Jack Woods wants the man he believes killed his daughter to turn himself in, if he is still alive.
Linda Allen, a Rogers teacher, and two of her family members were killed in Florida one year ago. Authorities have not found Tony Hughes, the man they think is responsible for the deaths, and aren’t sure he is alive.
“I would suggest just give it up, go in and get it over with,” Woods said. “If you haven’t come to the conclusion that you need Jesus, I wish you would, and you would make things right with him.”
The case remains open, said Tod Goodyear, public information officer for the Brevard County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office.
“Nothing’s really changed,” Goodyear said Friday. “Everything pointed to him being the suspect acting alone, causing all their deaths. We don’t have him either alive or deceased. That would be the only thing that would change the case.”
Allen worked for the Rogers School District from 2005 until her death June 11.
The remains of Allen, 38; Chrissy Hughes, 39; and Hughes’ 9-year-old son, Sebastian, were found in the debris of a fire at the Hughes’ home in Malabar, Fla.
Chrissy Hughes and Allen died of multiple gunshot wounds. Sebastian died of smoke inhalation, according to autopsy reports from the medical examiner’s office of Brevard County. All three deaths were ruled homicides.
Investigators think the fire was set to cover up the homicides, according to a news release last year from the sheriff’s office.
Tony Hughes, Chrissy Hughes’ husband, is the only suspect in the case. The Coast Guard recovered his 18-foot motorboat running in circles about 7 miles offshore the day the bodies were found. The boat was unoccupied. Blood believed to have been Tony Hughes’ was found in the boat.
There have been no reported sightings of Hughes since the deaths and no evidence he is alive, but there is a warrant for his arrest in case if he is, Goodyear said.
REMEMBERING LINDA
Allen last lived in Bella Vista. She grew up in Rogers and was a history teacher at Heritage High School. She traveled to Florida to celebrate Sebastian’s ninth birthday, her father said.
Allen was scheduled to catch a plane home the same day she was killed, Woods said.
Allen and Chrissy Hughes considered themselves sisters, though technically they were cousins. Woods and his wife, Dorothy, took custody of Hughes and brought her from California to live with them in Rogers when she was 16 after her mother — Jack Woods’ sister — died. Chrissy Hughes and Allen were “best buddies,” Woods said.
Jack and Dorothy Woods, who live in Madison County, had three children. Teresa Sidwell, the oldest, is the only surviving one. Vicki O’Brien, their second child, died in February 2017 at the age of 49.
Sidwell said Allen was “a really good person” who worked hard for her students and cared a lot about people.
“I think she was really loved by everybody she worked with over there at Heritage High School, and of course her family,” Sidwell said. “We miss her dearly. She was a sweet person.”
When word reached Rogers about Allen’s death last year, some of her former students drew dozens of messages and pictures on the sidewalk outside the school as a tribute.
“Linda was wonderful. She was a delight,” said Patsy Mooney, who just retired from teaching and worked with Allen for years at Heritage. Mooney recalled Allen was very excited about her trip to Florida.
Sidwell copes the best she can with the recent deaths of her sisters.
“I go on and keep doing everything I do every day because I have my family that counts on me,” Sidwell said. “Life goes on. I just have to keep doing the best that I can, and the thing I try to do is set an example for my children on how to live their lives.”
Sidwell, Benton County’s environmental manager, recently helped obtain a grant of $6,000 through the Illinois River Watershed Partnership to plant a rain garden at Heritage High School in Allen’s memory. A dedication ceremony is set for 10 a.m. June 21, which would have been Allen’s 40th birthday, Sidwell said.
Allen, though the youngest, was the first in her family to graduate college. She loved history and long had the goal of being a high school teacher, Woods said.
She was a very obedient daughter from the time she was very young. She was a peacemaker who would intervene even when her parents started to argue, Woods said.
Allen was recently divorced, something that “really bothered her,” he said. She did not have any children.
THE HUGHES FAMILY
Woods shows no emotion when asked about the man alleged to have killed two of his girls and one of his grandchildren.
Woods said he visited the Hughes family about a month before the homicides. He had a good time and didn’t notice any signs of stress in the family, he said.
“I even made the comment to Tony that I was glad [Chrissy Hughes] had finally married a real man that would take care of her and protect her. I guess I misjudged him,” Woods said.
Chrissy and Tony Hughes attended school together in Rogers. They had been married for about seven years. Sebastian was Chrissy Hughes’ son from a prior marriage. Witnesses told investigators there had been recent domestic issues between Tony and Chrissy Hughes, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
Sebastian was about to enter the third grade at Pineapple Cove Classical Academy in Palm Bay, Fla. The school planted a tree on its campus last year in Sebastian’s memory. He was “the sweetest little soul you could ever meet,” Woods said.
Woods comforts himself in the belief he’ll see his daughter and niece again in the afterlife, but he wishes one of them had been carrying a weapon to protect themselves.
“If I could stress one thing to people, it’s that the police are going to get there too late, and it’s your responsibility to protect yourself. This world is not the way it used to be when I was a kid,” Woods said.
Dave Perozek can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADaveP.