Murder hard to understand: 'I am sorry Cheryl got killed'

Editor's note: This story was originally published Nov. 13, 1975 in the morning edition of The Macon Telegraph. Mary Jane Stewart was charged with murder 41 years after Cheryl White was killed.

WARNER ROBINS -- Those who knew Cheryl White found the brutal murder of the pretty 16-year-old difficult to understand.

Her second grade brother, Scott, a student at Miller Elementary School, wrote a letter of sorrow and bewilderment to his mother while he attended classes Wednesday.

"Dear mom, I am sorry Cheryl got killed down town," he wrote in red and fushia crayons, tracing the words "Cheryl" and "kill" down the side of the page.

Across town, young people milled around the front steps of the Parkway Apartments in pouring rain, recalling details of the previous night when their neighbor was brutally stabbed while they visited friends, partied and slept.

Many talked about moving out of the newly decorated "party apartments" to more quiet surroundings. They noted that there had been two murders there in the past week, statistics which do not help them sleep well at night.

The young people who knew Miss White talked about her and kept asking themselves and each other who would have committed such a violent crime against her.

Julie Warren, 18, her next-door neighbor, said Miss White was "real talkative" and a very popular person. She said there were always a lot of people at her apartment, but that there were never any "wild parties."

Terry Francioisi, a neighbor who found Cheryl's body, said he believes Miss White knew her murderer. "She was a strong girl," he said, noting that she would have struggled against an intruder. There were no apparent signs of struggle, police said.

Her roommate of one week, Mary Jane Stewart Staples, 18, recalled that she had an uneasy sensation all Tuesday evening that something was wrong at her apartment. At about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, she returned home to see if Cheryl was all right. Cheryl said she was going to bed because she didn't feel well. At 1:10 a.m., Cheryl White was found dead.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Murder hard to understand: 'I am sorry Cheryl got killed'."