Teary coworkers speak out during sentencing in death-penalty case: ‘We were all family’
Donna Major had no idea what fate held for her just hours after she started to journal about Aug. 21, 2017.
“Today is the big solar eclipse,” Major wrote as she detailed her memories of the 1979 eclipse. She noted how the kids were ready for the 2017 eclipse, which would happen around 1 p.m. Major ended the entry speaking about the next eclipse in 30 years and what is now an ominous line.
“I will be 94 if I am still alive,” Major wrote, “but probably not.”
Hours after writing the entry, and about 60 minutes before the eclipse, Major and Katie Skeen were murdered inside the Conway CresCom bank. Her journal entry was read to a federal jury on Tuesday that is considering whether their killer, Brandon Council, should be sentenced to death.
Two CresCom coworkers were the first people to take the stand as prosecutors detailed why Council should be executed. Tracy McClary, a security officer with the bank, testified she gave police an image from the bank’s security cameras showing Council. Police released that image to the media soon after the robbery.
McClary also said the killing had a significant impact on other CresCom employees and some didn’t return to work after the incident.
Days after the murder, McClary said the community provided support at the branch including painting messages on rocks that are still at the 16th Avenue branch.
Cathy Lambert was one of four employees who worked at the CresCom along with Skeen and Major. She was not at the branch on Aug. 21. She cried during her testimony and was unable to read Major’s journal entry. She said someone called her to tell her about the robbery and “there were fatalities.”
“Please just tell me ya’ll are OK,” Lambert texted both at 2:24 p.m.
Lambert said she knew Skeen since she was a teenager and the two worked at the same bank. Skeen loved her two children and was trying to raise them properly, Lambert said.
“I kind of watched her grow up,” Lambert said. “I kind of felt like her bank mom.”
Major loved her grandchildren and to quilt. Lambert said the bank had few customers, which allowed the employees to know each other, even what they each had for dinner the previous night.
“We were all family, it’s a small bank,” Lambert said, “and everybody knew each other.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 5:57 PM.
