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Eagle Editor found shot in office By Loretta Winston Staff Reporter Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department deputies were called to the offices of the Oxford Eagle newspaper on Jackson Avenue in Oxford on the early morning of Sunday, January 11, to investigate the apparent murder of Joan Woodley, the newspaper's managing editor for the last two years. Officials say that Woodley was shot three times in the chest, neck, and head area from close range with a small-caliber pistol and speculate that she probably died instantly. The bullets pierced her heart, neck, and head. Two of the bullets apparently passed through her body, ricocheted off the wall and were found lying on the floor behind her desk. Her body was found by Reno McCullough, a long-time security guard of the newspaper, while he was making his regular weekend rounds of the newspaper building. McCullough informed police that he heard gunshots around 1:15 a.m. and immediately called police to the scene. McCullough told police that he was in the back of the building, near the press area, when he heard three loud gunshots. He went to the closest phone and called police, then moved toward the front of the building to investigate. He and Oxford Police officer Billy Mertens, who responded within two minutes, found the body. Woodley, an honorary member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis, and the Rotary Club, will be buried in Yellow Springs, Ohio, at the end of this week. A memorial service is planned for Tuesday afternoon at Walls funeral home in Oxford. Yoknapatawpha Sheriff's office spokesperson Elizabeth Jones reports that Chase McFadden, city reporter for the Oxford Eagle newspaper, was detained for questioning and then released, and may be arrested on suspicion of homicide in the next few days. McFadden and Woodley were reportedly engaged in a long-standing on and off romance that was marked by heated arguments. Woodley was well-known to most members of the community for helping to turn the Oxford Eagle, a nondescript small-town newspaper before her tenure, into a firebrand of controversy, reporting what Woodley liked to refer to as "the straight facts" on everything from city politics and elections to the controversial late sheriff Charles "Chuck" Lamar, to in-depth investigations into developer Bob Gilbert's alleged ties to organized crime and the suicidal rock band cult Ego Shovel. Woodley was well-known at City Hall for making surprise appearances at meetings held by the mayor and aldermen and demanding an accounting on behalf of the citizens of Oxford. One official we contacted who requested anonymity said that to him, the seven most intimidating words in the English language were "Joan Woodley is here to see you." Each year, Woodley's name was often offered by citizens of Oxford as an example of the kind of person they would like to have helping to run their city government, and during election years, she had to continually refuse pleas to run for a city government seat, claiming that her true and only love was journalism and not politics. "If I can make a difference," she was often quoted as saying, "then it's going to be with a typewriter." No matter what others thought of her, Woodley was respected statewide for her on-the-spot and almost psychic-like coverage of important events in the town and immediate area, and for her thoughtful criticism and editorials where she continually put the benefit of the entire town at the forefront. A series of editorials that she penned in the spring and summer of last year, for example, caused city officials to nix a proposed five-lane expansion of Jackson Avenue, one of the town's busiest thoroughfares, citing Woodley's persuasive argument that the city was neither ready or willing for more traffic to congest its streets. Woodley's argument, in effect, showed what many believed privately -- that to complete such a project would cause more traffic bottlenecks than it would alleviate. Under Woodley's tenure as managing editor, The Oxford Eagle received a number of awards for spot reporting and investiagative journalism, including the Southern States Newspaper Association's award for "General Excellence" in 1995 and 1996. Woodley was hired as managing editor for The Oxford Eagle in 1995, replacing editor Nita Gooley, who retired. A seven-and-a-half year resident of the Oxford community, Woodley received her degree in journalism from Antioch University in 1985. She worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1986 to late 1991 in various positions at The Cincinnati Post. Woodley moved to the Oxford area in September of 1991 to take a position as crime reporter at The Oxford Eagle. She is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Woodley, who reside in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and are both involved in higher education.
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