Retired detective and author to visit LaGrange
Published 10:15 am Tuesday, October 8, 2024
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Retired detective and author Clay Bryant introduces his latest book in a question-and-answer session at LaGrange Memorial Library.
Led by John Williams, the program is at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the library at 115 Alford St.
The book, ”Solving the Murder of Vieng Phovixay: Evil Dwells in West Georgia,” deals with a 20-year-old cold-case murder. After a daring escape from certain death in a North Vietnamese prison followed by years in a refugee camp in Thailand, Savang Phovixay and his family sought safety and a better life in the United States.
That dream was shattered when their daughter Vieng disappeared in October 1987. In spite of substantial leads, she remained missing until 1989, when her skeletonized remains were found bound to a tree in rural West Georgia. Bryant took on the case in search of justice for Vieng and her family.
Bryant also is the author of ”The Cold Case Murder of Fred Wilkerson, Untangling the Black Widow’s Web in West Georgia” and ”Solving the West Georgia Murder of Gwendolyn Moore, a Cry From the Well.”
He has been recognized as a top cold-case investigator for single-event homicides. His cases have been chronicled on ”48 Hours Investigates,” ”Bill Curtis’s Cold Case Files,” ”Discovery ID Murder Book” and in numerous newspaper articles.
Bryant, a native of Troup County, began his law-enforcement career in 1973 as a radio operator with the Georgia State Patrol. In 1976 he became, at age 21, the youngest trooper in the State Patrol. He became police chief in Hogansville in 1980, serving for 12 years before resigning to go into the private sector.
The program, sponsored by Friends of the Library, is free and open to the public.
