Bio 

James E. Messer Jr. was born on February 26, 1954 and lived in Georgia. By 1979, Messer lived near his family in Polk County, Georgia. His niece was 8-year-old Rhonda Joan Tanner. Messer and his wife had sometimes babysat Rhonda, so he was known to her family and school.

On the day of the murder, Messer first went to a doctor’s office but left before his appointment. He later went to an electrical supply store and tried to get a female employee to go with him to a back room. She became suspicious and called her husband for help, and Messer left.

Later that afternoon, Messer went to Rhonda’s school. Because he was her uncle, he was able to take her from school by falsely saying her father had been injured and her mother had asked him to pick her up.

Murder Story

On February 13, 1979, 8-year-old Rhonda Joan Tanner was at College Street Elementary School in Cedartown, Georgia. That afternoon, her uncle, James Messer Jr., came to the school and falsely said Rhonda’s father had been injured and that her mother wanted him to take Rhonda home.

Because Messer was Rhonda’s uncle, she left the school with him. When Rhonda did not come home on the school bus, her mother went to the school and learned that Messer had taken her. Her mother had not given anyone permission to pick Rhonda up, so police were contacted.

The next day, Rhonda’s family searched for her. A relative found her coat near a wooded area. Police later found her book, crayons, and body. Rhonda had been badly beaten and stabbed multiple times. She died from blood loss. Messer later went with investigators for questioning. After witnesses identified him as the man who took Rhonda from school, he confessed.

Messer said he drove Rhonda to a wooded area and led her into the woods by pretending he needed help fixing his car. He admitted that he intended to molest her, but she screamed and resisted. He then beat her, stabbed her with a pocketknife, and kicked her until she stopped moving.

Physical evidence also connected Messer to the crime. Hair from Rhonda was found on his clothing, his shoes matched a partial shoe print from the scene, and blood was found on his pocketknife. Messer was convicted of kidnapping with bodily injury and murder on February 8, 1980. He was sentenced to death. After his appeals were rejected, he was executed by electric chair in Georgia on July 28, 1988.