By SARAH BROACH

slb045@latech.edu

 

CBS focused an episode of “48 Hours Mystery” Saturday on Stephanie Pepper Sims, a Tech English instructor who was murdered in January 2003.

The show’s crew conducted interviews and filmed locally during the trial of suspect Wayne Guidry, Jr., and was in Ruston last month to complete footage for the episode.

“It was like [Sims] just disappeared off the face of the earth,” Hugo Holland, a Louisiana assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, said at the beginning of the episode.

Sims disappeared Jan. 5, 2003, and concern arose when she did not appear to teach a class at Tech.

An investigation into Sims’ boyfriend, Guidry, led police to discover her body at the Jackson-Bienville Management Reserve, where Guidry often hunted, Feb. 13, 2003.

“48 Hours Mystery” host Peter Van Sant interviewed Sims’ friend Ginger Stewart, who said Sims met Guidry in November 2002 at Stowe’s, located at 210 W Park Ave.

“She was vulnerable to something that seemed exciting,” Stewart told Van Sant.

Van Sant also interviewed Sims’ estranged husband at the time, David Sims, and her parents.

“This was a child from heaven,” Sims’ mother, Barbara Pepper, said in her interview. “She would tell me, ‘Mama, you’re my best friend.’”

Guidry, 30, was convicted in 2005 of Sims’ murder, and was sentenced to life in prison. “48 Hours Mystery” interviewed Guidry, of Luling, in prison.

“I love Stephanie and her family,” Guidry told Van Sant. “I didn’t kill Stephanie.”

Sims’ husband also expressed love for her, along with his adamancy that while he had been a suspect initially, he had never hurt her.

“She was my best friend,” David Sims said. “She was sweet and bubbly... I miss her a whole lot.”

As for a motive, Holland theorized that something Guidry said in a police interview signaled why he might have killed her.

“I wanted to have what she and David had,” Guidry had told police. Holland said that when Guidry realized that would never happen, he killed her.

Guidry maintains his innocence and is appealing his conviction.

In the meantime, Sims’ family members said they still grieve their loss.

“I miss seeing her and hearing her voice,” Pepper said. “The hurting, the ache, won’t stop. It’s worse than any kind of physical ache.”

Holland told Van Sant he was satisfied with the court victory.

“No parent should have to bury a child,” Holland said.

“[Guidry] has to think about what he did every day for the rest of his life.”