In an unusual attempt to avoid divorce from his wife, a man admitted to burning a cross on the driveway of their Panama City, Florida, home in a Ku Klux Klan-inspired plan.
LB Williams, a 50-year-old black man, his wife of nearly seven years Donna Williams, who is white, and their bi-racial daughter found a cross burning in their driveway on 4 November. Their grandchild was home too.
“When I saw that cross burning, I was scared to death,” Donna Williams said. “I was terrified…we all were.”
They called the police and reported it. Her grandchild still reports seeing fires outside the house, even when there are none. There’s a scar burned into the driveway in the shape of a cross, she said.
The police began investigating the incident as a hate crime, but the issue was far from being resolved.
Two days later, Donna said she received a note taped to the front door that was signed “KKK.” The note said she was being watched and that she “better not leave that [N-word],” a warning that struck Donna as odd.
“When did the KKK start supporting black and white, interracial marriages,” she wondered.
On Monday, LB Williams admitted to setting the fire and posting the note in an effort to keep his wife of seven years from filing for divorce. He was arrested and later released from Bay County Jail on 15 November without bail. As a condition of the domestic violence charge, he is not allowed to go home.
