Winchester Hagans, a student studying education and theology and the son of the Evangelist Rick Hagans, was arrested and arrested earlier this year while going to preach in church. He then learned that a warrant was pending for faulty criminal pollution. His fiancée, 26-year-old Hannah Ford, was killed in a car crash on January 17, 2021, just hours after the newly engaged couple visited their wedding venue. The warrant was provided by Ford’s father, with whom the couple had an alienated relationship. Hagans, his family and Ford’s family were in court on Thursday. Tom Ford, the father, testified during the hearing where he admitted that he did not approve of their relationship and said that he had removed 10 boxes from the grave. The Sari Card clerk testified that she told Hagans that Tom Ford did not want the boxes in the grave. “He said he did not care, that every time one box was removed, he would make another to replace it.” City Judge Jim McLaughlin condemned Hagans, saying the boxes were “a clear violation of this practice and a violation of the rubbish law.” Hagans was fined $ 50 plus several hundred court costs. A 30-day suspended prison sentence was also imposed. His brother, Richard Hagans, said they planned to appeal the conviction and hoped to take the case to a jury. The complaint came from a wooden jardiniere box Hagans made for Ford’s grave and was decorated with photographs of her and them. The box was written with lyrics from “Of Crows and Crowns” by Dustin Kensrue. Winchester Hagans, 31, is charged with felony criminal mischief for putting flowers on his fiancée’s grave after he was killed in a 2021 car crash in Montgomery. (Contributed) On the day he proposed to them, they had their favorite meal – a BLT sandwich picnic – at Callaway Gardens. He told her that he really wanted to see the chapel there and it was under the windows that he fell on one knee, with a photographer hiding to capture the moment. “Of Crows and Crowns” was playing during the proposal and would be their “first dance” song at their wedding. They set a date for May 1, 2021 and were involved in the planning of the wedding. On the Sunday of Ford’s death, they visited Notasulga where Hagans’s father proposed to them. It was a field with trees and a barn and they immediately envisioned the wedding taking place there. She went home to work on their wedding invitations and waited for her phone call. When she did not hear from her, she called her roommate, who was also worried that Ford was not home yet. “It simply came to my notice then. “I took my keys and ran out the door,” he said. “I pulled the Waze – I shouted everywhere that there was a shipwreck. Nothing.” Winchester Hagans, 31, is charged with felony criminal mischief for putting flowers on his fiancée’s grave after he was killed in a 2021 car crash in Montgomery. (Contributed) She drove to Montgomery and took the exit to her house. As he approached, he found the road closed and the police lights flashing. “I was saying to myself, ‘This is not her,’” he said. But he learned that it was her. “I just fell to my knees and cried,” Hagans said. “So much of this night is cloudy.” Hagans was not allowed to attend her funeral and so she built the monument to her grave, which she often visited. Then the monument was constantly disappearing and would replace it. In December, the month of their wedding, Hagans worked as a substitute teacher for a long time at an elementary school across from Memorial Park Cemetery. He would spend his lunch breaks at Ford’s grave. It was January 23, 2022, when he was pulled over for an expired label and learned of the warrant against him. The warrant stated that Hagans had placed seven to eight boxes of flowers, which were described in the warrant as “unauthorized items” in Ford’s grave. Auburn police issued the statement shortly after his arrest: “In response to recent arrests for dumping rubbish in a local cemetery: In Alabama, some burial sites are owned and controlled by the deceased’s family and are therefore privately owned. Every citizen has the right to prosecute another if he or she proves that there is a sufficient probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. The accused in this case was handed over to the Auburn Police Department on January 24, 2022, following a warrant signed by another citizen. In this situation, as is often the case, the Police Department is merely a process server that allows conflicting parties to appear in court. The facts of the case will be presented by both parties and will be weighed in Court. “ Winchester Hagans, 31, is charged with felony criminal mischief for putting flowers on his fiancée’s grave after he was killed in a 2021 car crash in Montgomery. (Contributed) The Associated Press contributed to this report.
