Introduction: Genealogy discovery: while researching this story, James Pylant was surprised to find that one of his relatives was the accused killer’s wife! James is an editor at GenealogyMagazine.com and author for JacobusBooks.com, is an award-winning historical true-crime writer, and authorized celebrity biographer.
At the dawn of the 20th century, Lester Groover envisioned a bright future in his northwestern Georgia hometown. A dark-haired young man of medium height and build, he was ambitious and well-liked in Alpine, a Chattooga County community. He opened a mercantile store before his 23rd birthday, and in February 1901 he married Emily Hammond.
That summer Lester discovered someone was continually burglarizing his store. The Groovers decided to sleep in the store so that he might catch the thief. Around 3 a.m. on 2 July, Lester, hearing someone unlock a door and step inside, grabbed his gun and fired. The burglar, struck in the darkness, begged, “Lester, don’t shoot anymore!” before making an escape. (1)
Lester prospered, and in the summer of 1905 he hired a contractor for a new building in nearby Chelsea. (2) The local newspaper fawningly chronicled the young man’s church attendance, visits with friends, and his service as an election official – all the while suppressing a brewing scandal that would overwhelm him.
Allegedly, 30-year-old Lester became intimately involved with Lizzie Hooks, also 30. This led to her husband, Eli Hooks, suing Lester for “alienation of his wife’s affections.” The injured party sought $10,000. (3) That’s more than $350,000 in today’s economy.
Lizzie – born Anna Elizabeth Holbrooks in 1877 – became Eli Hooks’s 16-year-old bride in May 1893. “Hope their lives will be pleasant while they live,” came the well wishes of a newspaper correspondent. (4) Within seven years of marriage, the couple had four children, and Eli supported his family by farming in Alpine. The Hookses moved to nearby Menlo where Eli ran a gin and mill. A fifth child came in September 1905. (5)
When the alleged affair began was not reported – only that by October 1906 it had been “some time ago.” On 7 June, in an attorney’s office, Eli reportedly threatened to kill Lester. Mr. Groover and Mrs. Hooks were indicted for adultery. (6)
Lizzie admitted to the affair but then denied it in an affidavit; she had done so to “help her husband obtain money from Groover.” Lizzie’s affidavit led to a grand jury indictment against her for perjury. Shortly after 10 a.m., 2 October – in the midst of these looming cases – Lizzie received a package in the mail and found it contained Kodol Nerve Tonic, a medicine she took frequently. It was a cure-all – be it indigestion, insomnia, malaria, or the flu. Lizzie hadn’t ordered Kodol, but thinking it was a sample bottle, took a dose and 15 minutes later she began having convulsions, writhing in agony as her small children watched in horror. Within an hour, Lizzie was dead. (7)
A warrant was sworn by Eli Hooks before a justice of the peace on a murder charge against Lester Groover, who was arrested on 10 October. “The authorities have guarded the matter well, so well in fact that the public is just learning of the matter,” noted the Americus Times-Reporter on 28 October, by which time an analysis of the murdered woman’s stomach revealed it contained strychnine.
The same Atlanta Journal issue noted the Hooks murder eerily paralleled the infamous 1898 Molineux poisoning in New York.
In early November, a two-day preliminary trial held in Summerville, the county seat, ended with Lester’s discharge for insufficient evidence. “Quite a large number of witnesses were examined,” reported the Savannah Tribune. A courtroom spectator called the evidence “all or nearly all” circumstantial. (8)
The story was far from over; a rearrest came for Lester Groover on December 6 on the discovery of “new evidence.” (9) The murder trial began in May of 1907.
G. N. Welch testified he had seen Lester and Lizzie together in Chattanooga, Tennessee – 45 miles from home. A Chattanooga hotel register at that same time included an entry for “Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Groover.” A copy of an order for strychnine that Lester made to a Chattanooga firm was presented by prosecutors; however, defense attorneys countered that the order was declined. In Lester’s response, he said:
After a nearly 24-hour deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. (10) Newspapers, however, did not report the outcome of Eli Hooks’s alienation of affection suit against Lester Groover.
The Groovers relocated nearly 40 miles northeast to Whitfield County, where Lester again worked in merchandizing. After the Groovers separated about 1931, Emily moved to Tennessee, (11) while Lester went to Florida and died there in 1962. Emily outlived him by 11 years, dying in 1973.
In researching Emily, I made a surprising discovery: she and my grandmother were third cousins through the Hammond family!
Widower Eli Hooks and his children moved to Oklahoma with Lizzie’s parents in December 1909. (12) The two families lived next door on adjoining farms in Murray County. On 3 January 1941, Eli, who never remarried, was struck and killed by a car while crossing a street in Shawnee. He was 78.
The murder of Lizzie Hooks remains unsolved.
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Note on the header image: Sherlock Holmes investigates a mystery.
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(1) [Untitled], Summerville News (Summerville, Ga.), 3 July 1901, p. 3.
(2) “Menlo,” Summerville News, 27 July 1905, p. 1.
(3) “Charges Against Groover Dismissed,” Walker County Messenger, 16 November 1906, p. 7.
(4) “Menlo,” Walker County Messenger,” 18 May 1893, p. 4.
(5) “Menlo,” Summerville News, 5 October 1905, p. 1.
(6) “Poison Is Placed in Dose for Woman,” (Americus, Ga.) Oct. 28, 1906, p. 1.
(7) “Stomach Sent State Chemist,” Griffin Daily News (Griffin, Ga.), 13 October 1906, p. 1.
(8) “Seminole,” Summerville News, 8 November 1906, p. 1.
(9) “G. L. Groover Rearrested,” Summerville News, 6 December 1906, p. 4.
(10) “G. L. Groover Acquitted,” Summerville News, 6 June 1907, p. 1.
(11) Chattanooga City Directory, 1932 (Chattanooga, Tenn.: Rothberger Directory Co., 1932), p. 823.
(12) “Menlo,” Summerville News, 16 December 1909, p. 1.