Congressman John Rutherford credited former JSO detective Lee Cody for helping transform local law enforcement by “forcing people to do the right thing”.
JACKSONVILLE, Florida – A former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office detective credited with uncovering the dark secrets of a racist murder in 1964 was honored by the Veterans Administration on Wednesday.
Lee Cody was one of the original detectives who worked on the murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell, a black woman who was shot dead by a truckload of white teenagers.
Chappell, a mother of ten, was on New Kings Road looking for the wallet she dropped when she went home to get her children’s ice cream.
Four men were charged, but when important evidence disappeared, charges against three of them were dropped. The fourth served only three years in prison.
Cody bonded with Chappell’s youngest son, Shelton, in the mid-1990s, and helped officers reopen the investigation in search of justice. No new charges were ever filed, but Chappell is now recognized as a civil rights martyr and a marker at the site of her murder has her name on it.
Shelton Chappell spoke at the ceremony on Wednesday in honor of Cody’s work for civil rights, as did several other dignitaries.
Congressman John Rutherford, a former Jacksonville sheriff, thanked Cody for developing the sheriff’s office since the mid-1960s.
“Those were terrible times,” said Rutherford. “But they were worse for the kind of law enforcement we had at the time.” This change between our whereabouts and our whereabouts was significant. And Lee, it’s because of you. And not just your relentless support for the Chappell family, but also forcing people to look into this and do the right thing. ”
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