Woman Relieved After Sister's Killers Sentenced, 43 Years Later

OLIVEHURST – Two men were sentenced in a 43-year-old cold case, and a victim's sister was finally able to share her relief.

"I hope Satan meets them at the gate and they rot in hell," said Shirley Derryberry.

Looking back at her 13-year-old sister, Shirley couldn't hold back tears.

"It makes me sad," she cried.

Lives taken too soon, 13-year-old Doris Derryberry and 12-year-old Valerie Lane were last seen at the Linda mall. The next day their bodies found in a field.

For 43 years their families left to wonder who did it.

"It haunted us, without us knowing and tormented the community," said Doris' nephew Stan Vantassel, Shirley's son.

"Somewhere in this little community is a murderer," Shirley added.

Thanks to new DNA evidence testing, 65-year-old cousins, Larry Don Patterson and William Lloyd Harbour were charged with rape and murder.

Both were 22 at the time of the killings and lived just around the corner.

"And as I sit here I can tell you now she gave them hell on that river bank because that's how she was," Shirley said.

The cousins were sentenced to life in prison—one pleading guilty and the other no contest. Then during the sentencing Patterson asked to withdraw his plea.

"I wanted to climb across that wall yesterday and choke them, but that puts me in the same category they're in," she said. "When the life is gone out of them I will have closure.

Shirley said her parents died never knowing who killed Doris. It always left them wondering the woman she could've become.

"But she'll always be in my heart," she said.

Because this happened back in 1973, the laws were different and the cousins were sentenced to life in prison.

They will be eligible for parole every four years, only furthering the torment they've always had to live with.