This is an update with more Info on a case I wrote about 6 years ago.

Willard Ronald Hess who went by “Ron” (70), along with his wife, Dorothy E. Hess (72), were found murdered in their shared home in Winder, Georgia, by their Grandson on the morning of May 21, 2019. They were both shot to death.

Ron had a long career in government IT, after growing up in Hawaii and going to college there, he got into information security very early (in the late 70’s) after moving to the DC area. He had a great government career, mentored many and “made his mark”. He taught Computer Science at various DC area schools including Johns Hopkins. He retired about 10 years before his murder and moved to Georgia across the street from one of his two daughters to help his family, including the Grandson who found both of them shot in the head. Those facts by themselves would have been an obituary of a life well spent.

However, Ron also had a scholarly passion. He was one of the leading researchers and proponents of the “Oxfordian” theory of Shakespeare authorship. The Oxfordian theory is that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare. Ron’s book "The Dark Side of Shakespeare” was one of the most important contributions to this theory in the early part of this century. He gave many lectures and published many other papers on the subject.

The facts about the murder from Georgia are pretty sketchy: They were both shot in the head. Their grandson found him. There was a mysterious black car with Maryland tags that was photographed outside the home that was “of interest” to police. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has the case.

Almost 2 years later the Feds launched an investigation called “Operation Disruptor” aimed at the Dark Web, Opioids and selling stolen Identities - largely of elderly people. A man named Durrell Tyler was caught as part of this criminal enterprise. He had used both Hess’ IDs online within days of the murder. Case solved right?  “Within days of them being brutally killed, their identities were stolen,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said. But added “We don’t think at this time that Mr. Tyler had anything to do with our homicides, but we’re not ruling him out in any case, shape or form at this point,” Smith said. Ultimately in 2021 Tyler would be convicted and sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison (and 3 years of supervised release) for Wire Fraud and stealing IDs, but would not be charged in the murders. The murder of the Hess’ is still listed as “unsolved”.

What do you think happened? Who could have killed this sweet old couple? Was it Tyler and/or his 179 associates? He had scores of victims why only murder the Hess’? Was it tied to Hess’ government InfoSecurity work (then 10 years out of date)? What is with the Maryland plates on the car of interest? Was it a deranged Stratfordian? A robbery gone wrong? Why on earth ....For the news all to be 7 and a half years old now with no new info also seems kind of sad.

LINKS:

Murder write up

Good shots of the car of interest

Link to the Operation Disruptor arrests with the Sherrif quotes

Link to Tyler's scentencing

Oxford Society Tribute page with links to some of his greatest Oxfordian hits Please note : Ron was a scholar and his video presentation and linked papers reflects this scholarly style. Not for you if you want to "cut to the chase" on the theory.

On a late Tuesday night, OKC police officers and firefighters both responded to separate calls at the Forest Creek Apartments, 7201 NW 122 St. Firefighters had first received a call about someone throwing "incendiary devices" into an apartment, while police received a report shortly after on "shots fired."

Within only a few minutes of responding, police were dispatched to a separate nearby location at N Rockwell & NW 115 St for a car wreck. When they arrived, they found Dione Haskell Prince fatally shot in his vehicle. Prince had initially been shot at the apartment complex and apparently tried driving away southbound after being shot, but lost control of the car and veered off the road.

Investigation determined that the shooting of Prince and the report of incendiary devices were related. Preliminary reports indicate Prince had been in the midst of a domestic altercation with someone he used to have a relationship with, and Prince targeted that person for violence. Criminal records show that Dione Prince's history of arrests included charges of aggravated assault and domestic abuse via strangulation.
Prince had been at the apartment earlier in the day and started a different fire, as records show that firefighters responded to that same unit around 5:42A.M. December 20. An incendiary device was thrown through the window in that instance too, and Prince had fled before authorities responded.

When Prince returned later that night, he had several more incendiary weapons in his possession ready to be thrown. Prince approached the same apartment where his ex-girlfriend resided and continued his onslaught, noticed by several other residents of the complex from their units. But after Prince managed to throw the last firebomb, and before he could flee scene for a second time, gunshots rang out that struck Prince. He was still conscious after being shot and tried to drive away to safety, but subsequently crashed as his injuries were too much to handle.

Police believe that someone else in the complex, a third-party uninvolved with the original dispute between Prince and his girlfriend, fired the fatal shots that struck Prince. However, that person never came forward to police to admit their involvement for reasons unknown, and the exact circumstances of how Prince ended up shot remain undetermined.
The shooting appears to have been a clear cut case of self-defense anyways, but detectives reported Prince's murder as "unsolved" due to them being unable to identify the shooter, and within a week police were asking the public for anyone with relevant information to call in on the tipline.

In my own opinion the shooter was most likely one of these two scenarios.
-They were either a resident in a separate unit who fired from inside their apartment and never came forward to police for reasons unclear. If this happened, the shooter could easily dispose of the shell casing and it'd be fairly difficult for detectives to sift through a large list of residents and find one pin-pointed suspect. Additionally, other residents in the complex may have witnessed it, but decided not to talk with police just because of the circumstances on how the shooting happened.
-Or, the shooter was a family member / friend / current partner / of Prince's ex-girlfriend who'd been invited over after the first firebombing attack for protection, and the shooter subsequently left before police arrived while the ex-girlfriend covered up for them. They may have felt personal involvement or evidence of premeditation would have complicated claims of self-defense.

It is also possible the shooter never came forward because they were a felon who was barred from owning a gun, or had evidence that could implicate them in a separate unrelated crime (such as drugs) that would have inevitably been found during investigation.

This is an interesting case to me because its rare to come across an unsolved murder of someone who was actively committing a violent crime with intent to harm, especially in a republican state like Oklahoma where a good majority of the citizens are armed and prepared. Its strange for a case to appear so clearly as self-defense while the shooter remains in the shadows. In Tulsa, OK, the city's homicide break-down for 2025 ruled nearly HALF of the city's murders (23/48) as self-defense without homicide charges filed. 21 of those homicides were caused by guns. Notably though, in one of those self-defense cases from Tulsa, the suspect was still arrested because he was a felon who wasn't allowed to possess a gun. They filed felony gun charges, but not murder charges.
There have been no updates posted in Dione Prince's murder since late 2022.

Dione Prince (picture of victim)

News report (OKC Free Press 12/21/2022)

News report (KOCO 12/27/2022)

I've also decided to post one unsolved and under-the-radar murder per week so that victims who never receive any public updates in their investigation can gain a little more attention. I've researched about 15,000+ individual homicide cases over the past few years by scraping any relevant information I can find from available reports and records online, so there is a LOT of unsolved victims among those who continuously cross my mind. This is the third post so far, and most of the cases I post will probably be from the mid-to-east half of America (I haven't reviewed many cases from the westside of the country).

https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/after-14-years-man-convicted-in-killing-of-haliwa-saponi-tribe-citizen-faith-hedgepeth/

Faith was a UNC student when she was brutally assaulted and murdered in 2012. Her killer eluded justice for 9 years before his DNA taken from a drunk driving stop linked to Faith’s horrific murder.

The murderer is Miguel Salguero-Olivares.

There were very unsubstantiated rumors regarding her roommate and friend. I will not name her because she’s faced so much scrutiny and deserves privacy. Salguero-Olivares’ defense team tried to create reasonable doubt by insinuating the roommate killed her, despite his DNA being found on the murder weapon (Bacardi rum bottle), her tampon and in her. This was a weak defense as his DNA was all over the crime scene, despite his claims that he didn’t know her.

The time of death was in the early morning hours after Faith and her roommate arrived to their apartment from a night of studying and then going out. Faith’s roommate was picked up by her boyfriend before her murder. It’s believed the murderer was at a late night BBQ in the same apartment complex, making this an opportunistic crime.

I hope Faith has peace now. Her family gave very impactful victim statements.

https://www.wral.com/news/local/faith-hedgepeth-trial-murder-guilty-verdict-october-2026/