Body ID'd As Son Of Former Texas Governor

ATHENS (AP) -   A body discovered in a shallow grave on a ranch near Athens has been identified as the 69-year-old son of former Texas Gov. Bill Clements.

Henderson County Sheriff Ray Nutt on Monday announced the victim was B. Gill Clements. The cause of death was not immediately released.

Clements was reported missing Thursday night.

A neighbor, 46-year-old Howard T. Granger, was shot and killed Friday when he opened fire on sheriff's deputies who had a search warrant and were looking for his missing neighbor. The body of Clements was located Saturday on Granger's property.

"That guy (Granger) was a nut," and was known for keeping to himself, neighbor John Wiggins told the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Once when building a fence, he had an AK-47 assault rifle with him leaning on a post as he moved down the line, said Wiggins.

Granger had no criminal record, with no previous calls to the property, law officers said.

"It was just one of those crazy things," said Former Texas first lady Rita Clements. "You can't believe in today's world that it happens, but it does."

John Laster, who also lives nearby, says Granger moved into the rural neighborhood more than a decade ago and spooked him so much that Laster would not let his grandchildren play on Granger's end of the road.

"That old boy," Laster said. "He was kind of like a hermit. You'd be afraid to even say 'good morning' to him."

Republican Bill Clements, 93, took office in 1979 and served two terms, with four years in between after being defeated by Democrat Mark White in 1982.

Gill Clements had worked as president of Southeastern Drilling Co., later known as Sedco, the oil-drilling company founded by his father in 1947 and later sold for $1 billion to Schlumberger Ltd.

Gill Clements visited his Henderson County ranch often and in recent years bought neighboring land to extend his property, neighbors said.

Athens is 60 miles southeast of Dallas.

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