Richard Heck
The detective who was at the center of a trial in which one of Chattanooga's most honored native sons was charged with a North Chattanooga murder has died at the age of 69.
Richard Heck was a city detective for 23 years, but his most famous case by far was that of the one in which Auburn football star Bobby Hoppe was charged in 1988 with killing a man who had been involved with his sister.
And the murder of Don Hudson had happened decades earlier.
Writer Julie Cart in 1988 wrote of Hudson, "His mother, now 78, remembers.
Early in 1986, she talked to Richard Heck, a Chattanooga homicide detective. She told him a sensational story about revenge and murder and a police cover-up. She told him how little value had been put on the life of a rough kid from the wrong side of the river and how precious the reputation of a star athlete was.
"Georgia Hudson told Heck about the stormy, on-and-off relationship her son had had with the sister of a local football hero. She was not the woman her son was planning to marry, but the football hero didn't like Hudson seeing his sister and, according to Hudson's mother, told him so. She said he had threatened her son.
"She claimed that one night the football hero got into a car with some friends and lay in wait for her son. She alleged that, when her son was little more than a block from home, the football hero shot her son in the head and drove off. Her son was dead, and the football hero was free.
"Ultimately, Heck believed Georgia Hudson's story. So did the Hamilton County District Attorney.
"And last Tuesday, one of the best athletes ever to come out of the state of Tennessee, Robert G. Hoppe, was put on trial for the murder of Teddy Donald Hudson 31 years earlier."
During the trial in Hamilton County Criminal Court, the defense admitted that Hoppe had carried out the shooting on a weekend trip from Auburn, but said it was in self defense as the two cars passed. There was a mistrial and the case was never retried.
Richard Heck was a 1970 graduate of Brainerd High School and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from UTC. He was a veteran of the United States Navy, having served in the Vietnam era. He was also the owner of Crossroads barber shop. He was an avid UTC Mocs and Tennessee Vols fan.
The family will receive friends on Sept. 30 from 1-8 p.m. at Maple Grove Baptist Church, 9525 Birchwood Pike, Harrison. A visitation will also be held on Oct. 1 from 10 a.m.-noon, also at the church. A chapel service will follow at noon with Pastor Ronnie Dotson officiating.
There will be a short committal service afterwards at Chattanooga National Cemetery, where Mr. Heck will be laid to rest with military honors.
Arrangements are by Turner Funeral Home, Hwy. 58 Chapel 423-622-3171