Investigative journalist Charles Postell, who was also state editor of The Albany Herald, kept files thick with details from his many and varied sources. This hand-drawn map shows the location of a back-woods gambling shack where Mitchell County Sheriff Bud Williford was known to be paid off to allow its continued play, but also joined the all-night tables.
Article by Charles Postell for The Albany Herald regarding pressure placed on Governor to look into the Mitchell County killings by Sheriff Williford
Charles Postell’s investigation of Sheriff Bud Williford was merciless, which led to the exposure of other crooked law enforcement, such as GBI Region 9’s Thomasville head Thomas “Buck” Bentley, who was one of MItchell County Sheriff Williford’s long-time cronies.
These documents from Charles Postell’s investigation helped Georgia’s medical examiner Joe Burton to prove Sheriff Bud Williford had in fact shot suspect Mobley while handcuffed in the backseat of Williford’s patrol car.
Obtaining the autopsy reports from the crime lab, Charles Postell then took it to state medical examiner Joe Burton.
For Charles Postell’s magazine, Georgia Monthly, he featured his investigation of Williford and the work of Dr. Joe Burton, who had helped uncover the small-town law enforcement’s corruption, and the flawed coroner system in Georgia.
Investigative journalism during the 70s was in its prime; Charles Postell relentlessly exposed the corruption rife in the 30-county Southwest Georgia beat he covered for The Albany Herald. His ongoing feud with Sheriff Bud Williford became a source of public banter, even the fodder for local cartoonists.
Charles Postell levelled an investigation on Mitchell County Sheriff Bug Willilford after a black suspect in his custody was shot and killed. Suspecting Williford of murdering Mobley, he took all reports to Fulton County medical examiner Joe Burton and proved not only Mobley’s homicide, but shed light on Georgia’s grossly underqualified medical examiners and coroner system.