, but not all the change was taken from the register. Also there was $100 in the victim’s billfold and approximately $20 in his pocket.
Then-Sheriff D.J. Connell told The Adel News at the time that investigators had talked to all the people who had been in the store prior to the shooting, except for the two Black men wanted for questioning.
The Sheriff’s Office also was searching for the white pickup truck, the last vehicle seen at the store before the slaying. There was some boom equipment in the back of the pickup.
“The reward money posted to find the ones responsible for the senseless killing could swell to $4,000 soon,” The Adel News reported in 1973. “Adel Rep. Grover C. Patten said $1,000 had been obtained from Gov. Jimmy Carter. Another $1,000 had been posted by friends and the family.” The County Commissioners were investigating whether they could legally match the $2,000.
Mr. and Mrs. Wood’s gravesite in Fellowship Baptist Church Cemetery near Cecil.
However, no one ever collected the reward. The very next Adel News issue had an article headlined, “Few Clues Found In Murder.”
The newspaper’s editorial writer expressed opinions very similar to what you see posted on social media in 2025 (a form of instant mass communication that could not have been foreseen by even the most knowledgeable people in the early 1970s):
“This is a trend in violent crime which has all true citizens deeply concerned. Here in Georgia, we have had a series of armed robberies, kidnappings, and our capital city has the nation’s highest murder rate. Does this make you proud to be a Georgian? …
“We again say, ‘Crime begins in the home.’ It spreads throughout the community. When a child is brought up having to steal for his lunch money, when he hears his parents plan to cheat and rob if necessary, when they are taught to shoot to kill and have left God and His teachings out of their homes and community life, we can beware. When they are not reared in a church atmosphere and led to ‘The Prince of Peace,’ we have very little hope in reaching them.”
Mr. Wood’s family members have speculated that the killer might have been someone who owed Mr. Wood on a tab at the store, or a jail trustee who was out for revenge because he got more time in custody after Mr. Wood reported him for stealing watches from the store.
The editorialist in 1973 wrote, “It is sad when one of our finest citizens was ‘shot down in cold blood,’ just for money he would have gladly given. It is dangerous to live now when people have forgotten to respect even God. It is no wonder no one feels safe at night anymore.
“We must go back to the ‘ole time’ way in home prayer, Bible study, regular church attendance, clean community recreation, provided for even the poorest ones. Our government must also help those ‘who can’t help themselves.’ People will kill if they have no jobs, no money to feed the little ones. We must find a way to aid those who really need it in the Christian way.”
Of course, over five decades later, we see the epidemic of highly addictive, dangerous drugs in our community, much more prevalent than even in the sick ’70s. Slaves to meth and crack will rob and kill for a few dollars to support their habit. The loss of morality has indeed grown much worse and sparked severe mental instability, resulting in outbursts of violent crime.
I have reviewed newspapers over the decades for comparison to the 2025 issues of the Adel News Tribune. While there were isolated outbreaks of violent crime covered by the news, say, back in 1973, the extremes of lawlessness didn’t seem to occur as often as they do today. I don’t know if such activities are surging, or the system of citizens’ reporting of crime to law enforcement has improved over the years. What do you think?
I have been criticized that my coverage of accidents and crimes is cruel and insensitive for such a small community. Upon looking at the details of reporting up until the 1990s in these community newspapers, I have found that what I have written is like Sunday school lessons in comparison. Those old journalists were men and women of steel, and their reporting was metal. I have always done my best to balance the competing journalistic standards of the public’s right to know vs. awareness about negative mental impacts on victims and their families. If anything, I have omitted graphic details and avoided sensationalizing stories.
As for the Wood case, there is no statute of limitations on murder. In 2017, investigators used a new method of analyzing evidence on a bloody palm print, left at the crime scene, to allegedly connect Calvin Jerome Davis of Valdosta with the murder 24 years earlier of Adel businessman Grant Green. I have been trying to find out more about the outcome of that case, and whether or not Davis was convicted.
As the 1973 editorial writer put it about Mr. Wood, “God help us if we ‘let this good man have died in vain.’ It should bring us all back to our knees. We pray for these loved ones who will grieve always because of such a useless crime. But, as law-abiding, Christian people, they will go on to ‘live the good life,’ be good citizens, and have faith ‘justice will prevail.’ We, as citizens, should see that it does.”
Please let me know about other unsolved murder cases or area mysteries that you would like to read more about in our articles.
