The Execution of Travis Hittson who Murdered a Fellow Navy Salor
Where to Listen
A Torso Is Found
On June 16th, 1992, loggers in Warner Robins, Georgia made a 911 call to report a bad smell in the wooded area near their worksite. Detective John Holland of the Houston County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the area where he found a gruesome discovery; the mutilated body of a young male in a shallow grave without its hands, feet or head. Ed Lukemire, former District Attorney of Houston County said “This was not the scene of the murder. This was disposal.”
Detectives got right to work on the investigation. Soon they found a witness, Louise Davidson who told police that she saw a Black Thunderbird with Florida license plates emerge from a very rarely used dirt road on April 5th. She said it was suspicious because no one ever used that road, and that’s why she took a mental note about the car's description. Louise was able to capture the license plate numbers and described that two men occupied the vehicle. Down this same road was where the body was discovered 2 months later.
The torso was taken in by the medical examiner. Other than not having a head, there was no cause of death found which could mean this body was decapitated alive and that was the cause or there were more injuries to the rest of the body that wasn’t available to examine. However, there was a unique scar and injury to the torso’s knee that previously got surgery to fix, and this was a major clue to identifying the body.
After a week of searching for clues the Houston Country police department got a call from the Navy base in Pensacola, Florida. They had just gotten a call from a woman named Reba Utterbeck who was concerned because she wasn't able to get a hold of her son, and the Navy officer informed her that her son went AWOL from the USS Forester for April 6th. which means leaving and not returning to a military base when they didn’t have permission to do so. The navy officer relayed this information to the police where they also uncovered that his man had a knee injury and then it clicked. Even without fingerprints or dental records, the investigators were confident that this body belonged to a young navy man named Conway Utterbeck.
Conway Utterbeck
Conway Utterbeck was a junior sailor who joined the engineering department in the United States Navy and according to his mother, this was his dream. While in the Navy Utterbeck had a spotless record until he went AWOL. Right before this he had called his mom to tell her that he was going on a trip to Georgia and added that she shouldn’t worry, because he “was with friends”.
Back in Florida, the police were talking to many people to find out who Utterbeck went on this trip with, and they were soon pointed to two other navy members: Ed Vollmer and Travis Hittson.
Travis’ Childhood
Travis Hittson
Travis Hittson was born in 1971, and he was the third of four children to Patti and Eldon Hittson who were both descended from generations of alcoholism. Travis was often completely ignored and abused by his family. Mary Schults a social worker said “Travis’ mother would completely ignore him when he came home from school, not acknowledge his greeting, and never say a word to him while he was there... It appears as if most of the family members were numb or numbed themselves with alcohol or drugs... the only vivid expressions of emotion occurred when [the elder] Mr. Hittson was drunk and emotionally abused Travis.”
When Travis was a young boy, his father, in a drunken Stuper, would wake Travis up in the middle of the night and force him out of bed by his hair and told him it’s time to be a man. Travis who was always said to be a nice, quiet and meek child, would just cry at these attacks which made his father even angrier.
In about 6th or 7th grade Travis met another young boy named Travis Fletcher who well refer to as Fletcher. They met though his schools wrestling team and quickly became a part of Fletchers family. Eventually he started calling Evelyn Fletcher, mom. Evelyn is Travis Fletcher’s mother. She described that Travis had a lot of issues, and he was often bullied by other kids and had trouble fitting in a school and at home. She also commented on his hygiene and clothing: “Travis [Fletcher] came to us to advise him on hygiene and clothing so that he would fit in at school. We taught him about deodorant and cologne and told him that he shouldn't wear his hair in wild styles. He talked to him about not acting silly in public places because that was getting the wrong kind of attention. Travis was eager to learn so he could have friends. He was always kind and polite and didn’t get into fight even when he was teased.”
Travis was always someone who was searching for approval and validation from others and he tried everything he could to make the fletcher family and his own family happy. Travis and Fletcher grew closer and closer. His mother would shuttle the boy to and from wrestling matches and continued to counsel him on keeping up with hygiene.
He became a loyal friend to Fletcher. So loyal in fact that Evelyn Fletcher described it as a fault. Travis once took the blame for Fletcher when Evelyn found cigarettes outside her home and another time, he took the blame when Fletcher’s cousin stole sunglasses from a shop. Travis ended up telling the truth in both instances but said he didn't want his friends to get in trouble because he wanted them to keep liking him.
When Travis was 15, he too had developed his own problems with alcohol and was struggling socially and was failing school. He started taking money from his parents and used it to buy stuff for his friends so that they would like him. Evelyn said that she knew Travis was always a good man, who was “never vicious mean or violent in anyway” and simply lacked the affection from his own family.
Time in the Navy
Around 1988 when Travis was 17 years old, he enlisted in the United States Navy. Someone said “Travis joined the navy because that was the branch of service his dad served in. He wanted his approval so bad.” All of Travis’ friends and navy buddies all described him the same way: kind, awkward and very naive, always trying to please everyone. Travis was always struggling financially but he always sacrificed himself in that aspect to take care of everyone else. Friends of his would sometime make dinner for him and in return he would come back with bags of groceries even if he couldn’t afford it. He would often spend his time with one of his supervisors Chief officer Bryan Hunt, and his wife, Anita Hunt. She described “Travis quickly became part of our family. On weekends when Travis would come over, he would get up with the kids in the morning and fix them breakfast and play with them. My husband and I would get up in the morning and he would be out in the living rooms with the kids playing on hands and knees or watching cartoons. He would be playing with trucks and car with my son or dolls with the girls, It didn’t matter to him as long as the kids were having fun. He seemed like he was just one of the kids having a good old time. My kids loved Travis, he was like a big brother to them and if Travis didn’t come home with my husband, they would always ask “Where is Travis?” “When is Travis coming over?” Travis would watch the kids for us while my husband and I would go out to dinner, movies or shopping. He was very caring and gentle with the kids”
For some time, Travis was living with a friend and supervisor of his, Petty Officer Kimberlin, and Travis was paying for half the rent. Even though they agreed they this was both of their apartment, Travis treated it like he was a visitor, always asking permission to use the bathroom and kitchen. Travis quickly became Kimberlin’s go to man for almost everything. Anytime anyone had an issue, Travis was always the first person to drop what he was doing to help, Kimberlin said that it took a while to show Travis how to do things, sometimes 4 or 5 times but once he understood “You'd never have to show him again. And he tried harder than any worker I'd had the privilege of being in charge of”
While most of his comrades came to truly value Travis, he always believed he was never accepted. I mean yeah, his own family wouldn’t even talk to him or accept him, he’s been living his whole life looking for family, he was never able to establish roots so why would he feel accepted. Travis remained very shy and socially awkward, and he was often teased for his choice in clothing and his extreme gullibility. Another one of Travis’ superiors Chief Brian Hunt once found Travis holding a light bulb to his forehead and the end of megger leads in his hand while other crew mates turned the handle which would’ve sent 500 volts through his hands and the high bulb. Hunt had to explain to Travis that his was super dangerous and would get him seriously hurt.
Travis’ drinking got worse as the years went on. Although the military is a place where many young men and women drink heavily, a lot of his peers found his drinking to be excessive. Travis would regularly get black out drunk and as a prank his crew mates told him that while drunk, he ran around without any clothes on. Travis bought the story for over a day, stressed that it was actually true. Another time he was so drunk that he went into the wrong apartment and was arrested for breaking and entering.
Time went on and Travis was about the have a big change. While stationed in Jacksonville Florida, Travis had made many friends especially with Chief Bryan Hunt and his wife Anita and children and his other supervisor, Kimberlin. He also got close with Larry Bardroff and his family who also said amazing things about Travis. This all was about to change when the ship Travis was stationed on was preparing to move from Jacksonville to Pensacola Florida in late 1991. Travis at this time didn’t have a car and the Hunt and Bardroff families lived far away from base, and he lost some very close friends where he could feel like family. He was cut off from people who truly valued Travis and looked after him, since we have found that Travis isn’t really that street smart and needs some guidance here and there. After he lost that he was vulnerable, looking for a new group of friends he could view as family.
Since losing his closest friends, Travis started hanging out with another crew mate, Edward Vollmer, his superior and direct supervisor.
Ed Vollmer
Edward Vollmer
Ed Vollmer was known by many of his shipmates and personal acquaintances to be controlling, manipulative and was known to study murder and how to get away with it. He talked about the best way to kill someone and not be discovered, and he made threats against the life of more than one person on board.
We don’t know much about Eds childhood or any of his life up until the navy and his rocky relationship with his ex wife, Connie Michelle Vollmer. Michelle described an incident where Ed told her that he would be working on base. She called the base and found out that he was in fact not working, which enraged Ed. She described “He got furious with me and told me to stay off his fucking back and out of his fucking business. He knew I had caught him in a lie, and he was furious about it. He shoved the car door into me with both of his hands. The door slammed hard against me, and I fell down. As soon as I fell on the ground Ed jumped out of the car and started punching me in the face... with both fists, saying “You stupid fucking bitch, stay out of my business.”” She continued with another story. “In late September or early October 1989, we got into a fight one night because we would not turn the TV down when the baby was trying to sleep. I told him I could not do this anymore and wanted a divorce. I also told him I was moving back to Warner Robins. For the first time in our relationship, I was absolutely serious and certain that I would leave him. I had started to realize that I did not have to subject myself to Ed’s behavior. Ed reacted violently to my confidence. He grabbed me and drug me into the bedroom. He ripped of my gown and said I was his fucking wife, and this relationship was not over.” She said that “he wanted complete control and would always get my back.”
Ed went on to cause many interpersonal problems on the ship which were serious enough for him to be referred for a psychological evaluation in 1991. At the end of the evaluation, Ed was diagnosed with severe anti-social personality disorder and that his presence in the navy would continue to cause major issue and the evaluator recommended he be discharged.
According to the men who served alongside Ed, he was very intelligent. Ed was accepted into the Navy’s elite nuclear program. But his extreme intelligence gave Ed a narcissistic superiority complex and a perverse desire to “play with people’s head” and he was very good at it.
Vollmer wanted to be in control and would pick on the weakest of the bunch and sought out the person least likely to fight back said Petty Officer Landin.
In Ed’s relationship with Travis this is exactly what he found. Because of Travis’ lower rank, gullibility, alcoholism and desperation for approval made him peculiarly vulnerable to Ed’s manipulation.
Ed would go on to subject Travis to countless indignities, including sexual humiliation and teasing. Ed would also manipulate Travis into buying beers and cigarettes for him, despite Travis’ lack of money, and would force him to run errands for him off base despite him not being allowed to leave the ship. One time Travis got fed up with Ed’s behavior and attempted to stand up to him, but Ed retaliated and locked Travis in the shop’s cage on the ship for hours to punish him.
The Trip To Georgia
In April 1992, Ed invited Travis to come spend the weekend with him at a property his parents owned in Warner Robins, in central Georgia. Ed said his parents were out of town and that the weather was beautiful this time of year and it would be a great getaway from the Navy. Travis was hesitant at first, based on all the torment Ed gave Travis recently, but Travis ultimately accepted the invitation. On April 3rd they were ready to depart for the trip when Conway Utterbeck, a fellow sailor showed up ready to go on the trip also. Travis and Conway were confused since Ed failed to inform them that he invited both to come with. The two were confused but accepted it was a mistake and left for Georgia. The group left in the morning and arrived at the property in the evening, where they had to sleep in the shed in the backyard for the first night, and they got a spare key from a family friend the next morning.
The next day after getting the key, the three men hung around the house for a while until Ed and Travis left leaving Utterbeck alone at the home. Ed and travis spent the day going around to several local bars. On the way back to the house Ed started talking to Travis about Utterbeck and how he had a hitlist and wanted to kill Ed and Travis. At this point Travis was extremely intoxicated and started to believe Ed’s story. Ed said to Travis “We need to get him before he gets us.”
After arriving to the house, Ed put on a bulletproof vest and grabed a sawed-off shotgun and a .22 caliber handgun from the car and gave Travis an aluminum baseball bat.
According to court documents, Travis’ later confession and evidence, this is what happened to on the night of April 4th 1992.
The Murder
With weapons in hand Travis Hittson and Ed Vollmer entered the home where they saw Conway Utterbeck sleeping in a recliner chair in the living room. On Ed’s instructions, Travis entered the living room and hit Utterbeck in the head multiple times with the aluminum bat. Utterbeck awoke from the attack saying “Travis, whatever have I done to you??” Travis then dragged Utterbeck into the kitchen to avoid getting blood on the carpet. Ed was waiting there and stepped on Utterbecks hand and handed Travis one of the guns and told him to shoot. Travis raised the gun to Utterbeck's head and shot once, killing him instantly.
A couple hours later, Ed told Travis that they needed to dismember Utterbeck’s body and dispose of it.
Ed decided that it would be easiest to saw off Utterbeck’s limbs with a hacksaw from the shed. As they began to dismember Utterbeck, Travis became sick. Travis was ordered to saw off Utterbeck’s hand and he did was he was told. He began to saw into Utterbeck’s wrist before he backed away and said he couldn’t do this. Ed stepped in to finish. He continued to cut off Utterbeck’s hands, feet, head and Travis later confessed that Ed was adamant about removing Utterbeck’s genitals and rectum. And Ed did just that; carved out Utterbeck’s rectum and removed his genitals with a knife. Brutal... Ed and Travis then proceeded to pack Utterbeck’s body into multiple garbage bags. The pair then loaded up the torso into Ed’s Black Thunderbird and drove to a wooded area down a disserted logging road, to bury the body, where Louise Davidson witnessed the Thunderbird with a Florida license plate. This was in fact Travis Hittson and Ed Vollmer she witnessed leaving the logging road on April 5th.
The two men returned to Ed’s house and spent the next several hours cleaning up all the evidence and blood and storing the baseball bat in the shed behind the house, where the men slept the first night. After they finished cleaning, the men loaded up the rest of the garbage bags, with Utterbeck’s body, into the trunk and started driving back to the ship. Along the way back the two buried the rest of the body parts that where all later found my investigators in multiple locations.
The Investigation Begins
This is when communication between the Houston Country Sheriff’s Department and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the NCIS, began and they started to question many of Utterbeck’s crew mates including Travis and Ed. Travis at first lied to investigators and said that yes, the three of them did travel to Warren Robins Georgia to Ed’s parents' home but nothing wrong happened there. He said that the three men did return to Pensacola, and they dropped Utterbeck off at a local bar before returning to the ship. They also questioned Ed too and he re-laid the same exact story. But something wasn’t adding up for the investigators. Why was it that Utterbeck supposedly returned to Pensacola, yet his body was found in Georgia? This wasn't adding up. The investigator continued to interview crewmates and soon found out more disturbing facts and stories about Ed’s behavior in the navy and personal life. Police were preparing to interview both the men again and took special interest in Ed because he was recently discharged from the Navy because he had possession of marijuana on base. Officer determined he was living off base on his own they planned to question him at his home, but when they arrived for the interview, they found Ed was missing, he had skipped town before the interview could happen. With Ed missing, the investigators then turned their attention on Travis who they soon reinterviewed. Special Agent Kelley of the NCIS conducted the interview of Travis and said that Travis looked overwhelmed as he retraced the events of the trip. Kelley said that Travis’s face was “bright red. He was almost shaking.” Under the pressure from the investigation and his own conscience, Travis confessed to shooting Utterbeck between the eyes while also implicating Ed Vollmer. Travis agreed to take investigators to the rest of Utterbeck’s remains and other crime scene evidence. Using dental records from the recovered head, police were able to positively identify that the remains were Conway Utterbeck. The medical examiner confirmed that Utterbeck was in fact shot in the forehead, confirming Travis’ story. Investigators also searched Ed’s property and found the .22 handgun, the aluminum bat and the hacksaw used to dismember the body. Luminol testing found large spots of blood in the kitchen. With this new evidence, the rest of the body and a confession, Travis was placed under arrest for the murder. Ed was also soon arrested for the murder, but he refused to talk to investigators.
Petty Officer Landin said in a statement “Everyone was shocked that Travis was involved and could not believe that he was involved. Travis had basically confessed to me one night while we were drinking but I just could not believe him. On the other hand, it wasn’t any stretch of the imagination that Ed was involved... I don’t want to excuse Travis’ actions and I know he needs to be punished by spending the rest of his life in prison for what he did. I am just trying to convey that nothing like this was in Travis’ character to do, and that it never would have happened but for Ed deciding to make it happen. In the Navy you are at the mercy of who you are under. If somebody else had been in charge of us, I don't think anything like this could ever have happened.”
The Trial for Travis
The trial was pretty straight forward as you can imagine. The state sent Travis to be evaluated by a state psychiatrist. There were many issues brought up in the trial about the evaluation. Travis was in the evaluation for 2 days and on both days the psychiatrist gave Travis his Miranda rights and Travis agreed that anything said would be used against him in court, he verbally agreed and signed the form stating he read and understood his rights. The issues arose when his defense counsel didn’t show up on time to the first meeting and didn’t witness the Miranda rights being agreed to. This was ultimately thrown out in court because Travis did sign and agreed to being asked questions. The psychiatrist didn’t testify much in the trial except during the sentencing phase. The defense put on a mitigating argument that Travis was abused as a child, was manipulated into the murder and Petty Officer Landin was called to the testify on behalf of Travis saying that he confessed to the murder and seemed remorseful. The state then used the psychiatrist to dispute the remorse saying that during the evaluation Travis called the victim a “hillbilly” and a profane name. Other than that, no results off the evaluation were used for or against Travis.
The jury deliberated everything we’ve been through and found Travis guilty of malice murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and theft by taking. The jury agreed that the crime was outrageously vile, horrible and or inhumane and recommended death. And in March 1993, Travis was sentence to death for the murder or Conway Utterbeck.
The Sentencing of Ed
Ed Vollmer was also charged with the same crimes; however he decided to plead guilty for his involvement in the murder and he was sentences to life with a possibility of parole. Which I think it crazy, Ed facilitated the entire thing. At least give him life without parole, he's a horrible human being. Vollmer was denied parole in 1999 and again in 2015. Reconsideration was set for 2020 but during Travis’ clemency hearing facts were stated about Ed’s involvement in the murder and the Board of Pardons and Parole decided to extent Ed’s reconsideration to the maximum eight-year window which would make his next hearing in 2024. No articles have been written about Ed since 2016 and as of now, I think he’s still in prison. He must be.
Appeals & Clemency
In appeal Travis’ counsel argued that his constitutional rights were violated when the judge allowed the states psychologist to recount the damaging hillbilly statement Travis said about Utterbeck. Travis argues that the testimony violated his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. However, a Butts County judge disagreed saying that a state mental health expert was allowed to testify to anything if Miranda Warnings were given preceding the evaluation which in this case is valid. Travis verbally and physically agreed that anything could and would be used against him in court. Appeals proceeded to the state and eventually US Supreme court which both rejected his appeal and upholding Travis’ death sentence.
Travis then filed for clemency, which is where I found most of the information about his childhood and many statement from his Navy buddies. On February 16th, 2016, The Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole denied Travis clemency without a reason.
Execution
On February 17th Tavis ate his last meal of meatloaf patties, brown gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, red beans, cornbread, bread pudding and an orange beverage at Georgia state prison in Jackson. Warden Bruce Chatman then escorted Travis to the execution chamber. Travis was strapped down on the gurney and Warden Chatman asked if Travis had any last words. Travis replied “No, sir. I’m alright.” He his agree to a prayer being read though. Warden Chatman left the room as 8:04 pm and the lethal injection drugs started flowing a couple minutes later. Travis blinked repeatedly for several minutes and then took multiple deep breathes before going limp. Travis was pronounced dead at 8:14 pm and with that Travis Hittson’s sentence... was served.
