back to Gulfport on March 15, 2005. Barbara Watts saw Miriam there, and Miriam was arrested and eventually had her court date. And, of course, because of Hurricane Katrina, the charges were eventually dropped.
The funeral services for Alan Helmick didn’t occur until June 17 in Delta. Alan had a wide group of friends and family from all over who attended the services. An important person who would later speak with investigators after the funeral about what occurred there was Mike Pruett. Pruett was Alan Helmick’s former brother-in-law, having been Sharon Helmick’s brother. Pruett recalled of the funeral, “After the cemetery, we came back to the church, and there was a dinner there. There were a lot of people, and at some point Miriam came over and sat down where I was. And we began to speak to each other.
“She came over and said that Alan had mentioned that when he passed on, Sharon’s ashes would be spread at his grave. Apparently, the ashes had never been distributed anywhere, and Alan had been in control of them.
“She and I sat face-to-face at a table. We just pulled our chairs out more or less and faced each other. There was no one else involved in the conversation. From time to time throughout our conversation, people would come and say, ‘It’s good to see you again, Mike,’ and they’d say, ‘We’re sorry for you, Miriam.’ Just exchanging pleasantries and moving on, but no one else entered into our conversation.
“I asked how she was doing, and she responded, ‘I’m the number one suspect.’
“And I said, ‘Well, that’s probably to be understood. That’s just the way it is. I think everyone’s a suspect until you’re eliminated, so it doesn’t surprise me that you’re a suspect.’
“I asked her if she thought Alan might have known the shooter. And she said that she didn’t know. Then she talked about the day that it happened. She said she had laid out some clothes for him on the bed that morning, but then she said he didn’t pick those clothes. He apparently didn’t like what she had picked out.
“She also talked about somebody that had worked for her at one point in time at the dance studio. Alan had a real dislike for that guy for some reason. She said there was a beef between this guy and Alan. She may have said that the ex-employee had been stealing from them.”
And then Miriam said something about the ex-employee that caught Pruett completely by surprise. According to Pruett, Miriam declared about the man, “He’d better have a fucking good alibi!”
Pruett said later, “I was taken off guard. I asked her, ‘What did you say?’ So she repeated it. ‘He’d better have a fucking good alibi!’
“I asked her if she had given that information to her attorney so that it could be passed on to law enforcement. And she said that she had not done so yet. Then she mentioned something about a prenuptial agreement. My belief was at the time that Alan probably had some kind of provision for her in some way, while the bulk of his estate would go to his family.
“We were concluding our conversation, and I asked her, ‘Well, where do you go from here?’ And she said, ‘I’m going back to the house.’
“I found it troubling that she would go back to the house with an unknown shooter out there somewhere. It was like, ‘Why would you go back and put yourself in harm’s way?’”
Penny Lyons, who was also at the funeral, recalled, “When I saw Miriam at the funeral, she was sitting up front with the family. And I felt really compelled to let her know that I was there for her. So I went up just to let her know I was there.
“After the funeral, she asked if I could come to the meal afterward, but I couldn’t. I had to get back to work. We had to open the clinic that afternoon. So I told her that I would come by after work, and I did. I went straight out to her house after seven P.M. I stayed until close to midnight. It was just me and Miriam there. We sat
The funeral services for Alan Helmick didn’t occur until June 17 in Delta. Alan had a wide group of friends and family from all over who attended the services. An important person who would later speak with investigators after the funeral about what occurred there was Mike Pruett. Pruett was Alan Helmick’s former brother-in-law, having been Sharon Helmick’s brother. Pruett recalled of the funeral, “After the cemetery, we came back to the church, and there was a dinner there. There were a lot of people, and at some point Miriam came over and sat down where I was. And we began to speak to each other.
“She came over and said that Alan had mentioned that when he passed on, Sharon’s ashes would be spread at his grave. Apparently, the ashes had never been distributed anywhere, and Alan had been in control of them.
“She and I sat face-to-face at a table. We just pulled our chairs out more or less and faced each other. There was no one else involved in the conversation. From time to time throughout our conversation, people would come and say, ‘It’s good to see you again, Mike,’ and they’d say, ‘We’re sorry for you, Miriam.’ Just exchanging pleasantries and moving on, but no one else entered into our conversation.
“I asked how she was doing, and she responded, ‘I’m the number one suspect.’
“And I said, ‘Well, that’s probably to be understood. That’s just the way it is. I think everyone’s a suspect until you’re eliminated, so it doesn’t surprise me that you’re a suspect.’
“I asked her if she thought Alan might have known the shooter. And she said that she didn’t know. Then she talked about the day that it happened. She said she had laid out some clothes for him on the bed that morning, but then she said he didn’t pick those clothes. He apparently didn’t like what she had picked out.
“She also talked about somebody that had worked for her at one point in time at the dance studio. Alan had a real dislike for that guy for some reason. She said there was a beef between this guy and Alan. She may have said that the ex-employee had been stealing from them.”
And then Miriam said something about the ex-employee that caught Pruett completely by surprise. According to Pruett, Miriam declared about the man, “He’d better have a fucking good alibi!”
Pruett said later, “I was taken off guard. I asked her, ‘What did you say?’ So she repeated it. ‘He’d better have a fucking good alibi!’
“I asked her if she had given that information to her attorney so that it could be passed on to law enforcement. And she said that she had not done so yet. Then she mentioned something about a prenuptial agreement. My belief was at the time that Alan probably had some kind of provision for her in some way, while the bulk of his estate would go to his family.
“We were concluding our conversation, and I asked her, ‘Well, where do you go from here?’ And she said, ‘I’m going back to the house.’
“I found it troubling that she would go back to the house with an unknown shooter out there somewhere. It was like, ‘Why would you go back and put yourself in harm’s way?’”
Penny Lyons, who was also at the funeral, recalled, “When I saw Miriam at the funeral, she was sitting up front with the family. And I felt really compelled to let her know that I was there for her. So I went up just to let her know I was there.
“After the funeral, she asked if I could come to the meal afterward, but I couldn’t. I had to get back to work. We had to open the clinic that afternoon. So I told her that I would come by after work, and I did. I went straight out to her house after seven P.M. I stayed until close to midnight. It was just me and Miriam there. We sat
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