Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 8-The Murder of Mont Highley IV: A Southern Mystery
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A puzzling tale unfolds surrounding the disappearance of Mont Highley IV, a narrative etched in Southern mystery and family connections. Mont's story resonates with themes of hospitality and hidden truths, unraveling chilling secrets lurking beneath a charming exterior.
• Background on Mont Highley IV, his upbringing and character
• Details on Mont's last known activities before his disappearance
• The initial search efforts and the strange clues found thereafter
• Analysis of community response and lingering questions
• Discussion on ramifications and the cold case aspect of Mont’s story
If you have any information that could help investigators solve this case, please reach out to the Alabama SBI at 334-676-7870, or you can call the SBI crime hotline at 800-392-8011.
Source Material:
Holmes, Chris, Dec. 2, 2003, Montgomery Man Subject of Intensive Macon County Manhunt, www.wsfa.com/story/1546853/montgomery-man-subject-of-intensive-macon-county-manhunt/ accessed Feb. 20, 2025
Alabama Cold Case Advocacy, Mont Highley, IV Murdered January 14, 2004 Shorter,AL, www.alcoldcase.com/home/alabama-case/monthighleyiv/ accessed Feb. 20, 2025
Photo Credit: Photo provided to NBC via Dr, Mont Highley III, Nov 19,2023 article by Nicolas Vinuela, 20 years later, Alabama man Mont Highley IV’s death still a mystery, www.nbcnews.com/dateline/cold-case-spotlight/20-years-later-alabama-man-mont-highley-ivs-death-still-mystery-rcnal125779
Uncovered, last updated jan 26, 2023, Murdered Mont Highly IV, www.uncovered.com/cases/mont-highley-shorter-al#sources
Welcome and Introduction
Speaker 1And this is Hold my Sweet Tea , the podcast where we sip tea and uncover hidden secrets and chilling crimes lurking beneath the surface of Southern hospitality .
Speaker 2Yes , ma'am , along with spooky tales and haunted history that give the South its eerie charm .
Speaker 1No , we did that on the lesson . Sorry , I do not say blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , except I'm sipping iced coffee this morning because I need a boost . Get the booster , the booster . What is your favorite go-to iced coffee ?
Speaker 2Oh gosh , I'm so basic , I don't really .
Speaker 1I mean , I do frozen coffee and not so much iced coffee , so I'm like a big caramel frappuccino chick on the other spectrum of the basic , because I like the shaken espresso and I know that's , you know , become a basic drink also . But it is what it is . Yeah , but I made my own coffee this morning because it's expensive and I try to make it from home . Yeah , that adds up . It does , it really does , but not sponsored . They are opening a Dutch Bros in .
Speaker 1Baton Rouge and I'm so excited . Oh my goodness , bros in baton rouge and I'm so excited . Oh my goodness . I lived in oregon for a few years and I got spoiled by dutch bros and I cannot wait until it's open . I will be driving to baton rouge at least at least once a month . I'm gonna try to curb myself . Dutch is the best , so when it , when it comes to the south and everybody gets to try it , you're gonna be like holy moly , this is the best coffee ever .
Speaker 2They're gonna be like starbucks . Who seven brew , who pj's who ?
Speaker 1I don't like pj's . Sorry pj's , but I don't like pj's yeah , I know that's a new orleans thing , but it's like I don't know it .
Speaker 2I've tried it more than once and , honestly , it just tastes burnt to me . Yeah , it's got a burnt taste .
Speaker 1And I'm not a huge community coffee fan either . So I like some OCC stuff , which is also , you know , South Louisiana . I will turtle mocha sippy all day long Turtle mocha sippies are good , yes , but I'm not like , that's not like a go-to for me . So if I have to go , I will go to starbucks , but if they , if they open a dutch down in the new orleans area , I'm there calling me I'm gonna be late for work because I need to go .
Speaker 1I went to baton rouge and traffic is bad and it's on like LSU campus area , so it's going to be horrible .
Speaker 2It's going to be busy .
Speaker 1So coffee talk on the , on the tea . Here we go . Any exciting things happen with you this weekend , or any exciting news , or maybe not exciting news .
Speaker 2No , I literally just kind of hung out with my dogs this weekend . I know there were some parades , but it was cold and I avoided that .
Speaker 1It rained all day yesterday .
Speaker 2Yeah , it was raining all day , and so I spent some time watching the Gabby Petito stuff . Oh yeah , I finished that too . It was really interesting , yeah , so sad .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , I finished that too . It was really interesting .
Speaker 2Yeah , so sad , so so sad .
Speaker 1I started on the Fox Hollow . Oh , did you ? Yeah , the Fox Hollow murders . Yeah , that one's really good , the one they keep advertising the Jeffrey .
Speaker 2Dahmer you never knew about .
Speaker 1I know and I was like , ooh yeah , that guy's kind of like creepy , though Like more creepy than Jeffrey , I started watching Invisible Monsters because you asked me about it . That one's really really good . I liked it too .
Speaker 2I watched that while I was eating breakfast yesterday .
Speaker 1Because they just kind of go into the similarities in all of them but also the differences , and then just kind of , like you know , pick little pieces out , just kind of like you know , pick little pieces out .
Speaker 2Something I saw on there that I thought was crazy is the orange Volkswagens with the sticker on the back that said take a ride inside , and I'm like no Ew , Creepy , creeper tent .
Speaker 1No , ted Bundy .
Speaker 2I will not ride inside , do you ?
Speaker 1know what like like is the crazy thing . So Ted Bundy , up in Seattle area , Tacoma , Washington , like he really hit into high gear in like 1973 . So I was born within that area , within that time . You were like oh no , I was like you know , my family moved from there because we moved down to Georgia , but I was like I was literally an infant up there . Well , he was on his murder spree Well he was on his murder spree . I'm like that's interesting .
Speaker 2Well good thing , you were a baby . Yes , I know , and he wasn't murdering the babies , I mean somebody's baby .
Speaker 1But yeah , that was crazy . I did read an article this morning which was very interesting because the like death row in Louisiana and stuff . They had paused executions for like 15 years here , for like 15 years here . And this morning there was a story that popped up A death row inmate who had spent more than 30 years on death row in Louisiana State , pendentotary in Angola . Oh , he was Christopher Sepulovato . I'm sorry if I butchered that he was 81 .
Speaker 2Oh God .
Speaker 1Yeah , he was 81 . He had been in there for 30 years on death row but he was sentenced to death for beating and scalding death of his six-year-old stepson in 1992 . He died of an illness days before his execution , which is supposed to be on March 17th .
Speaker 2Ugh , that's upsetting yeah .
Speaker 1So it is Because I'm like he didn't get to go through that fear of like we're in Jack Payton . Ugh , okay , yeah , I mean one less mouth to feed in Angola , although they do grow their own food . Yeah , angola , angola , it's a working prison ?
Speaker 2Yes , it is , and the rodeo is a big deal .
Speaker 1Yes , they do the rodeo , they sell stuff and they garden .
Speaker 2They sell some really cool rocking chairs out there , yeah .
Speaker 1They got some crafty men going on out there . Show my age .
Speaker 2I'm looking at the rocking chairs .
Speaker 1You're like , oh , look at that rocker . That's my future , right here , sitting on a porch with my sweet tea .
Speaker 2And especially when it rains . I miss that about my old house the screened-in back porch because I used to sit out there all the time . I loved it when it rained .
Speaker 1Absolutely .
Speaker 2So what story or case do you have for us ? Today ? We are going to talk about
Coffee Talk and Southern Sips
Speaker 2the disappearance and murder of Mont Hiley IV out of Montgomery , Alabama .
Speaker 1So is that Mont from Montgomery Right ?
Speaker 2Well , he's the fourth . Oh okay , lots of Monts , lots of Monts . So Mont Hiley IV was born December 19th 1969 in Columbus , ohio , and was raised in Montgomery Alabama , transplant .
Speaker 1Yes , much like us , exactly Transplant yes , much like us .
Speaker 2Exactly , he was the youngest of Dr and Mrs Mont F Hiley III's three children . It was evident from a young age that Mont was your typical Southern boy . He loved the outdoors , hunting , fishing sports and the crimson tide Sweet home .
Speaker 1Alabama , not dueling banjos .
Speaker 2No , no , ew . He was known for being quick-witted and for his kind smile and infectious laughter . And for his kind smile and infectious laughter , he did attend the University of Alabama , which makes sense as to why he was a big Crimson Tide fan . Well , there you go . Yeah , while he was there he was part of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and he was just really big into family . He spent a lot of time at his family's hunting camp and lake house . He graduated and went into the construction industry .
Speaker 2It caused him to have to travel a lot , so he was gone a ton , but his home base was always Montgomery and he made sure that he made time to regularly come home to spend time with his family and friends . He didn't have any kids of his own , but he especially loved spending time with his niece and his nephews . Sounds like a cool guy . Yeah , like you have to wonder the cool uncle , the cool uncle ? Yes , you have to wonder the cool uncle , the cool uncle ? Yes , I'm like the cool aunt , but I have much older children than all of my little nieces and nephews are also young , but then again I have a brother that's 16 years younger than me , so it really makes sense my kids were like born when they were like eight .
Speaker 2So they were like do they have to call me uncle ? And I'm like no they do not .
Speaker 2They're like , okay , that's cool , cause that would be weird . But so , yeah , I get the . The the cool aunt uncle thing . Yes , absolutely so . According to a timeline created by the Alabama cold case advocacy , mont spent Thanksgiving of 2003 with his family . His plan for the following day was to head to the highly hunting camp referred to as the farm . So if you hear me say the farm , it's not an actual farm , it's the hunting camp . That's just what they called it .
Speaker 1Aw , no goats and chickens .
Speaker 2Oh , look , there we go about chickens .
Speaker 1We discussed that a lot of episodes . We've discussed chickens and we will try not to anymore .
Speaker 2Lots of chicken talk , right . Guess what ? What Chicken . Lots of chicken talk , right . Guess what ? What chicken butt . So stupid anyway . So yeah , the farm is not a farm at all , but his father was set to join him on the 29th but on November 28th the Seagrist family , who also had a small camp On the same road as the Hiley camp , had a little family gathering , and on November 28th the Segrist family had a small gathering at their camp . This camp was on the same road as the Hiley camp . It's documented in this timeline that around 7 pm Mont had stopped at a gas station on CR 30 just off of I-85 , and the last known activity on his cell phone was around 9 35 pm . So that's the last anybody actually physically saw Mont himself .
Speaker 1Oh , wow .
Speaker 2Alive , was at the gas station Sometime late that night . Mont's Tahoe is seen parked at the Seagrass camp and local news outlets report that Mont probably disappeared somewhere between the hours of 10 pm on the 28th and 7 am on the 29th . I'm gonna have to think it was probably earlier than that . More than likely yeah , because Dr Hiley shows up on the 29th in the morning and you know if you're coming out to go hunting . You're coming early .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , you get up early , early in the morning , it's still dark , and so he arrives at the farm that morning to find not only the gate open , but also the door to the mobile home on the property was open . He didn't see his son or his Tahoe anywhere . It's reported that earlier that same morning , which I think around 5 , am someone , some witness , they don't document who saw a dark colored pickup leaving the farm . So I'm like what time did his dad actually get there ?
Speaker 2right and if you saw this dark colored pickup leaving the farm around 5 am I don't know , I mean it .
Speaker 1I'm sure they go in and out early , early like that in the morning . You know , like you said , you get up at like three or four in the morning and get ready and , you know , put your dopey on and like .
Speaker 2Yeah , your dopey , let me spray on my dopey cologne .
Speaker 1Once I found that out when people go hunting , I was like are you serious ?
Speaker 2You spray dopey on yourself , okay whatever works , gotta attract them somehow right . Oddly enough , dr highly returns home . He's just assuming his son had left to meet friends and watch football , but on november 30th he receives a call that changes everything . Dale Segrist calls Dr Hiley and notifies him that Mont's Tahoe has been parked on his property . Dr Hiley goes to the Segrist camp and sees that Mont's Tahoe is parked with the keys still in the ignition and Mont's wallet containing $200 as well as his hunting rifle all inside the car . It's unlocked , the keys are hanging in the ignition so weird .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's weird , because if somebody was going to rob him , they would have obviously taken all of that .
Speaker 2Yeah , and it's like why is it parked at someone else's camp like this and the keys are left in it Like anybody could have just jumped in and took it
The Disappearance of Mont Hiley IV
Speaker 2at that point , right , it's crazy . So on the afternoon of November 30th , a small group searches around the duck pond on the Seagrass property for signs of Mont Mont's boots and pants . Are found back at the Hyley camp with his phone in the pockets and another $100 bill Weird , yeah , so $300 laying around his cell phone , his boots , his boots and his pants .
Speaker 1What .
Speaker 2Yeah , the Hileys file a missing persons report around 5 pm that night . From that point on until about December 4th , the SBI and the Macon County Sheriff's Office , the Hileys themselves , their friends and like 200 plus volunteers , start searching the farm Vermont Wow yeah , 200 plus volunteers start searching the farm for Mont . Wow , yeah , they bring out tracking dogs that follow Mont's scent to the Seagrass camp and then they lose it . That's it . They don't smell him anymore after that ?
Speaker 1Oh no , so he must have gotten into , or been coerced or forced into a vehicle , maybe .
Speaker 2My thoughts are the only way his scent disappeared is his feet never touched the ground again , true , so it stopped with his car . Was he transferred into someone else's who knows ? Wow , some of those searching also found the family's golf cart abandoned like four miles away . It was apparently stuck on a tree root and Mont's shirt and other effects were nearby . This is where it gets a little bit weird , because remember , I just said that his phone was in his pocket of his pants at the camp .
Speaker 1Yeah , with his boots and a $100 bill . Yeah , this is getting really odd .
Speaker 2Well , apparently , they also found a cell phone here what yeah , and a pistol , as well as a rechargeable flashlight . That was still in working order , but no signs of month this is getting like super like odd , odd .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'm like trying to find a word . I'm like , no , just odd , odd , is it ?
Speaker 2it's just everything's a little off here . So on december 4th law enforcement calls off the search and a ten thousand dollar reward is offered . On the 14th of december they increase it to 15 000 and then again on christ Day it's actually increased to $50,000 . Yeah , Unfortunately I don't feel like it mattered how much they were offering , because it seemed like not a lot was happening here .
Speaker 1Right , and they were just trying to like fish for something pretty much . They're like if I give you more money , somebody will tell me something . Yeah , somebody to come out .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , but I don't , I don't feel like they were dangling that worm and no fish were biting . In the late morning , johnny Johnson , a resident of Shorter Alabama , discovers a body in an unused silo located behind the Back 40 restaurant . The silo was on land owned by Johnny's father , ted Johnson , and according to the timeline , the silo was located just outside the original search boundaries , leaving the question of whether or not Mont's body was there this whole time Right .
Speaker 2They searched close by but did not search there . And I read in an article that when Dr and Mrs Hiley were looking for their son , they were near that silo and when they got back in their vehicle to leave the truck wouldn't start and she felt like you know in hindsight when she's like that's probably why the truck didn't start , like my son was trying to tell me that . I'm here , you're near me , whatever , so I was like that's crazy yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , Sometimes it happens like that though .
Speaker 2Right . So Dr Hiley told Dateline that Mont was discovered wearing only a T-shirt . There was a pair of pants that had been neatly folded and placed on top of his body of pants that had been neatly folded and placed on top of his body , and Mont's mother , gail , continued explaining that the pants were jeans and , as far as she knew , mont never had a pair of jeans . So odd , yeah , like all this , just extra phone Jeans , money .
Speaker 1Money everywhere .
Speaker 2Yeah , keys in the ignition but due to decomposition , the body was identified via dental records on 115 .
Speaker 2So there wasn't a whole lot of evidence like that you could see to be able to tell what his cause of death was . In august of 2004 , law enforcement did a re-canvas of the area where the body was found and re-interviewed potential witnesses . Governor bob riley issued a reward of five thousand dollars for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Mont Hiley's murder . Apparently , this is the only reward that remains today .
Speaker 1And they're still just trying to search for . Still trying to find A clue , a clue , something , any clue .
Speaker 2Right , I feel there's a lot of weird clues , but what do they mean so ?
Speaker 1I think it's like I would assume that he was alive when the boots were taken off , because if you have ever tried to take boots off of somebody that has passed out , and let me tell you I have experienced this before . I'm not going to go into how Right , but like , have you ever ? And I would assume they were like , maybe cowboy boots , I don't know , I can't say . I was thinking either that or or like hiking boots or something Hiking boots but still .
Speaker 1Or even , like you know , they wear the like waterproof ones that are like partially rubbery , right , but still , those are still hard to get off of yourself . At least those have laces , though , is my thought . But like trying to pull a boot off of somebody's dead foot I've never pulled it off a dead foot , but like passed out drunk , yeah , is really hard . So you know , like was he told to undress , take this off , and then somebody was just dropping little clues here and there . It's so weird .
Speaker 2So there's some information that I was having a hard time like verifying in other articles . But there were spots where people actually said those boots and pants were wet .
Speaker 1Oh , and then a wet pant and boot trying to get that off somebody .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Weird .
Speaker 2And so they were thinking , oh , did he go change his clothes and then leave ? Like , did he get wet , go change his clothes and then disappear ? Don't know . It's just crazy to think that he would have left all that other stuff . Like if something happened while he's on this golf cart , it gets stuck on a tree limb , he gets out . Where did he ?
Speaker 1fall in water , I don't know . Right , you try to play these scenarios out in your head without knowing the landscape .
Speaker 2Yeah , and you can't see , they don't say anything about a pond being anywhere on the . Hiley farm , but I mean that doesn't mean that there isn't I mean there could have been . There was a duck pond on the seagrass farm . Did he get wet over there ? But I I can't believe that he walked all the way back to the highly camp from the seagrass duck pond to change some clothes right . And then still , where'd the jeans come from , if his family doesn't even think he owned jeans Right ?
Speaker 1Because , like most guys now like hardly ever wear jeans Like my son . He you would have to . You would have to force him to wear jeans . He it is basketball shorts and track pants . That's all that boy wears .
Speaker 2You think it's like commonplace , for everybody wears jeans . No , everybody does not . I don't think your son even hardly ever wears the track pants no , unless , it's like freezing cold . Shorts are his best friend Yep .
Speaker 1And your son's the opposite . He hardly wears shorts , he wears nothing but track pants .
Speaker 2Funny enough enough , he used to be the opposite yeah I would fight that boy to wear pants to school and it was cold out and he'd still be in khaki shorts . Like what are you doing now if he has shorts on ? I'm like what's going ?
Speaker 1on , are you okay ? I see your legs . I haven't seen those in years . Right , what are those ?
Speaker 2So sadly , there's no information on the cause of death . Even still , the only thing I can find is that from the very beginning of all of this , they did treat it as a homicide , and I think it's mostly because of the weird stuff that they're finding , yeah , the weird stuff .
Speaker 1It's like somebody was either dropping these things on purpose as clues or playing some kind of mind game or something like that , but it's just again . It's odd .
Speaker 2They're just trying to make it as weird and impossible as they can .
Unraveling the Mystery: Clues and Theories
Speaker 2Evidence and testimony that was related to Mont's disappearance and murder has been presented to two grand juries . However , no arrests came from those proceedings . As of today , there has never been any mention of a person of interest and the case remains a mystery Dang . I'd imagine that they have suspects . They're just not telling anybody .
Speaker 1Yeah , they have things that they gather and they don't release that to the public because they try to get little pieces of information and piece that puzzle together .
Speaker 2Right , they want to keep something close to the vest , so they have , but they're like really keeping the whole thing .
Speaker 1Yeah , the whole thing close to the vest .
Speaker 2Everything's being kept close , so I don't see any way they could doubt , when they have the right person , that that is the right person at that point Indeed . So if you have any information that could help investigators solve this case , please reach out to the Alabama SBI at 334-676-7870 , or you can call the SBI crime hotline at 800-392-8011 .
Speaker 2This has been a long time coming , so hopefully , yeah hopefully that you know find something or somebody out there knows some new developments because it's literally been last updated in 2023 , and there still really isn't anything . I know his parents , especially his dad . He's like kind of glad that the police are kind of keeping all this information to themselves , because he's insistent that if he or his friends knew what actually happened to Mont , he'd be afraid someone would intervene on their on his behalf . Yes , so you know , he's like I don't want any anybody getting in trouble for taking out who they thought did it yeah because you know southern justice .
Speaker 2Yeah , so he's . He's kind of glad they're keeping it under wraps , but at the same time I know he wants to know what happened to his son before he passes . Absolutely makes total sense to me , because I'd be the same way . I want to know .
Speaker 1And I wonder like when you know they had to do the dental record , so obviously they brought in like a forensic anthropologist and everything . I wonder if there was any other clues that they found .
Speaker 2Yeah , and we have to stay wondering , I know Because there is nothing , wondering because there is nothing and that and it being an open investigation , still , despite being cold , they literally will not share . Well , I hope they find out something so you can update us on this case yeah , it's another one of those google alerts I'm gonna have like so many , so many google when I was gonna go off and you're like oh my gosh , I can do an update . I keep doing all this unsolved stuff .
Speaker 2Yes , I mean a lot of cases are unsolved and they just sit there and go cold forever . I feel like it's nice to hear one that's been solved , but at the same time , I feel like it's even more important to share the ones that haven't , because who ?
Speaker 1knows Right , who knows , and and you get invested in this case because you've researched it and you've gone , you know , through this range of emotions with the family and just how think , like , just how you think you feel when you're like , oh my , my gosh , they caught this person , they found out who did it , how the family feels , yeah , so like a thousand times more relief that the family feels .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's important to get these cases out and hopefully , somebody out there knows something that they're willing to share , that maybe they weren't willing to share before . Indeed .
Speaker 1I say indeed , share before Indeed . I say indeed a lot , sorry , it's been a long time . I'm like over here with my fingers .
Speaker 2Would you like to hire on me ? I ?
Speaker 1was over here thinking of my fingers together going indeed . Yes , yes , Very , very good . We're goofy in the morning .
Speaker 2Yeah , for sure . It's like we have speiders in our brain speiders arachnids .
Speaker 1What was he saying ? Arachnids deathicus . Yes , I love megamind oh my goodness .
Speaker 2Thank you for joining us on Hold my Sweet Tea . All sources used to create this episode can be found in the show notes . Our music was created by Patti Salzetta . If you enjoyed this episode , please subscribe and leave us a review . You can follow us on Facebook at Hold my sweet tea . Instagram at hold my sweet tea underscore podcast tiktok hold my sweet tea . The interwebs , hold my sweet teacom . Youtube at hold my sweet tea podcast and , obviously , on our website there is there are links to Spotify , apple Music , amazon Music , iheartradio Anywhere you get your podcast , we are there .
Speaker 1Anywhere and everywhere , all the places . So follow us so you don't miss a single thing . And if you are , you know listening to us on YouTube , hit that subscribe button , the alert button , so you don't miss an episode . Hold , my Sweet Tea is a drunken bee production and y'all remember to stay safe out there . And just because we're dipping doesn't mean y'all can't keep sipping . Thank you , you .