By By Suzanne Monk/The Meridian Star
July 28, 2001
Debbie Boswell wasn't awake Friday morning when the telephone starting ringing at her house.
Boswell's persistence in re-opening the investigation into the 1984 death of her daughter, 4-year-old Angela Schnoor, resulted earlier this week in a murder indictment against Peggy Sloan Starns.
After working with two Lauderdale County district attorneys over the years, Boswell asked Attorney General Mike Moore to re-open the investigation. Moore granted her request earlier this year and put a team of his investigators on the case.
Moore and District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell issued a press release about Starns' indictment and arrest late Thursday afternoon.
Starns was arrested Thursday in Baton Rouge, La., where she now lives. In 1984, she was married to Boswell's ex-husband, Michael Schnoor. Angela lived with her mother, but was visiting at her father's house just before she died.
The little girl was taken to a Meridian hospital July 28, 1984. She was unconscious, and not breathing. She was pronounced dead two days later. The cause of death was determined to be brain damage due to suffocation.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said Angela Schnoor was alleged at the time to have suffocated as she lay on a couch.
Boswell credits investigator Bill East of the attorney general's Public Integrity Division for making the indictment possible. She met with him, and presented him with all the information she had.
Boswell said Michael Schnoor, her ex-husband and the child's father, has also been very involved.
While a jury will ultimately decide Starns' guilt or innocence, Boswell said she is satisfied with the progress of the case.
Sheriff Billy Sollie said Starns' extradition hearing in Baton Rouge has been scheduled for Monday. If Starns does not oppose extradition, she could be transported to Lauderdale County as early as Tuesday.
Suzanne Monk is managing editor of The Meridian Star. Call her at 693-1551, ext. 3229, or e-mail her at smonk@themeridianstar.com.