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Michael Peterson: An Update

A Forensic Files Murder That Went on a Binge
(“A Novel Idea,” Forensic Files)

Note: You can listen to this post as a podcast

If Forensic Files got an annual performance review, it would always exceed expectations in telling a story in 22 minutes without making viewers feel cheated — but at the same time leaving them interested in finding out more.

Forensic Files produced “A Novel Idea” back in 2006, but any murder story that includes well-educated mansion owners plus a cheerful male escort on the witness stand is sure to be revisited many times.

Pop-culture phenom. Over the years, Dateline has continually covered the case of how writer Michael Peterson’s wife, Kathleen, ended up dead at the base of a staircase in their 14-room house. The NBC series most recently broadcast an update of “Down the Back Staircase” in 2017.

But public interest in the case didn’t really explode until the following year, when Netflix expanded and updated a documentary by French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade to create a 13-part bingefest called The Staircase.

For this week, I looked into what’s happened to Michael Peterson since the Netflix series ended in 2018 and whether a theory that a rogue owl played a role in Kathleen’s death ever got any traction. But first, here’s a recap of “A Novel Idea” along with extra information drawn from internet research:

Full house. Michael Ivor Peterson graduated from Duke University, where he was editor of the school newspaper, then joined the Marines and earned silver and bronze stars for service in Vietnam.

Photo of the book Forensic Files Now — BOOK IN STORES AND ONLINE!

As a young man, he divided his time between North Carolina and Germany. He and his first wife, schoolteacher Patricia Sue Peterson, had sons Todd and Clayton — then acquired two daughters, Margaret and Martha, when the couple’s friend Liz McKee Ratliff died. Ratliff had assigned Michael as guardian of her kids and left him her entire estate.

Michael later became a novelist, weaving his real-life experiences in the military into the plots of his books.

He and Patricia split up, and he began a relationship with his neighbor Kathleen Hunt Atwater in Durham, North Carolina, in 1992.

Brainy bunch. Kathleen Hunt grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was so bright that she took advanced Latin classes at a nearby college while still in McCaskey High School, according to the Lancaster New Era newspaper. She graduated first in her class.

She was the first woman accepted into Duke University’s school of engineering. At the time of her death, she was a vice president at Nortel Networks at the company’s Research Triangle Park offices. She had a net worth of around $2 million, according to Forensic Files.

By the time Michael and Kathleen became a couple, his two daughters and Kathleen’s daughter from her first marriage, Caitlin Atwater, were already good friends.

Michael and Kathleen Peterson's house in Durham — Michael and Kathleen Peterson’s former house at 1810 Cedar Street is worth $1.7 million, according to Zillow. It has a fancy winding staircase in addition to the set of back stairs where Kathleen Peterson met her end.

Hosts with the most. Michael and Kathleen married in 1997. By then, one of Michael’s books, A Time for War, had made its way onto the New York Times bestseller list and generated enough cash to pay for the Colonial Revival-style house containing the now-famous staircase.

The couple combined their families into one household in the 5-bedroom 5½-bath abode in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Durham.

By all reports, Michael and Kathleen enjoyed a close, happy marriage and were sought-after guests on the local social scene. The New York Times would later describe Michael as having a “theatrical personality.” Kathleen was a live wire, too. The couple threw dinner parties for dozens of friends at their spread, which included a swimming pool with decorative fountains.

Horrifying discovery. But Michael hit a rough patch when he decided to run for mayor of Durham. It came out that a leg injury he said happened during battle actually came from a car accident. He lost the election.

Still, there was no serious drama until Dec. 9, 2001, when Michael Peterson made a desperate 911 call to report his wife had fallen down the stairs but was still breathing.

Kathleen was dead by the time first responders got there.

Michael said he and Kathleen were relaxing by their pool, and she went inside to work on the computer. He stayed outside to smoke for 45 minutes or so and found her at the bottom of the stairs when he came back in.

Charnel house. She had been drinking and was wearing floppy shoes, so she probably tripped, Michael told police.

But there was one circumstance that Michael Peterson couldn’t explain away.

The accident scene was a bloodbath — inconsistent with a tumble down the stairs. Homicide detectives were called to the Peterson residence.

Caitlin Atwater initially acted as the family spokesperson, but she ultimately broke with her stepsisters and stepbrothers

They noted that Michael was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Investigators later brought in a forensic meteorologist who determined it was 51 to 55 degrees outside that night, a little too cold for beach clothes, which made investigators question whether he was really at the pool when Kathleen fell.

Son uncooperative. That part of the prosecution’s case doesn’t seem impressive. Everyone knows at least one wacky guy who wears shorts in cold weather. (And those investigators must have had money to burn — they could have looked online or asked an autistic savant to recall the temperature that evening.)

But other evidence pointed convincingly to Michael’s guilt. Paramedics said that Kathleen’s blood had congealed, suggesting she died hours before he called 911.

Todd Peterson, 25, was at the house when the police came but refused to talk to them, according to Forensic Files.

And it looked as though someone had tried to clean up blood from the wall near the stairs.

Not inebriated. The police found blood splatter between the legs of Michael’s shorts and his bloody footprint on Kathleen’s clothes, which suggested he was standing over her and beating her.

Although testing would later confirm that Kathleen had some alcohol in her system, it was nowhere near the stagger and face-plant level.

Oh, and one more little thing: Investigators found thousands of gay male porn images and hookup conversations on Michael’s computer.

The male escort known as Brad — Male escort Brent Wolgamott, aka Brad, was hardly a hostile witness

Email trail. In one of his messages, Michael wrote that he was happily married to a “dynamite” wife but that he was “very” bisexual. Other online correspondence allegedly proved he was trying to hook up with men on the side, including a chipper prostitute called Brad.

Prosecutors would later contend that Kathleen stumbled upon the trove of photos and messages while using Michael’s computer — she had left her own machine at work that day. She confronted Michael about cheating on her, there was an argument, and he beat her to death with a fireplace implement, they alleged. He made a futile attempt to get rid of blood evidence and then called 911, the prosecution contended.

According to Power, Privilege, and Justice, which produced a 2004 episode about the case titled “Murder He Wrote,” Peterson went upstairs to work on the computer while police were still on the murder scene. Perhaps he was trying to delete some files.

Insurance jackpot. In addition to the salacious activity, investigators discovered evidence of financial woes in the family. Michael hadn’t generated any income in two years, and Kathleen was the mainstay.

The couple had three daughters in college and credit card debt of $142,000. The value of Kathleen’s Nortel stock had dropped from more than $2 million at its peak to $50,000.

But Kathleen had life insurance worth $1.2 million to $1.8 million, with Michael as the beneficiary.

Then, yet another bombshell came up. Investigators found out how Liz Ratliff, Margaret and Martha’s mother, died.

On Nov. 25, 1985, when Michael was living in Germany and married to his first wife, Ratliff turned up dead at the bottom of a staircase — just as Kathleen Peterson did 16 years later.

Missing murder weapon. Previously, Michael had told people Liz Ratliff died from a brain hemorrhage, never mentioning a fall on the stairs, according an interview with Kathleen Peterson’s sister, Candace Zamperini, on Power, Privilege, and Justice.

The authorities exhumed Liz Ratliff’s body in 2003 and discovered multiple scalp lacerations, similar to those found on Kathleen Peterson.

Elizabeth Ratliff died the same way Kathleen Peterson did

Ultimately, no charges involving Ratliff were brought, but North Carolina used the information about her death to strengthen the Kathleen Peterson case, which lacked a murder weapon. Police believed it was a fireplace blow poke that someone took outside to hide, leaving bloodstains on the door.

Nonetheless, all five of Michael’s children believed in his innocence at first. Caitlin Atwater, Katherine’s daughter from her first marriage, later switched sides.

Call-guy talks. Friends of Liz Ratliff, who lived on the same German military base as Michael and his first wife, testified about the bloodiness of the scene of her demise. A medical examiner testified that Ratliff’s cause of death was homicide via blunt force trauma.

And as if the trial needed more sordidness, Brad the hooker was called to the stand, where he congenially answered the prosecutor’s questions about his services. They ranged from simple companionship to “just about anything under the sun” sexually.

The defense, led by David Rudolf — the same lawyer who represented NFL player Rae Carruth in his murder trial — had some impressive courtroom drama to offer, too. Forensic expert Henry Lee gave a live in-court splatter demonstration to refute some of the blood evidence against Michael.

Team Michael also furnished a fireplace blow poke they said they found in the house. It had cobwebs on it but no blood, which appeared to snuff out the prosecution’s theory that the implement acted as the murder weapon.

He’s a SHU-in. Michael claimed that Kathleen had been suffering from blackouts due to stress. Nortel had forced her to lay off some well-liked employees, according to an AP account from May 22, 2002. Kathleen worried that she would lose her own $145,000-a-year job amid the downsizing, the AP reported.

Nonetheless, in the end, there was just too much evidence against Michael Peterson. His 2003 trial ended in a first-degree murder conviction and a sentence of life without parole.

Off he went to North Carolina’s Correctional Facility in Nash.

Corrections officers at the prison didn’t always find him as charming as his old dinner party friends did, and he earned some time in solitary for mouthing off, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

Tide turns. A 2009 motion for a new trial based on the owl attack theory was unsuccessful.

Then, after serving eight years in prison, Michael got a huge break.

Youthful Michael Peterson and Kathleen Hunt — Michael Peterson and Kathleen Hunt long before they met

He won the right to a new trial after authorities discovered that “expert” prosecution witness Saami Shaibani had misrepresented his own professional credentials. And the happy hustler was off the table too — the seizure of Peterson’s computer messages was ruled unlawful, so Brad couldn’t testify again. Plus the death of Liz Ratliff in Germany was deemed inadmissible.

Irresistible deal. North Carolina released Michael Peterson on bond in 2011.

In 2017, the then-73-year-old avoided a second trial by taking an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter in return for six years of house arrest.

But there was no 9,429-square-foot palatial home with a redwood-paneled author’s study for Michael to return to. The family had sold the Cedar Street showplace, reportedly the largest house in Durham. Michael moved into a two-bedroom condo, according to reporting from Cosmopolitan on June 11, 2018.

Marked man. So what about the owl? The Cosmopolitan story includes information from ornithology experts who believe a barred owl could have tangled its claws in Kathleen’s hair and made the gashes in her head that prosecutors alleged came from a metal implement. Kathleen might have fallen down the stairs while struggling to extricate herself from the bird of prey’s talons, they opined.

Nonetheless, Michael Peterson’s lawyers never brought up the owl theory in the courtroom — it was too bizarre and potentially fodder for, well, hoots of laughter.

Instead, Michael laid the blame for his murder conviction on humans. The police were out to get him because he criticized them in columns he wrote for the Herald-Sun before Kathleen’s death, he told Dateline.

Time for a tome. So what’s happened to Michael Peterson since the 2018 Netflix series turned his story into an international entertainment sensation?

In April 2019, an extensive News & Observer story by Andrew Carter reported that Michael had written an e-book titled Behind the Staircase to exonerate himself, with any profits going toward charity. If Michael received any money for the literary effort, it would have to go toward a $25 million award Caitlin Atwater won against him, he said.

Michael also told the News & Observer that well-to-do friends from his and Kathleen’s napkin-ring and place-card days had deserted him. He did find himself a post-lockup girlfriend, however, in one of the editors of The Staircase. The couple lived together for a time after his release, he said.

Dr. Phil and Michael Peterson — Dr. Phil interviews Michael Peterson in 2019

Sociological errands. Also in 2019, Michael Peterson made a two-part appearance on Dr. Phil. Although skeptical, the TV psychologist gave Michael a chance to defend himself.

Michael told Dr. Phil McGraw that medical reports confirmed Liz Ratliff died of a stroke. He also explained that after Kathleen’s death, he engaged legal help immediately — a move that raised suspicion at the time — only because his son insisted upon it, calling in Michael’s lawyer brother, Bill Peterson.

A video accompanying the in-depth News & Observer piece gave Michael an opportunity to talk about his everyday post-prison life. He mentioned receiving a chilly reception from the primarily white upper middle class shoppers at Whole Foods. But at Target, a less affluent, more diverse crowd welcomes him because they know firsthand how unfair the law can be, he said.

Margaret, Martha, Todd, and Clayton also believe the justice system failed their father. Although I tend to agree with the prosecution that Michael Peterson is responsible for Kathleen Peterson’s and Liz Ratliff’s deaths, it’s still sweet to see the loyalty of his children and their willingness to accept him as he is.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

Barbara Stager: Spendthrift and Murderer

A Baseball Coach Makes a Fatal Error
(“Broken Promises,” Forensic Files)

Barbara Stager demonstrated a recurring Forensic Files theme: People who get away with murder once just can’t stop pushing their luck.

Like fellow Forensic Files hall of shamers Jill Coit and Mark Winger, Barbara Ford Stager killed a spouse for financial gain and didn’t face any legal consequences at first. But, like the other two, she was too greedy to stop scheming and eventually landed behind razor wire.

Russ and Barbara Sager with her sons from a previous marriage — Happier days: Russ and Barbara Stager’s family

Four-eyed girl. For this week, I checked around to find out whether Barbara, whose two marriages ended in gunfire and insurance claims, is still in prison and whether she has a chance of getting out on two feet. I also looked into what the North Carolina native, who looks more like a librarian than a free-spending femme fatale, did with the money she squeezed out of both of her husbands.

So let’s get started on the recap of “Broken Promises,” along with extra information culled from internet research:

Barbara Terry was born in Durham, North Carolina, on Oct. 30, 1948, the daughter of a secretary and a longtime Duke Power Company employee.

She had to wear thick eyeglasses from early childhood and was described as shy and sexually repressed, according to the book Before He Wakes by newspaper reporter Jerry Bledsoe, who viewers may remember from his appearance on Forensic Files.

Open house. Barbara married at a young age and had two sons. She crossed paths with Allison Russell Stager III, known as Russ, after her first husband died.

Russ was a well-liked driver’s ed teacher and baseball coach at Durham High School. He cared about the school kids and even paid for some of his students’ baseball uniforms himself, according to a 2015 Fatal Vows episode titled “No Accident.”

His first marriage, to Jo Lynn Snow, didn’t work out, but the two of them remained friends after their divorce.

Barely a year later, Russ met Barbara when she came to look at a house he had on the market.

Newly formed family. No real estate transaction occurred between them, but a red-hot romance did after Barbara, 31, ended up buying a place near Russ’ house. Russ proposed after just a couple of months and they married in 1979.

Duke University's campus — Residents of Durham, home of Duke University, were not accustomed to sensationalized black-widow trials in their community

Russ adopted her sons, ages 6 and 11, from her previous husband.

The newlyweds were both devout Baptists and involved in their local church’s activities.

Auto lovers. Although Forensic Files portrays Barbara as the spendthrift of the pair, Fatal Vows depicts both of them as frequent and enthusiastic shoppers. They loved outfitting themselves in new clothes and even sported matching Rolex watches, according to the show.

They liked larger items as well. Friends joked that instead of changing the oil, the Stagers would get a new car. The couple also bought a beach getaway.

Barbara, who was in charge of the couple’s finances, worked as a secretary at Duke University and an ad salesperson for a radio station. She was also an aspiring author.

Regular June Cleaver. Except for the fact that friends couldn’t figure out where the couple’s seemingly limitless supply of disposable income came from, everything seemed great on the surface.

Neighbors described Barbara Stager as a “perfect homemaker, loving mother of two, valued employee, and staunch Baptist,” according to a Knight Ridder account.

Russ Stager with first wife Jo Lynn — Russ and first wife Jo Lynn had a short marriage but a long friendship

At some point, however, Russ discovered that he and Barbara were deeply in debt. Barbara, it turned out, had been running a mini-Ponzi scheme, whereby she’d borrow money from a bank, then pay it off with a loan from a different bank. Russ found out that she had been forging his name on financial paperwork.

Paper hanger. She had also lied about the manuscript of her novel being purchased for $100,000. The letter from a publishing house that Barbara showed off to Russ turned out to be a convincing fake — she’d created it by cutting out a logo from a rejection notice and then used the document as collateral of sorts to secure bank loans.

Barbara also wrote a lot of bad checks, according to Before He Wakes.

It’s not clear how she duped Russ into thinking the family could afford the many extravagances, but my guess would be that she exaggerated the amount of the windfall from her first husband’s estate.

Cover story accepted. Whatever the case, Russ reportedly forgave Barbara for botching their finances — but he insisted on taking control of the couple’s bill-paying himself. To get back on their feet budget-wise, the Stagers quit their country club and moved to a smaller house. As for the existing debt, Russ’ parents agreed to help the couple pay it off, according to Fatal Vows.

Then, on Feb. 1, 1988 — shortly after the austerity plan went into effect — Barbara Stager called 911 to report that she’d accidentally shot Russ. He kept a loaded gun under his pillow for protection and it went off when she tried to move it because she thought she heard an intruder.

Russ was still alive when the EMTs arrived, but died hours later from a bullet wound to the back of his head.

Barbara’s story about the gun accident sounded plausible enough to police, who had all but closed the case until Jo Lynn came knocking at the lead detective’s door.

Jo Lynn filled in a little history about Barbara — namely, that the grieving widow’s first husband, James Larry Ford, known as Larry, had died of an accidental shooting in High Point, North Carolina, where the couple were raising their sons. They’d been married for nine years.

Victim’s premonition. Barbara claimed that Larry’s gun had gone off while he was cleaning it.

At the time, Larry Ford’s parents encouraged the police to investigate the shooting extensively, but they declined. The authorities bought Barbara’s explanation that it was a tragic mishap and closed the case.

After Russ’ death, Jo Lynn told police that Russ had confided in her that Barbara mistreated him and he was afraid of her.

Now, armed with the knowledge of Barbara’s track record, the police began to dig a little deeper into the circumstances surrounding Russ Stager’s death.

‘Wake up, you need to sleep.’ Fortunately, a tantalizing piece of evidence came to light, and it backed up Jo Lynn’s claims.

A student cleaning out a locker at Durham High came across an audiocassette that Russ had recorded on Jan. 29, 1988 — just three days before his own death.

In a voice from the grave, Russ Stager explained that Barbara had been cheating on him (by this time, she had apparently broken free of any sexual inhibitions of her youth) and that he suspected Barbara’s previous husband’s death was no accident. And Barbara’s behavior had been suspect. Russ recounted that, on two occasions, Barbara woke him up during the night to offer him some pills to help him sleep.

On a prior occasion, Russ had told Jo Lynn that if anything awful happened to him, Barbara probably did it.

Friends blindsided. After a thorough investigation of the forensics, police theorized that Russ’ pistol was actually kept in a drawer — he belonged to the army reserves and knew better than to leave a gun under a pillow. He also didn’t keep his guns loaded.

Barbara Stager in her youth — Barbara Stager, seen here in her youth, may have looked like a reference-desk aide, but she reportedly had a tawdry streak

Ballistic tests showed that pulling the trigger on that particular .25-caliber model would require 4 pounds of pressure — way too much to have occurred accidentally as Barbara contended.

Police noticed the placement of the casing didn’t jibe with Barbara’s version of how the shooting took place.

Nonetheless, friends and neighbors of the couple were “astonished” when the seemingly ideal wife and mother in their midst was arrested for murder, according to a Knight Ridder account.

The Stagers’ church held a fundraiser to pay Barbara’s bail.

No agonizing wait. The prosecution contended that Barbara sneaked the gun out of the drawer, loaded it, shot Russ, lay a shell casing near his pillow, and called 911.

Barbara was in a hurry to rid herself of Russ because she wanted his $170,000 life insurance payout fast, investigators believed. Apparently, the lower-budget lifestyle the couple had adopted was cramping her style.

After a highly publicized trial in May 1989, a jury deliberated less than an hour before convicting Barbara Stager of murder.

She received a death sentence and the execution date was set for just two months later — they like to do things speedily in North Carolina, or at least try to.

Possibility of release. The state Supreme Court later voided that death sentence over a technicality. At the 1993 resentencing trial, Barbara’s younger son, Jason Stager, testified that he felt his mother was innocent.

This time, she got a life sentence, which allowed for the possibility of parole. (North Carolina lawmakers revoked parole eligibility for lifers the following year, but Barbara was grandfathered in.)

Sources vary as to the reason the authorities decided not to try Barbara for Larry Ford’s death. Either they thought it unnecessary under the original death sentence or they didn’t have enough evidence.

So where is Barbara Terry Ford Stager today?

She’s safely tucked away in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh.

Not walking the line. The facility notes that she’s committed a few infractions while incarcerated.

She disobeyed orders in 1989. In 1994, she attempted an unspecified “Class C offense,” a category including such misdeeds as failing to show up for work or fighting with other inmates. In keeping with her pattern of not learning her lesson the first time, she disobeyed orders again in 2017.

Barbara Stager in two mug shots — Barbara Stager in prison mug shots

In 2018, she was denied parole.

As for what happened to Barbara Stager’s sons after her imprisonment, the younger one went to live with an uncle and the other was old enough to get by on his own.

Russ Stager’s first wife, Jo Lynn Snow, married again, to a kitchen remodeler whom she helps run his business, according to the News & Observer.

Blast from the past. In an interview with the Raleigh-based newspaper, Jo Lynn said that she’s haunted by the fact that Larry Ford — whom she didn’t know — never got justice.

Jo Lynn went on to appear in Fatal Vows. Unfortunately, there aren’t any quality uploads of the Fatal Vows episode available online for free, but you can see a decent upload of the made-for-TV movie version of Before He Wakes on YouTube.

The dramatization got so-so reviews, but it stars Jaclyn Smith — that’s right, one of the original Charlie’s Angels — as the character based on Barbara Stager.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

Walter Leroy Moody: Tristate Terrorist

A Bomber Murders a Judge and a Lawyer
(“Deadly Delivery,” Forensic Files)

Nothing made Walter Leroy Moody more angry than authorities who held him accountable.

Helen Vance and Judge Robert Vance Sr — Helen Vance and Robert Vance Sr.

It never seemed to occur to Moody that, if he stopped committing more and worse crimes, the law would stop showing up at his door with arrest warrants.

His criminal record started with an accidental maiming and ended with lethal bomb attacks that created a panic throughout Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

Moody also directed his rage at his victims for having the audacity to seek justice. Forensic Files didn’t mention it but, somewhere in the middle of his criminal years, Moody allegedly attempted to drown three of his own business associates, then sued them for pressing charges against him.

In the final tally, he killed two innocent people, destroyed his own life, and made some FBI agents put in a lot OT.

Mail aggression. For this week, I searched for any clues from Moody’s personal history to explain what made him turn into a terrorist and murderer.

So let’s get started on a recap of the Forensic Files episode “Deadly Delivery,” along with information culled from online research:

On December 16, 1989, a package arrived at the brick mansion owned by Robert and Helen Vance in Mountain Brook, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.

When Robert, a federal court judge, untied the string on the box, it exploded and sent him flying across the room.

He died on the scene.

Here come the feds. One of the nails that came spewing from the package pierced Helen’s liver, but she survived.

Robert and Helen Vance’s house, the scene of Walter Leroy Moody’s first homicide

Days later, a security guard at an Atlanta courthouse spotted a bomb during a routine X-ray of mail.

By this time, federal authorities, who don’t particularly like it when people send explosive devices through the U.S. Postal Service, had come out in full force to help local law enforcement.

Uncivil attack. ATF investigators determined that the two bombs came from the same individual. They were meticulously constructed and had been sprayed with black paint to cover any fingerprints.

The bombs resembled a device that had exploded four months earlier at an NAACP office in Atlanta. Fortunately, it held only teargas — not nails — and no one died. A letter enclosed with the teargas bomb wrote of unfairness at the 11th Circuit Court

Then, on Dec. 18, 1989, Savannah alderman and civil rights lawyer Robert Robinson — who had been one of the first black students to integrate Savannah High in 1963 — opened a package he found on his desk. It exploded and Robinson, 42, died three hours later.

Saved by the bell. In just a few days, the anonymous bomber had the 11th District states of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia gripped by fear.

Rep. Willye F. Dennis, who was president of the NAACP in Jacksonville, Florida, received a package shortly after Robinson died, but a friend called to warn her before she had a chance to open it. It contained a bomb like the others.

Inside the box, the sender placed letters taking credit for the NAACP teargas attack and the other bombs. The killer said he was hunting NAACP officers.

Murder victim civil rights lawyer Robert Robinson — Murder victim Robert Robinson

Declaration of vengeance. His motive, it seemed at first, was revenge for a case that had no connection to him whatsoever — the rape and murder of preschool teacher Julie Love by Emmanuel Hammond on July 11, 1988.

“Anytime a black man rapes a white woman in Alabama, Florida, or Georgia, Americans for a Competent Federal Judicial System shall assassinate one federal judge, one attorney, and one officer of the NAACP,” one of the bomber’s letters stated.

He sent around 30 threatening letters to various federal judges, civil rights groups, and news organizations, including one to popular local TV anchor Brenda Wood.

‘One’ holds the key. The U.S. Marshall Service spent nearly $5 million on 24-hour bodyguards to protect Helen Vance and federal judges in the district and to upgrade courthouses’ video and X-ray equipment.

Noting that the typewriter the bomber used to write his letters and address the mailing labels had a replacement “1” key, the FBI put a huge effort into searching for the machine. In fact, the Feds nearly hectored an innocent junk dealer named Robert Wayne O’Ferrell to the point of suicide after they found out that he once owned a similar typewriter.

The big break in the case came when an ATF chemist named Lloyd Erwin remembered a bomb discovered by a Georgia woman in her home 17 years earlier, in 1972.

Charismatic at times. Hazel Strickland Moody had opened a still-unmailed box she found in her home. It was addressed to an auto dealership that repossessed a car belonging to her husband, Walter Leroy Moody. The explosion blew away parts of her finger and thigh and wounded her face and shoulder. She needed six operations to recover.

So who was Walter Leroy Moody, commonly known as Roy? Born the son of an auto mechanic on March 24, 1935, in Rex, Georgia, Moody was alternately depicted as a charmer and a loner.

The Atlanta Constitution, which covered the bombing cases extensively, noted descriptions of Moody as an obsessive and manipulative man who could “sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.”

Certifiable. As a young man, Moody studied chemistry and physics at Mercer University and enrolled in John Marshall Law School. He never finished at either school but enjoyed successful stints in the army and air force and received honorable discharges.

Susan McBride Moody and Walter Leroy Moody — The May-December marriage of Susan McBride and Walter Leroy Moody benefited neither of them in the end

In 1967, psychiatrist Thomas M. Hall diagnosed Moody as having “ambulatory schizophrenia” and general trouble readjusting to civilian life, according to reporting from the Atlanta Constitution. Moody “knew right from wrong, but couldn’t seem to keep from impulsively going ahead and doing whatever he thought of,” according to the analysis.

Multiple media sources give Moody’s latter occupation as “literary consultant.” Although he didn’t exactly seem like someone Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis met for high tea at the Plaza, Moody had founded an organization called the Associated Writers Guild of America. For a fee, he offered to publish writers’ work in a book called Authors to Watch. The Better Business Bureau received complaints from consumers in 48 states about the organization, which Moody claimed was a nonprofit.

According to Deadly Vengeance: The Roy Moody Mail Bomb Murders by Ray Jenkins, it was Hazel Moody who provided the more steady income to the couple and their son, Mark, via her job with Ralston Purina.

POTUS plea. When he was tried for creating and possessing the bomb that injured his wife in 1972, Moody strenuously denied the charges, but was convicted anyway. Judge Robert Vance Sr. sentenced him to six years. (Hazel divorced him despite his legal salvos to fight the split, according to Deadly Vengeance.)

He served his time at a state penitentiary and spent the latter 1970s and early 1980s trying to get his conviction overturned, fighting bitterly with the 11th District Court to no avail. He wrote to President George H.W. Bush for help, but had no luck there either.

Sprung from prison after two years, Moody started a boat equipment company, then allegedly tried to drown three of his employees — he had taken out life insurance policies totaling $2.2 million on the men — whom he tasked with shooting underwater photos, according to the New York Times.

One of the men claimed that Moody had stomped on his hand while he was desperately trying to climb the ladder to get back on the boat. After a 1983 trial, the jury couldn’t reach a decision and prosecutors declined to retry the case against Moody.

Race or restiveness. Moody filed lawsuits against the three former employees plus law enforcement involved with the case. A panel including Judge Vance scuttled the suit.

Now it was 1989, and Moody — a free man — was the No. 1 suspect in two fatal bomb attacks.

It seemed that he was so indignant about being accused of making one bomb that injured his wife back in 1972 that he decided to make more bombs to hurt more people.

Scattered living quarters. Or were the bombings motivated by the racist reasons Moody proclaimed in his letters? Like Robert Robinson, Judge Vance had a long history of supporting civil rights.

We’ll get to that question in a minute but, first, the takedown: Investigators yielded a suspicious number of typical bomb-making items while searching three locations — Moody’s antiseptically clean house in Rex, an apartment he rented in Chamblee, and an airplane hangar he somehow had access to.

Robert S. Mueller III circa 1991 — Long before his special counsel gig, Robert S. Mueller III was an assistant AG who helped prosecute Moody

Investigators also found a letter-folding machine. The bomb letters had been perfectly folded.

Spouse starts spilling. On July 13, 1990, authorities arrested Moody, who looked as though he used leftover Rust-Oleum to paint his own mop top.

What really sealed his fate was information from the one person he probably never expected to betray him: his mousey second wife.

Susan McBride Moody, 28, was arrested along with her husband, but she got out on bail.

Dressed to kill. At the federal trial in 1991 — which was held in Minnesota before a sequestered jury — Susan testified about the couple’s special shopping trips, when he would instruct her to fill a cart with such items as metal pipes, nails, safety glasses, gloves, and shower caps. He figured no one would suspect the innocent-looking Susan of anything.

Authorities believed that, to avoid leaving evidence, Moody outfitted himself like a surgeon while making the bombs.

Susan, who allegedly suffered from Battered Woman Syndrome and received immunity, testified that she had purchased a secondhand typewriter for Leroy like the one used to write the threatening letters; the machine was later thrown away and never recovered.

Solitary conversations. The prosecution, led by future FBI director Louis Freeh, had plenty more ammunition in store: The authorities had matched a fingerprint on one of the bomb letters to an employee at a copy shop in Kentucky where Susan said she had Xeroxed documents related to the bombings.

Plus, the authorities had surveilled Moody at home and in jail (where he talked to himself) and picked up some incriminating utterances, according to the FBI’s website.

Although Forensic Files and Moody himself portrayed his string of 1989 bombings as racism-motivated, in the end, the FBI concluded that it was just a ruse to throw off investigators so no one would suspect him of killing the primary target of his resentment: Judge Robert Vance.

Not doing himself any favor. Meanwhile, Moody blamed the exploding packages on the Ku Klux Klan.

Against his lawyer’s advice, Moody took the stand as the only defense witness, giving “rambling, sometimes bizarre testimony during which he interspersed details of his sex life,” according to an AP account.

As for the shopping trips for the bomb components, the defendant explained that he had been duped into buying them for someone else.

On June 28, 1991, the jury found Moody guilty of 70 charges, including the murder of Vance and mailing threats to Vance’s colleagues as well as to area journalists.

Ultimate punishment. Judge Edward J. Devitt sentenced Moody to seven life terms plus 400 years.

Because Moody’s second murder victim, Robert Robinson, was a local official rather than a federal one, his case was a state action. Moody argued loudly and created disruptions toward the beginning of the trial but, by the time it wound down, he was quietly reading a paperback, the Atlanta Constitution reported.

William C. Holman Correctional Facility is notorious for understaffing but managed to hold onto Moody for two decades

In 1997, Moody received a sentence of death by the electric chair.

By this time, Susan Moody had divorced him.

The four children Walter Leroy Moody had accrued over the years weren’t in his corner either. They wanted nothing to do with him and refused to use his last name, according to Ray Jenkins’ book.

Moody denied his guilt right up to the end, claiming a government conspiracy framed him. He appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the federal court had no right to hand him over to Alabama, which was slated to carry out the execution.

Feigned empathy. His lawyers took a stab at persuading Alabama’s governor to grant Moody clemency because the murdered judge wasn’t a fan of capital punishment.

Moody even tried to get Robert Vance Jr. — the son of the murdered judge — on his side, claiming that Vance deserved to see the “real killer” of his father revealed.

Those bids were unsuccessful.

And with an IQ of 130, Moody couldn’t play the last-resort “no execution because I’m retarded” card (Ronnie Joe Neal and John Lotter).

Murderer Walter Leroy Moody at age 82 — Walter Leroy Moody Jr. in a mug shot taken shortly before his death

In the end, Walter Leroy Moody succeeded only at postponing justice — until April 19, 2018, when was 83 years old.

Moody declined to order a last meal, although he had earlier enjoyed cheesesteak sandwiches and Dr Peppers with some visiting friends at William C. Holman Correctional Facility.

He refused to give any last words.

By this time, Alabama was offering death row inmates a choice of lethal injection or the electric chair.

Moody took the needle.

Newspapers all over the world reported on the “execution of the oldest inmate in modern times.”

Widow’s mixed feelings. It’s not clear whether or not homicide victim Robert Robinson’s family witnessed the event. Robert Vance Jr., who by this time had become a judge himself, didn’t attend.

Neither did Helen Vance, who opposed the death penalty but admitted she wasn’t too sorry to see her husband’s assassin exit this world.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Tubi

Update on Gene A. Brown Jr.

Where Is Tommy Smith’s Killer from Peoria?
(“A Wrong Foot,” Forensic Files)

Dangerous criminals seem to get out of prison too often and too early — Forensic Files killers Ron Gillette and Caleb Hughes come to mind, for example.

So a check on the incarceration status of knife-wielding intruder Gene A. Brown Jr. seems in order.

Like the others, he’s just the kind of bad guy we all fear will slip through the justice system’s fingers.

Impromptu trip. “A Wrong Foot” tells the story of the Illinois home invasion waged by Brown, which left one dead and put two others in an intensive care unit.

So, let’s get started on a recap of the episode along with additional information drawn from internet research. This will be a quick one (for me, that means 1,000 words) because the Peoria Journal Star is the only newspaper that carried detailed accounts of the case:

On July 19, 1991, Gene A. Brown Jr., a married dad out on parole for a burglary conviction, grabbed a kitchen knife, removed his shoes, put socks on his hands, and entered his next-door neighbors’ house through an open window at around 3 a.m.

Chilling with pals. He probably didn’t realize that his fellow Peoria residents Kasey Johnson, 17, and roommate Jennifer Logsdon, 19, weren’t alone.

Jennifer’s fiancé, Richard T. “Tommy” Smith, 20, was visiting.

The two women and Tommy had been lounging around in what looks like everybody’s first post-school rental, with ugly wall-to-wall carpeting and a mattress on the floor doubling as a couch. The three watched a movie together and fell asleep in front of the TV.

Brown would later tell police that he had just enjoyed a rock of crack cocaine and went over to Logsdon’s house with the intent of stealing money to buy more drugs.

Scene of Tommy Smith's murder on W. Proctor in Peoria — Scene of the crime: The 2-bedroom house at 3007 W. Proctor last sold for $31,000 in 2006, according to Zillow

Went down fighting. He used his knife to attack Tommy Smith, who fought back with his bare hands and attempted to restrain him in a chair. That gave Kasey Johnson an opportunity to run into a bedroom and call 911.

When Tommy fell to the floor from loss of blood, Brown went after Kasey and Jennifer, slitting both their throats. He left them for dead and stole Kasey’s purse on the way out.

Neither woman was sexually assaulted, and emergency services arrived quickly enough to save their lives. They recovered from their wounds in Saint Francis Medical Center.

Tommy died at the scene.

Jennifer Logsdon Updike during her 2003 appearance on Forensic Files

Zero cleanup effort. Although it was too dark inside the house for the women to identify the killer — despite that he was their next-door neighbor — testing confirmed that a footprint at the scene matched Brown’s.

He hadn’t made much of a cover-up effort at home. Police found a trove of incriminating blood and weapon evidence at Brown’s house.

Brown didn’t even bother to shower. He had blood from all three victims in his hair.

After a horror story like that, let’s get right to the welcome news: Gene A. Brown Jr. is still in prison and has virtually no chance of getting out on two feet.

Remorse spoken. After authorities arrested Brown and set his bail at $1 million, the 27-year-old agreed to a plea deal.

Judge Robert Manning gave Brown a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for murder, two 30-year sentences for the attempted murders, and 15 years for residential theft.

He apologized for killing Tommy Smith. “I wish I could take my own life and give it to that young man,” Brown said in court, the Peoria Journal Star reported. “If I had known drugs could do that to me, I would have never got involved.”

Hidden agenda? Judge Robert Manning’s words which, like Brown’s, referenced drugs, may have been less relevant than they seemed: “If there is anything to be gained from these senseless acts, it is the message to those who play the dangerous game of drugs to stop that game,” the judge said.

Gene Brown in 1991 and in a recent mug shot — Gene Brown in 1991 and in a recent Illinois DOC mug shot

Drugs surely played a role in the ferocity of the attack, but did Brown really go next door with the primary intent of stealing money for crack cocaine?

Murderous intent. A rental unit occupied by two struggling teenagers seems an unlikely target for someone hoping to nab a pile of cash.

Plus, in his shoeless state, where was he going to buy drugs?

It seems more likely that, as Forensic Files contended, he went next door with sexual assault and murder on his agenda. He covered his hands to prevent fingerprint evidence, but he didn’t worry about his face being ID’ed — the victim or victims would be dead.

Fortunately, Tommy Smith’s presence at the apartment prevented any rape plans that Brown had in store.

Safely tucked away. The most recent mention of Brown in the media was in a 2016 obituary for his father, Gene Autry “Sonny” Brown Sr., a U.S. Air Force veteran who worked at Caterpillar.

It gives Gene Jr.’s locale as Menard — the same Illinois prison that houses another Forensic Files killer who’s never getting out, Mark Winger.

But today, the 6-foot-tall 220-pound Brown is locked up in the Western Illinois Correctional Center, according to state records.

Mother’s illness. No recent information came up about Jennifer Logsdon Updike, who had married and had kids by the time Forensic Files produced the episode, or Kasey Johnson.

Tommy Smith, lower right, with his sisters and parents

Tommy Smith’s sweet-natured mother, Cornelia “Connie” Smith, who viewers will remember from her appearance on Forensic Files, died of multiple system atrophy at the age of 65 in 2014, leaving a husband and two daughters.

She seemed to take comfort in knowing that her son fought back instead of running away, and saved two women’s lives.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. —RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime

Paula Sims: A Mother Snaps Twice

Update on a Grim Tale
(“Similar Circumstances,” Forensic Files)

Note: Updated with news from 2021

This week’s post tells the story of a woman who reversed a common Forensic Files equation. Usually, it’s one spouse killing another to ensure access to the children.

Paula Sims murdered her kids to — allegedly — gain access to her spouse.

Neighbors described Robert and Paula Sims as quiet

Unusual folks. Actually, she killed only her daughters, allowing her son to live, because her husband wanted male children exclusively, or so she believed.

For this week, I looked for biographical information that might hold clues as to why life at the Sims household went so horribly wrong.

And because prisoners guilty of harming children tend to get the harshest treatment from other inmates, I also checked into how Paula, who’s serving a life sentence, is faring in captivity.

Athletic kid. So let’s get started on the recap of “Similar Circumstances” along with extra information from internet research:

Paula Marie Blew came into the world on May 29, 1959, the youngest of three children born to a middle-class Missouri couple, Nylene and Orville Blew. Orville worked as an operator for Amoco Pipeline, according to the Alton Telegraph.

Growing up, Paula acquired a reputation first as a tomboy and later as a partyer, according to The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings by Michael Newton.

Pain and loss. Overall, Paula had an unremarkable youth until tragedy struck.

Her brother Randy, with whom she was close, died in an auto accident. Paula sustained facial lacerations in the wreck.

Paula and Richard Sims house in Alton, Illinois — Robert and Paula Sims lived in a well-maintained house in Alton, Illinois

Paula’s other brother, Dennis, wasn’t hurt in the crash, but he already lived with disabilities resulting from childhood seizures.

Husband’s checkered job history. It’s not clear what Paula’s educational background was, but media sources list her occupation as supermarket worker or cashier.

As for Robert Sims, he graduated from Alton High School, where he played the tuba in the marching band.

In adulthood, he hit some sour notes, however. Robert served in the Navy but was declined when he sought to reenlist. He worked as a loan collector but left the job amid allegations of misbehavior.

Earlier marriage. His relationship status wasn’t wonderful either. Robert’s first wife divorced him on charges of “extreme and repeated mental cruelty,” according to the Encyclopedia of Kidnappings.

He also had a tiny bit of legal trouble, having paid $115 to settle a shoplifting charge in 1979, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

But he got his act together soon after.

Robert found steady work at the Alton Box Board Co., a paper products manufacturer that employed many locals in Alton, Illinois, a St. Louis suburb.

Paula and Robert got married in 1981 and later settled into a picturesque wood-framed house in Alton. Robert was a few years older than Paula, so perhaps she was looking to replace her deceased big brother.

Or maybe she hoped to compensate for her brother’s loss by creating a household full of male children.

Terrifying story. On April 29, 1989, Robert Sims came home after a late shift and found Paula unconscious on the floor and their 6-week-old daughter missing from her crib. The couple’s 2-year-old son, Randall, known as Randy, was fine.

Paula, a slender 29-year-old Amelia Earhart lookalike, said that a masked intruder knocked her out and took her baby daughter, Heather Lee.

During the ensuing effort to find Heather, reporters camped out at the Sims house constantly. The FBI, state law officers, and trained dogs were brought in to help local police with the frantic search.

No sign of an invader. It came to a halt four days later, when a fisherman found the baby’s body in a trash barrel.

Medical examiner Mary Case determined someone had suffocated Heather.

Meanwhile, police couldn’t find any forensic evidence of a stranger at either crime scene.

He said what? Soon, investigators started realizing something was awry inside the Sims household and it didn’t have anything to do with an anonymous intruder.

For one, Robert volunteered that he and Paula had been having great sex since the baby’s disappearance.

Yikes.

It got more bizarre. Police found out that the Simses’ first baby, a girl named Lorelei Marie, had been kidnapped in 1986. Paula had given a similar story about an unknown home invader. Lorelei’s remains turned up, but no one was ever charged.

In the bag. After Heather disappeared, investigators noticed the Simses had pictures of their son displayed in the house, but none of her.

Detectives got a break when an FBI lab matched the plastic bag used to discard Heather’s body to one found in the Sims household.

Then, it came out that Robert Sims had banned Paula from the bedroom after she gave birth to Lorelei, her first child. She had to sleep in a separate room downstairs with the baby.

Contradictory evidence. After Paula brought home her infant son, her husband allowed her back on his mattress again — but he banished her a second time, after she had Heather.

Robert would later explain that he needed his rest because of his work schedule — that’s why he liked to sleep alone.

Prosecutors alleged that Paula murdered Heather while Robert was at work, then disposed of the body in the trash barrel.

At the trial, which took place in the same Peoria court house where nurse killer Richard Speck was convicted in 1967, Paula testified that she loved having daughters and had saved her old Barbie clothes for them. Other witnesses said the Simses were “thrilled” and “walking on air” over Lorelei’s birth.

Orville Blew testified that the babies’ deaths devastated his daughter.

The Robert Wadlow statue in Alton — Long before the sensational Sims murder trial, Alton was famous as home of *world’s tallest man* Robert Wadlow, seen here in a statue at Southern Illinois University

Husband stands by her. During the legal proceedings, which were so packed with spectators that the court had to bring in extra chairs and turn away some people, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Paula appeared frail, sickly, and weak and “walked into the courtroom with her arms hanging limply at her sides” every morning, and rarely spoke to her defense lawyer during the proceedings.

Robert Sims testified that Paula was a good mother and he didn’t believe she was involved in the homicides. He also said that the FBI had lied in an attempt to make him turn against his wife.

But a maternity ward roommate testified that she overheard Paula making a “tearful apology on the telephone to her husband for having a daughter,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Coming clean. Nurses present around the births of all three Sims babies at Alton Memorial Hospital said that Robert ignored the girls but was ecstatic over Randy.

Robert Sims admitted that the couple had hoped to have a boy first, but said that he was happy about the girls just the same.

When prosecutor Don W. Weber grilled Robert Sims over his remark about the couple’s sex life, Robert explained that it was a stress reliever and a comfort to his wife, adding, “What are we supposed to do 24 hours day?”

On Jan. 30, 1990, a jury found Paula guilty of murder.

After receiving a sentence of life in prison without parole, she admitted to killing both her daughters.

Court of public opinion. Amid the requisite flood of outrage at a mother who would murder her own children, there was a bit of sympathy in the community.

“We ignore heart-breaking problems,” read a St. Louis Post-Dispatch letter from Margaret B. Phillips of University City. “Then, when a tragedy happens, we rush to assign blame.”

Paula’s defense lawyer Donald E. Groshong vowed to fight to overturn the conviction.

Although Robert Sims eventually divorced Paula and remarried, the couple never turned against each other in legal proceedings (another deviation from the Forensic Files norm).

Psychiatric factors. Robert Sims later said he believed Paula had killed both infants by accident.

In a 2006 interview with St. Louis TV station KSDK, Paula refused to talk about her former husband. She blamed the murders on postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis and said that she loved and missed both her daughters.

According to a segment on a Deadly Women episode, Paula Sims fed her postpartum depression with marijuana and alcohol, which made her problems worse.

Male mystery remains. Many online commenters expressed frustration that Robert Sims was never charged in connection with the murders, and an officer who appeared on Forensic Files hinted that Robert remained under investigation.

It’s still not clear why Robert didn’t want daughters — or whether that contention was true in the first place.

The state gave Robert custody of Randy, who had been placed in a foster home during the trial. It was a controversial decision, but they went on to lead a pleasant life together — until another horrible tragedy.

More loss. In 2015, an intoxicated Volvo driver clipped Robert Sims’ Jeep and sent it flying off an Interstate 55 overpass. Robert, 63, and Randy, 27, were ejected from the vehicle, and they both died.

A local office holder expressed sympathy for Paula, as the Belleville News-Democrat reported:

“The whole history is sad to me. It’s very sad when people die tragically. It’s very disturbing,” said State Sen. Bill Haine, who was Madison County state’s attorney when Sims was prosecuted. “My heart goes out to Paula. The poor woman is still in jail and now will grieve the loss of her only child.”

Blood money refused. Around the same time, a supporter started a Change.org petition asking Gov. Bruce Rauner to free Paula Sims based on a diagnosis of postpartum psychosis. It collected 178 signatures.

Paula herself has requested clemency from the governor because of her mental illness.

The efforts have been unsuccessful.

Paula Sims’ name surfaced in the media again in 2017, when the Belleville News-Democrat reported that she signed away any rights to her late son’s $900,000 estate; the money came from a car insurance settlement. Robert Sims’ widow, Victoria, was pegged to get the jackpot.

The kitchen has deteriorated in the 30 years since the Sims lived in their house in Alton, Illinois — The house at *1053 Washington Avenue* has deteriorated in the 30 years since Robert and Paula Sims lived there. Realtor.com lists its value at $26,600

Fading scar. Today, Paula is an inmate at the Logan Correctional Center. Her profile mentions no disciplinary problems and she has resisted the siren song of prison-yard tattoo artists.

There’s no indication that she’s faced abuse from other inmates. In recent mug shots, she appears healthy and unmarked. (The prison record mentions one facial scar, but it’s faint and probably came from the car accident in the 1970s.)

Although Logan offers courses like hair braiding and cake decorating, it’s a rough place.

Guards gone bad. A 2016 study for the Illinois Department of Corrections found the prison to have unnecessary use of harsh isolation “cages” and “few chances to prepare for community re-entry, contributing to a recidivism rate of 50 percent.”

In 2018, five male Logan employees were accused of sexually abusing female inmates.

Candice DeLong, a former FBI profiler who hosts Deadly Women, said she believes Paula would no longer be a danger to society. DeLong also said that a woman with postpartum depression should not have been left alone to take care of a baby.

Deserving of reconsideration. And it should be noted that, in another departure from the typical Forensic Files motives, Paula clearly didn’t commit her crimes out of ill will or pursuit of money.

At age 62 today, Paula doesn’t face the risk of postpartum mental illness.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker commuted Sims’ reduced Paula’s life without parole sentence.

Paula Sims in mug shots taken shortly before she won parole

In October 2021, a board voted to give Paula parole. (Thanks to reader TJ for sending in the scoop.)

Her lawyer, Jed Stone, pointed out that she had committed no infractions while in prison, regretted the murders, and thought about her lost daughters every day.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Paula had a job on the outside and would continuing living in Illinois after her release.

In addition to the Forensic Files and Deadly Women episodes, there’s a mediocre (despite a good cast) Lifetime movie based on the case, Precious Victims.

There’s also a Belleville News-Democrat article with photos of the Sims daughters and video interviews with acquaintances of Robert and Randy Sims.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime

Jason MacLennan: Bad Memories

A Scrapbook Executive Dies at His Son’s Hand
(“Shoot to Thrill,” Forensic Files)

Note: This post was updated in October 2020.

When children kill their parents, money is usually the primary motive and the secondary one is a desire for freedom (Sarah Johnson).

Jason MacLennan as a young man — Jason MacLennan

Forensic Files killer Jason MacLennan had a third reason and, while it doesn’t justify shooting his father seven times, it makes the crime a little easier to comprehend: Jason resented the way his dad had neglected his mom while she was terminally ill.

For this week, I checked into where Jason and the buddy who helped him orchestrate the murder are today, and also looked for more family history.

Started up north. So let’s get going on the recap of “Shoot to Thrill” along with additional information drawn from internet research:

Jason MacLennan was born in Canada to Betty Irene Relf and Kenneth MacLennan on Feb. 22, 1985. The family moved to Orlando in 1997.

Kenneth traveled extensively for his job, often leaving Jason to care for Betty during her treatments for breast cancer in the late 1990s.

She had two mastectomies.

Jason would sometimes fall asleep in school because he had been up all night tending to his mother, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

That was fast. The family relocated to Oviedo, Florida, where Jason played lacrosse at Oviedo High School. Toward the end of Betty’s life, the MacLennans temporarily moved back to Canada so she could be close to relatives.

In 1999, shortly after — accounts vary as to whether it was two weeks or four months — his mother’s death, Kenneth’s girlfriend, Laurence Morand, moved into the MacLennans’ house.

The house where Jason and Kenneth MacLennan lived in Walden Woods — The murder scene on Chelmsford Lane in the Walden Woods neighborhood

Laurence had to fly back to Switzerland after every 90 days because of a visa problem, but she lived with Ken and Jason off and on for years.

Nostalgic work. Jason didn’t appreciate the Swiss businesswoman’s presence, and the two argued often. (Note: Forensic Files refers to her by the pseudonym “Alessandra.”)

In 2002, the MacLennans moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where Kenneth, a former Tupperware executive, nabbed a high-level management job at a scrapbook and photo album company called Creative Memories.

The family had a Jack Russell terrier named Mac, which probably made for some nice Kodak moments, but it didn’t compensate for Kenneth’s long absences. When he was in town, he often didn’t come home until 9 p.m., according to Star Tribune reporting.

Variety of bullets. Around midnight on Jan. 14, 2003, Jason called 911 to report that he’d discovered his father shot to death at the base of the stairs.

Responders found Kenneth MacLennan, 53, bloodied on the hardwood floor of the family’s house. His gun wounds came from four different types of ammunition, lab tests would later show.

Matthew Moeller, age 17 — Matthew Moeller circa 1999

At first, it looked like a robbery. Kenneth’s watch and cash were missing.

Outside, police found an unexplained set of footprints from Lugz boots, “popular in the world of hip-hop,” according to Forensic Files.

Jason, 17, said that two additional sets of tracks belonged to him and Matthew Moeller, a classmate from St. Cloud Technical High School. They had gone outside to smoke, Jason said.

Girlfriend abroad. Police found no gunshot residue on Jason’s hands.

Laurence Morand stood to collect $100,000 from Kenneth’s Creative Memories life insurance policy, but she was in Switzerland at the time of the shooting, so police ruled her out.

Soon, Jason’s classmates began speaking with the authorities.

He had been asking around for help killing his dad and told friends they would be rich and free of rules with Kenneth out of the way, the students said.

Partner cracks. Under police questioning, Jason stuck to his story that he had gotten out of the shower and then found his father dead on the floor.

Matt on the other hand, held back for a short time, then started singing like an American Idol contestant.

He said Jason had given him $1,000 for procuring the rifle used in the murder. Matt also mentioned using four types of ammunition — a fact that police hadn’t released to the news media.

Matt explained that the third set of footprints came from his own Lugz, which the two conspirators used in a bid to throw off investigators.

Firearm forensics. On a rural property owned by Matt Moeller’s parents, police found Jason’s bloody clothes, Kenneth’s charge cards, and $1,255 in cash. A glove had Jason’s DNA inside and gun residue on the outside.

A drop of blood inside the barrel of Matt’s 22-caliber rifle came from Kenneth MacLennan, who probably tried to grab the weapon in self-defense.

Matt and Jason were charged with murder just two days after the crime, on Jan. 16, 2003.

Prints in the snow. Prosecutors believed the motive was Kenneth’s $1.4 million estate and Jason’s hatred of his dad for being an absentee father and husband.

They alleged that on the night of the murder, Jason and Matt waited until Kenneth fell asleep. Then, they made the fake Lugz-footprints and Matt rang the doorbell. When Kenneth came downstairs, Jason fired repeatedly at close range.

Jason pleaded not guilty and changed his story, alleging that he feared his father and shot him in self-defense.

The judge refused the defense’s request to present testimony from a battered-child syndrome expert, but the jury did hear that Kenneth burned his son’s arm with a cigarette to punish him for smoking and threatened him with a knife during an argument.

Parent remiss. At the very least, there was alienation between Kenneth and Jason, according to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel: “‘There was no communication,’ said Bonnie Kulpak, whose daughter had gone to the prom with Jason. ‘This boy was a lost soul.'”

Jason and Kenneth MacLennan shown in a newspaper clipping — Minneapolis Star clipping of father and son

Matt Moeller described Jason’s father as “like a ghost figure,” the St. Cloud Times reported.

It came out at the trial that Kenneth had made 26 business trips for Creative Memories during the nine-month period leading up to the murder, the Star Tribune reported.

No husband of the year. Police found a suicide prevention card and Betty MacLennan’s death certificate in Jason’s basement bedroom.

One witness testified that Jason had begged her to take him away from his dad. Marie Buenrostro, the wife of Kenneth’s former tennis partner, told the Star Tribune that Ken acted like John McEnroe on the court and had a worrisome temper in general — which contributed to his firing from his Tupperware job.

Jason alleged that his dad physically abused his mother.

Betty sometimes locked herself in Jason’s room and slept on the floor, according to Buenrostro.

At the very least, Kenneth mistreated Betty emotionally, according to acquaintances who recounted Kenneth openly watching pornography at home — to the extent that a neighbor forbade his children to visit the MacLennans’ house — and he left Betty to drive herself to chemotherapy sessions, the Star Tribune reported.

Eyes on the estate. Meanwhile, Debbie Harris, the mother of Jason’s girlfriend Molly, described Jason as “the most nonaggressive teenager you could imagine … polite, sweet, loving” and said that he spent his spare time playing chess and watching the History Channel, the Star Tribune reported.

McCloud Tech High School — *Jason and Matthew* attended St. Cloud Tech High School together but ended up in separate Minnesota prisons

But friends testified that Jason frequently spoke of the wealth he would inherit upon his father’s death (although there was a contention that he was speaking of money he would receive from a trust when he turned 18, the St. Cloud Times reported). One acquaintance said Jason used Kenneth like “a bank,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Laurence Morand maintained that Jason and Kenneth both had bad tempers and argued frequently, according to court papers.

Time to pay. The prosecution called the attack on Kenneth a “premeditated ambush execution” and noted that both Matt and Jason had prior criminal records. Jason had a restricted license because of street racing in his Hyundai; it’s not clear what Matt’s offense was.

The jury agreed with the prosecution and convicted Jason of first-degree murder. He received life in prison.

Matt, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, got 30 years.

Recent mug shots of Jason MacLennan and Matthew Moeller — Jason MacLennan and Matthew Moeller
in recent mug shots

In 2005, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied Jason’s request for a new trial, rejecting his repeated contention that he was a victim of battered-child syndrome.

Grandmother faithful. Today, Jason lives in the Minnesota Correctional Institution – Stillwater, where custody level ranges from minimum to close.

He acquired a large neck tattoo while behind bars.

Jason’s paternal grandmother, Margaret MacLennan, either forgave Jason or thought he was innocent. Her 2010 obituary described her as the “loving grandmother of Jason MacLennan.”

Matt has moved from the Minnesota Correctional Institution – Moose Lake to Stillwater. The prison website lists his anticipated release date as Jan. 17, 2023.

That’s all for this post. Until next week, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime or Hulu

Jack and Linda Myers: Killed for the Farm

The Good Son Goes Bad
(“In the Bag,” Forensic Files)

Jack and Linda Myers were an enterprising couple who operated a food market and pizza shop in tiny Houston, Ohio.

Linda and Jack Myers at their wedding — Linda and Jack Myers found each other later in life

Serving up hot fresh slices of extra cheese with mushrooms can be an amiable business, but the Myers had two sidelines that tend not to create many fans.

They rented out residential properties they owned, and Jack fixed up used cars and resold them, often on credit.

Smallest victim. So when the Myers’ great-grandson discovered the couple murdered in their own bed, investigators wondered whether an evicted tenant or a repossessed-vehicle owner pulled the trigger.

But, as it turned out, the killer was someone the Myers trusted and knew far more intimately than any of Jack’s buyers or renters.

For this week, I looked for information about what happened to the great-grandson who lived with Jack and Linda and was just 4 years old when they died. I also checked on where the murderer is today.

So let’s get started on the recap of “In the Bag,” the Forensic Files episode about the case, along with extra information from internet research:

Strange story. On March 27, 2003, a sweet little guy in bloodstained pajamas and boots showed up an hour late for preschool.

Dameon Huffman (Forensic Files used the pseudonym “Johnny Huffman”) had run a mile to get to the classroom, which was part of the Oakland Church of the Brethren.

Jack and Lindy Myer's great-grandson, about age 4 — The Myers’ resident great-grandson

Staff member Marlene Harris would later testify that Dameon said his great-grandparents were “melting.” She called the sheriff’s office.

Police found Jack and Linda Myers shot to death inside their farmhouse on Martin Road in Darke County, Ohio.

Monster’s not just a nightmare. It looked as though an intruder had disconnected the phone lines, shot Jack in his sleep, and then turned the gun on Linda after she woke up. She had a defensive wound, and the gunshot to her face made her unrecognizable.

The couple had been happily married for seven years and had full custody of Dameon. His mother, Linda’s granddaughter Amber Holscher, was too young to care for him and had put him in foster care at one point.

Dameon said that the night of the murder, a “green monster” had looked in on him in his bedroom and apparently thought he was asleep. The only other eyewitness was a neighbor who remembered seeing an unknown minivan in the Myers’ driveway before dawn.

Cash and valuables untouched. Worried that the perpetrator would try to find and kill Dameon, the authorities placed him in protective custody in a secret location, away from all family members, according to “The Green Dragon,” an episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn.

The killer hadn’t stolen anything valuable, so an outsider’s grudge seemed like a probable motive — until police started investigating the family.

Country Side Market and pizzeria, the business owned by Jack and Linda Myers — The Myers owned the Country Side Market and pizzeria in Houston, Ohio

Suspicion first fell upon Andrew Huffman, Dameon’s dad, after Amber told investigators there was a custody dispute between him and Linda, and he had threatened her.

But he was in Kentucky when the murders took place, and his employer confirmed his alibi.

Alienated son. Next up on the list came Jack’s first-born son.

Travis Myers, 28, and his father had warred over some financial matters, and Travis moved to Arizona to put as much distance between them as possible, according to On the Case.

Travis had returned to Ohio shortly before the murders, but he also had a solid alibi.

Surprisingly, investigators found a better suspect in Jack’s younger son, Gregg Myers, 25.

Forty acres and a fool. The mild-mannered Gregg had no criminal record, got along well with his dad, and was best man at his wedding, but had reportedly been rebuffed when he asked Jack for a loan to save his home.

Due to a bank foreclosure, Gregg was either scheduled for eviction the following month or had already been evicted (media accounts vary) from his house in the town of Piqua.

Gregg, who was the father of two small children, needed a new place to live pronto, and he conveniently stood to inherit Jack and Linda’s farmhouse and its 39 acres upon Jack’s death.

Evidence against Gregg began to stream in.

A family friend named Jon Helmandollar promptly ratted out Gregg, telling authorities that Gregg had asked him where he could get a gun to shoot his father.

Superstore spree. Gregg’s girlfriend, Jennifer Brown, told investigators that when she woke up on the morning of the murders, Gregg was already out of the house. It was earlier than he usually left for his job at NK Parts — when he showed up, that is. According to Forensic Files, Gregg had an absenteeism problem as well as a substance habit.

Gregg Myers (right) was heir to his father’s farmhouse at 7632 Martin Road

But it was the physical evidence that really made the case. A Walmart in the town of Sidney had receipts showing Gregg bought ammunition, masking tape, and batting two days before the homicides. Police had found remnants of tape and batting at the crime scene and believed the shooter used them to make a silencer.

A week before the killings, Gregg, who drove a van like the one spotted in Jack and Linda Myers’ driveway the day of the murders, had purchased latex gloves, a pair of Route 66 brand shoes two sizes too small, a green windbreaker, green pants, and black stockings.

After the murders, police discovered those items in a bag discarded in the Stillwater River, downstream from where they recovered a 12-gauge Winchester shotgun with the serial number rubbed out.

Firearm floating. One of the gloves had Gregg’s fingerprint inside, and the old “make foot impressions with the wrong shoe size” trick didn’t fool anyone for long.

Investigators uncovered enough of the gun’s serial number (Gregg clearly should have watched more Forensic Files) to trace it to a private owner named Eugene Adams who said he sold it to Gregg for around $175 on March 25, 2003.

Police arrested Gregg and set his bail at $500,000.

Image of Forensic Files Now book cover next to logos of places that wil be selling it — Book in stores and online!

Taking his chances. Darke County Prosecutor Richard Howell offered a deal that would take the death penalty off the table in exchange for a guilty plea to aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated murder.

Gregg chose to go to trial.

Defense lawyer L. Patrick Mulligan said Gregg had the moral support of many people — even as they had to look at Linda Myers’ family members who came to court dressed in T-shirts with tribute silkscreened pictures of the murdered couple.

The jury convicted the baby-faced defendant on all charges after deliberating for eight hours.

Penalty phase. Travis Myers “buried his face in his hands” when he heard the verdict against his little brother, the Dayton Daily News reported.

“It tears us apart because we were close with Gregg,” said Linda’s daughter Kim Hudelson, according to the Dayton Daily News. “We got along with Gregg.”

At the sentencing hearing, defense lawyer George Katchmer played the unhappy childhood card.

He said Travis and Gregg “grew up in an abusive household without their father’s support,” the AP reported in a story dated May 2, 2004.

Gregg A. Myers in a recent mug shot — Gregg Myers in a recent mug shot

May Williams, Jack Myers’ sister, testified that Jack was the “family bully” and didn’t nurture his sons, the AP reported.

Spared the ultimate. It probably wasn’t much of a stretch to believe that a man who repossessed cars could be intimidating.

The jury spared Gregg the death penalty.

Instead, Gregg, then 26, received life without the possibility of parole plus five years for aggravated burglary and six years for use of a silencer.

The Ohio Supreme Court later upheld the conviction after Gregg filed an appeal alleging unfair jury selection in 2006.

Today, Gregg resides in Marion Correctional Institution, a severely overcrowded medium-security facility.

Marion was built to accommodate 1,452 inmates but has a population of 2,550, according to PrisonPro.

On the bright side for Gregg, who has no chance of parole, the facility “is known as having some of the most innovative programs of all institutions” and has a high percentage of inmates who complete certification programs.

Tedx even hosted an event, which inmates helped to plan and host, at Marion.

Littlest survivor. As for Linda’s granddaughter Amber Holscher, she had gotten married shortly before the murders and had been preparing to regain custody of her son.

Dameon Huffman during a TV interview in 2017 — Dameon Huffman circa 2017

Amber, who appeared on both Forensic Files and On the Case, said little Dameon had persistent nightmares about a green monster or green dragon during childhood but felt safer as time went on.

He got counseling to cope with the traumatic events of his youth and, at age 16, was doing well, according to the On the Case episode from 2014.

As of 2019, Dameon is a motorcycle enthusiast who works for a manufacturing company in Ohio.

Although he’s kept a low profile over the years, Dameon spoke on camera about the murders for “The Green Monster,” an episode of American Monster.

It includes never-before-seen home movies of family life with Jack and Linda Myers. You can watch the “The Green Monster” on the ID Network if you subscribe to cable. Amazon has the episode, too, but you have to pay, even with Prime.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime or Hulu

Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe: Twin Tales

Two Elegant Sisters, One Murdered Ophthalmologist
(“The Wilson Murder,” Forensic Files)

Technical problem: If the photos of Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe aren’t showing up in this post, please try viewing it here.

Forensic Files doesn’t always feature suspects who look like middle-aged belles from a Tennessee Williams drama.

But when it does, they’re twins with refined Southern accents that make you wonder what deviousness could be hidden inside.

Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe probably conspired to kill Betty’s husband, but only one of them has to rely on the prison commissary for pomegranate iced tea today.

Jack Wilson, an ophthalmologist who had been married to Betty for 14 years, ended up dead on the lacquered floor of their brick mansion in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1992.

More to the story. At first, figuring out who murdered him and how seemed like a matter of connecting a few numbered dots.

But over the course of the separate trials, conflicting forensics experts, a hit man whose story kept changing, and the pristine reputation of one of the sisters made things go askew.

For this week, I searched for more information about murder victim Jack Wilson, whose importance gets lost amid the intrigue surrounding his colorful wife and sister-in-law.

So let’s get started on the recap of “The Wilson Murder,” the Forensic Files episode about the case, along with information culled from internet research:

Two weddings. Betty Joy and Peggy Gay Woods were fraternal twins born in Gadsden, Alabama, on July 14, 1945. They were both popular in school.

Betty was a student council officer and performed in plays and talent shows. Peggy was a homecoming queen and considered the class beauty, according to an AP account.

They both got married immediately after high school, had children, and divorced within a few years.

The sisters seemed to do better on their second marriages. Peggy, a first grade teacher, hitched up with a Baptist deacon named Wayne Lowe and became lead singer of the church choir. He adopted her two kids and they had another one together.

Loving the life. Betty took up with Jack Wilson, a doctor she met at Huntsville’s Humana Hospital, where she worked as a nurse specializing in kidney dialysis.

After they married, the social-climbing Betty quit her job and enjoyed the perks of being an eye surgeon’s wife. She wore a Rolex watch and cruised around town in her burgundy Mercedes convertible. The couple also owned a black BMW.

On May 22, 1992, Jack Wilson was looking forward to leaving on a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Betty the next day. He hoped it would rekindle his relationship with his wife, whom he still loved and would reportedly do just about anything to please.

Shocking discovery. The doctor, 55, was generous to others as well, sometimes waiving the charges for struggling patients. “They were always treated the same, if they had $5 or $500,000,” one of his office staff members told WAFF 48 News. “He treated me like a daughter. He treated everyone who worked here as family.”

And he kept them entertained with his “unapologetically cornball sense of humor,” according to People magazine:

“He wore Christmas ties in the summer. Even the way Wilson concluded his will was meant to be funny. ‘To be used only if absolutely necessary, i.e., if I am dead,’ he wrote. ‘Try real hard to revive me if I only look dead.’”

His sister-in-law said he was fun to be with, sincere, kind, and “didn’t have a pretentious bone in his body.”

Noncommittal crime scene. Betty had just returned home from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when she discovered Jack’s lifeless body in a pool of blood on the hardwood bordered by two Persian rugs and pale blue wall-to-wall carpeting. A metal baseball bat was lying next to him.

Betty ran to a neighbor’s house and dialed 911. She sounded convincing enough on the call.

At the murder scene, police couldn’t find any helpful fingerprints or signs of a burglary. All of Jack’s credit cards were in his wallet and there was nothing much in the way of ransacking in the house.

The Wilsons’ four-bedroom four-bath house on Boulder Circle in Huntsville

But investigators soon learned that things weren’t exactly in order between the victim and his pretty wife. The couple slept in separate bedrooms.

Salacious revelations. Numerous sources reported that Betty had a distaste for Jack and the surgery he’d had because of his Crohn’s disease. Witnesses would later testify about the various unkind things she said to and about him. (Although, to her credit, she accepted Jack’s marriage proposal the day he told her he needed a colostomy.)

Another prospective motive for homicide: Jack’s will left the bulk of his $6.3 million estate to Betty.

There was also the matter of her extra-marital lifestyle.

A New York Daily News report would later describe her as a woman with a “thriving sex life that rarely involved her husband.” The AA meetings she attended regularly — she’d been sober for five years — made for convenient hookups.

With only gossip and speculation and minimal forensic facts, however, investigators couldn’t build a solid case against her.

Then, a police informant came forward.

None-too-reputable. The tipster said that James White, a 41-year-old handyman at the elementary school where Peggy Lowe taught, had been hired to kill Jack Wilson for $5,000.

White, described by a reporter as a “dirty man with ungroomed hair and bad teeth,” had a dishonorable discharge from the military and a record with the law.

Detectives found Betty’s revolver in an abandoned house next to White’s trailer as well as a library book of poetry signed out by Betty in White’s truck. He later said that Betty placed his cash advance in the book after Peggy negotiated his fee for the murder.

Police arrested Peggy Lowe and Betty Wilson. Peggy got out on $300,000 bail, but her sister was stuck in jail.

Hitman cooperates. The murder charges against twin sisters — with their smooth, articulate speech, tasteful wardrobes, and commercially attractive facial features — made news around the country.

The Boston Globe sent a reporter to Alabama to cover the case.

So many spectators flocked to the ensuing trials that the courthouse had to assign admission tickets to tame the chaos.

Betty and Peggy Woods Pictured in yearbook photos — Growing up, Betty and Peggy were constant companions

James White made a deal for a lighter sentence in exchange for implicating Betty and Peggy.

He said that he knew Peggy Lowe from the school in Vincent where he did some carpentry work. They had struck up a friendly relationship, speaking on the phone regularly.

Contract taken out. White found Peggy enchanting and wanted to win her favor — the eighth-grade dropout loved that she came from the right side of the tracks.

After confiding in him that she “had a friend who was in a bad marriage and whose husband mistreated her,” Peggy Lowe agreed to pay White $5,000 for a hit, with some of the money up front so that he could pay off debts and help his four children, White said, according to court papers.

White said that on the day of the murder, he hid upstairs in the Wilsons’ house until Jack Wilson came upstairs.

But White would later claim that he had already decided not to use the gun for the murder — and then realized that he didn’t want to kill him at all.

Boyfriend obligated to testify. Unfortunately, White testified, when he encountered Jack Wilson in the hallway, there was a struggle and White beat Wilson with the bat and stabbed him twice in the abdomen. Then, he said, Betty met him outside and drove him to his truck.

Police found no evidence he’d been inside Betty’s vehicle, so prosecutors took what forensics they had plus Jack’s testimony — and threw in some character assassination.

The state subpoenaed one of Betty’s lovers, an African American city official named Erroll Fitzpatrick, to testify about their relationship. Defense lawyer Buck Watson complained it was a maneuver to play upon racism.

The prosecution also presented numerous witnesses who attested to demeaning comments Betty had made about her husband.

Despite that Betty had four defense lawyers, including courtroom star Bobby Lee Cook — allegedly the inspiration for Andy Griffith’s character on Matlock — the prosecution had the edge.

Twin with the halo. After deliberating for two days, the jury convicted Betty of capital murder. She received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Eight months after Betty’s trial, it was Peggy Lowe’s turn. The prosecution alleged that the poised and proper twin was a conspirator who hired killer James White.

But Peggy Lowe’s encounter with the judicial system was markedly different from her sister’s modern-day stoning.

First off, there was little leeway to assassinate Peggy’s character. She was a happily married first grade teacher known for her kindness toward people in need. Her husband was minister of music at their church.

The defense made a point of introducing the jury to Peggy’s husband, three daughters, and son, who were in the courtroom to support her.

Teflon defendant. Dozens of her fellow First Baptist Church parishioners, some carrying “Free Peggy Lowe” signs, showed up at the courthouse to support her innocence.

There was a bit of salaciousness during the trial, however. White claimed that Peggy Lowe used sex to seduce him into the murder plot.

But Peggy denied the accusation, and it seemed to bounce right off of her.

The defense trashed White — whose lawyers had given him a makeover including new teeth — maintaining that the kind-hearted Peggy Lowe met with White to help him get carpentry work at the Wilsons’ house, and also lent him money to help his four kids.

White had a long history of abusing drugs and alcohol and a criminal record that included an escape from jail. He had even attacked his own troops while serving in Vietnam and sexually abused his daughter, Peggy’s defense team told the jury.

Two-assailant theory. Oddly, at the same time, the defense made a case that White wasn’t the murderer, noting that White had never actually admitted he killed Jack Wilson.

His original story didn’t make sense either, according to a forensic specialist who testified for the defense, because the murder weapon was probably an implement like a fireplace poker, not a baseball bat.

And, the defense alleged, the homicide required two people, who probably attacked Jack Wilson in the garage, beat, stabbed, and strangled him, then wrapped his body in a tarp, carried it upstairs, dumped it on the floor, and smeared blood on the bat so it looked like the murder weapon.

The jury took less than three hours to return a not guilty verdict.

Back to the routine. ″I asked the Lord to send me a good lawyer and he did,″ a teary Peggy Lowe said after the verdict, according to an AP account.

A prosecutor grumbled that trying to convict Peggy Lowe was like “fighting God.”

After the trial, Lowe returned to her respectable life, telling a newspaper reporter she was looking forward to attending a high school football game to watch her teenage daughter, who was a cheerleader.

As for Betty, she still resides behind razor wire, in Julia Tutwiler Prison, which Mother Jones magazine once named one of the 10 worst prisons in the U.S., although the facility has since been overhauled.

In 2006, Betty snagged herself a new husband, a former Green Beret named Bill Campbell who had become fascinated by her plight after watching a 48 Hours episode about the case.

Sister act still strong. They had a traditional wedding ceremony, although the wedding cake had to be sliced before it was allowed in the prison, the Gadsden Times reported.

Alabama does not allow conjugal visits.

Betty’s twin, known as Peggy Peck after she remarried, to a University of Alabama professor, was maid of honor at Betty’s jailhouse wedding.

Today, in addition to the support of her newest husband, Betty has the comfort of knowing that the murder and its aftermath didn’t drive a wedge between her and her sister – even when they both faced the prospect of Alabama’s electric chair and police falsely told each of them that the other had blamed her.

As for convicted hitman James White, he later changed his story — saying that he had never met Betty Wilson or slept with Peggy Lowe. He recanted his claims that Lowe ensnared him in a murder-for-hire plan. He also said that he blacked out during the time of the murder.

He later changed his story back to the original.

No country club. White resides in Limestone Correctional Center in Harvest.

It’s a maximum security prison recently targeted by Alabama’s Civil Rights Division for alleged cruel and unusual punishment, including subjecting some men to bucket detail.

White is up for parole consideration on March 1, 2020.

Judging from online comments, there’s not a whole lot of sympathy out there for James White, but many viewers are bothered by the lack of forensic evidence against Betty Wilson — and believe she was railroaded.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Tubi or Amazon Prime

Sandra Duyst: Death of a Horsewoman

An Insurance Salesman Exercises Bad Policies
(‘Murder She Wrote,’ Forensic Files)

Sandra Duyst is picture wearing a riding hat. — Sandra Duyst

Many online viewers have expressed amazement that Sandra Duyst stayed married to a man who tried to kill her — particularly since he did so in a way that left no other interpretation.

David Duyst attacked his wife with an ax-hammer.

But instead of blaming him, Sandra told friends and medical professionals that her cranial injuries happened as the result of a horse-related accident. As sad as the case is, there’s nothing terribly surprising about it to me.

Kids in the equation. She appears to be the victim of a profound case of resignation fueled by low self-esteem and embarrassment.

But where did the low esteem come from? For this week, I looked for some answers.

There’s no need to check on her husband’s status — as the producers noted after the show, David Duyst ended up dying in prison. But the couple left three children, so I searched for information about how Erica, Timothy, and David Duyst Jr. handled the aftermath of their mother’s death.

So let’s get started on the recap of “Murder She Wrote,” along with additional information from internet research:

Sandra Anne Bos was born on Dec. 29, 1959, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At the age of 3, she participated in her first horse show and went on to collect numerous equestrian awards. She was also MVP of her high school volleyball team.

She and David Duyst, the son of a history teacher and a librarian, met in high school and got married after they both attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The two had grown up in the area and had lots of friends, according to Beyond the Grave: The Murder of Sandra Duyst, an ID Network show produced in 2016.

The Duysts moved to a house in Alpine Township and built a stable on the property. She specialized in raising and training quarter horses and gave riding lessons.

Blame it on Dexter. David started his career as an Amway salesman, then joined his father-in-law’s insurance company, Northwestern Mutual Life. At one time, David also served as chairman of West Side Christian School, where Sandra coached girls volleyball.

Insurance salesman and murderer David Duyst wearing glasses and a mustache — David Duyst

It’s not clear exactly when trouble started brewing for the Duysts, but on Nov. 19, 1998, a severely wounded, bleeding Sandra crawled to a neighbor’s house for help, explaining that her horse Dexter had kicked her in the head while she was trying to feed him.

She would survive her injuries, but suffered from mood swings and depression afterward, according to people who knew her well.

Her personal physician, James Veldkamp, would later testify that she improved after he prescribed Paxil for her.

In 1999, she and one of her horses placed in the Top 5 at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio.

But on March 29, 2000, David Duyst called 911 and said his wife had committed suicide in her bedroom and was dead.

Improbable injuries. He told police that he had fallen asleep in the TV room and the sound of a gun woke him up. Sandra, 40, had shot herself with the couple’s Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter semiautomatic, he reported.

David, who admitted the couple had marital problems, told 911 that this was not Sandra’s first suicide attempt.

His story sounded credible until an autopsy showed Sandra suffered two bullet wounds. People don’t generally shoot themselves twice in the head.

Splatter revealed. David said the pistol must have double-fired, but testing of the gun disproved that theory. And two forensic medical doctors, Stephen Cohle and Vincent DiMaio, concluded that each one of her wounds was lethal enough to disable her immediately, which ruled out the possibility that she deliberately shot herself a second time.

She had no blood splatter on her arms or clothing.

Meanwhile, in another case of a murderer who didn’t watch Forensic Files often enough, David voluntarily handed over the clothes he wore on the night Sandra died.

The Duysts house with the barn and stable structure in the back — Sandra Duyst boarded horses in the stable behind her house

They looked clean enough to the naked eye, but a lab found tiny drops of high-velocity impact mist blood on David’s shirt.

Financial woes. And more incriminating news: David was having an affair with his secretary, Linda Ryan, who for some reason wanted to have the jerk all to herself.

Ryan, who kept a collection of Beanie Babies on her desk at work, admitted that she and David planned to split with their spouses so they could be together. She divorced her husband and started checking out engagement rings online, but David dragged his feet, according to Beyond the Grave.

There’s more: David and Sandra were in debt, behind on tuition for their kids’ schools.

And to complete the Forensic Files homicidal-spouse package, David had recently taken out life insurance on Sandra that would pay out $579,000, even in the event of suicide.

Mary Ellen Spring, Sandra’s sister, chimed in with another revelation. Sandra had told her that if anything happened to her, she should look for a piece of paper hidden in a china cabinet.

Far-fetched explanation. The letter written by Sandra told a different story about how Sandra got those head injuries in 1998. The couple had been arguing in the barn about money, and David struck her on the head with an ax-hammer her while she was feeding Dexter.

The document was the kind of voice from the grave that makes a prosecutor’s day for a month.

David fought the accusations, playing an answering machine recording of Sandra saying that he had pushed her “beyond” and that their marriage was over and so was her life.

He claimed that she meant the second part literally. Defense lawyer David Dodge alleged that Sandra had shot herself twice in order to frame her husband as a murderer — an act of revenge for his infidelity.

Linda Ryan, the mousy-looking secretary David Duysts started an affair with at the office — The other woman: Linda Ryan

David, 41, also contended that his wife had reason to be severely depressed at the time of her death, because he had just asked her for a divorce and told her that he “had an excellent chance of gaining custody of the children,” according to court papers.

Children faithful. His lawyer also said that the six-figure payday on Sandra’s life shouldn’t count against David: Insurance salespeople tend to take out large policies on their spouses to set a good example for their clients, Dodge contended.

The testimony of the couple’s children, who all reportedly believed in their father’s innocence, was a mixed bag that alternated between helping each side.

Erica Duyst, 13, testified that after Sandra recovered from the head injuries, she seemed depressed.

On the other hand, eldest child David Jr. and youngest Tim, 11, both said that on the day their mother died, her mood seemed fine. They also both testified that Sandra disliked guns.

But the boys also said that, after they awoke to the sound of gunshots on March 29, 2000, they heard their father’s footsteps coming from the TV room and moving to the bedroom — suggesting that Sandra was alone in the bedroom when the gun fired.

Forensic folks. Peter Duyst, the children’s grandfather, also supported David’s innocence. He had already suffered the death of his son Peter, a police officer who was electrocuted while trying to save a drowning man in 1994, according to the Grand Rapids Press.

Most of the testimony from forensic professionals helped the prosecution, however. Crime scene reconstruction expert Rod Englert said the death scene evidence was “consistent with someone firing the fatal shots while standing behind Sandra,” according to court papers.

Lovable guy? Sandra’s friend Cindy McCullough, who appeared on the episode, said that even after the horse stable incident, Sandra loved David and wanted to salvage the marriage.

As reporter Doug Guthrie wrote in the Grand Rapids Press, David Duyst did have some charm:

“Wearing a double-breasted blue blazer and looking every bit the insurance salesman he is, Duyst had jurors laughing and at ease almost immediately. Duyst exchanged smiles with his three children, who also appeared in the packed courtroom today. And he smiled as he told jurors that his eldest son — David Duyst Jr. — today is celebrating his 16th birthday. ‘He is getting his license today so watch out for the white Suburbans out there,’ Duyst said with a laugh, drawing smiles from jurors.”

But to others, his attitude didn’t sit right, especially when he unreluctantly badmouthed his late wife, alleging she had a negative attitude toward life.

Duplicate doubted. A jury found him guilty in March of 2001 and he received a sentence of life without parole plus two years for a felony firearms conviction.

In an interview with Wood TV8, juror Marie Hopkins commented that she felt David was cocky and overly relaxed on the witness stand. “No one could shoot themselves twice in the head,” she added.

The children the couple shared stayed with their maternal grandparents during the trial, but it’s not clear who took care of them long term.

An Associated Press story with the headline "Man Guilty of Killing Sleeping Wife"

Today, Tim Duyst appears to have a career in the military. Erica Duyst works in the health care industry. It’s not clear what David Duyst Jr.’s occupation is but, like the other two, he still lives in Michigan.

Their father’s obituary notes that both sons are married and that there are grandchildren in the family.

Finally, after researching Sandra Duyst’s life, I need to alter my theory that a typical case of low self-esteem made Sandra cling to the same man who struck her skull with a heavy implement.

The Grand Rapids Press reported that Ronald Baker, a pastor at the family’s church, said that “Sandra Duyst had been an assertive and confident woman before the incident, but became distant and timid after. He attributed her behavior to headaches she was suffering.”

It takes strength and initiative to exit a bad marriage, and the traumatic injuries Sandra suffered could have snuffed out her fortitude.

For all we know, Sandra at first covered up the ax attack because of embarrassment and then David Duyst begged her to forgive him — and put on a sweet, remorseful husband routine just long enough for him to figure out a way to finish the job.

Bids for freedom. He ended up serving his time at Saginaw Correctional Facility, which doesn’t sound like any country club prison. The facility is surrounded by a “buffer fence, double chain link fences, razor-ribbon wire, electronic detection systems, an armed patrol vehicle, and gun towers.”

But the convict never gave up hope. He busied himself with appeals, including the ever-popular ineffective counsel claim.

A Sign for Calvin College, alma mater of both the Duysts

He had no luck with the legal maneuvering and died after a short illness at age 58 in 2018.

(Duyst was fortunate to pass away of natural causes — a Saginaw inmate was recently found dead of blunt force trauma in his cell after his roomie allegedly beat him with a Master Lock tied to an electrical cord.)

More family woe. Lawrence and Sarah Bos paid tribute to their murdered daughter via a $3,000 scholarship for physical education or recreational majors at Calvin College.

Even more tragedy was to strike Sandra’s parents, when yet another adult daughter, the aforementioned Mary Ellen Spring, died prematurely.

You can watch the Beyond the Grave episode about Sandra Duyst’s murder on Daily Motion. It’s more of a dramatization than a documentary, but it features commentary from some of the real-life professionals involved in the case.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on Tubi or Amazon Prime

Mark Hofmann: Forger and Killer

He Defrauded the Mormon Church Religiously
(“Postal Mortem,” Forensic Files)

Back in 1985, Mark Hofmann carried out financial crimes that could have landed him in jail for a few month or years.

So he tried to cover them up by committing homicides, which cost him part of his kneecap and all of his freedom.

Hofmann, a dealer in historical documents related to the Mormon faith, decided to get rid of Steve Christensen before he could expose Hofmann as a fraudster selling forgeries.

Diabolical strategy. Then, solely for the purpose of throwing off police, Hofmann murdered a second person. He used the same risky method in both homicides: packages rigged to explode.

The murders and revelations about bogus documents came at a time when the Mormon Church was facing controversy over its new president, an octogenarian named Ezra Taft Benson who had voiced opposition to civil rights and women’s rights.

Although it had nothing to do with Benson, Hofmann, who was born to a Mormon family in Salt Lake City, had become bitter toward the faith and its leaders. His father was reportedly a polygamist, which did not make his mother’s life particularly wonderful.

Hofmann, the subject of the Forensic Files episode “Postal Mortem,” was only 30 years old when he committed the homicides — and is still alive. For this week, I checked into where he is and also did more research on his forgeries.

Collector targeted. I also looked into something Forensic Files never brought up: Who was the intended victim of Hofmann’s third, botched bombing attempt?

So let’s get started on a recap of the episode along with other information drawn from internet research:

On October 15, 1985, a package left outside of Steve Christensen’s office in Salt Lake City, Utah, detonated when he picked it up.

It killed Christensen, a 31-year-old father of four who was a bishop in the Mormon Church and collected historical religious documents as a hobby.

The box, wrapped in brown paper, contained a pipe bomb with some pieces imprinted with the Tandy logo (once more, the Radio Shack brand turns up on Forensic Files). It was a motion-sensitive bomb, meaning that slow-moving mercury triggered the detonation.

Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build. It was finished in 1893 — Mark Hofmann’s final bomb exploded in the shadow of Salt Lake Temple

Second victim. Two hours after Christensen’s murder, a 51-year-old woman named Kathy Webb Sheets died after picking up a package wrapped in brown paper that was left in her driveway. The box, addressed to her husband, J. Gary Sheets, contained a pipe bomb with a mercury switch and Tandy parts.

J. Gary Sheets and Steve Christensen were both officers in CFA Financial Services, an investment company that lost millions of dollars of clients’ money. Perhaps a former customer was holding a grudge. After the bombing, CFA employees received police protection.

Then, on Oct. 16, 1985, a third explosion occurred, and it blew the case wide open.

Bomber not a loner. The impact of the bomb sent the victim to LDS Hospital with bruises and burns, damaged eardrums, and a severely wounded knee, but he would survive. His name was Mark Hofmann. He served as a historical researcher for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hofmann was a happily married father of three small children with another one on the way. He delighted in traveling around the world to collect rare copies of children’s books, but he made a living as a seller of historical documents.

He told police he opened the door to his blue sports car, and a bomb that some anonymous evil-doer must have placed inside dropped to the floor and detonated.

But investigators found forensic evidence in the car that contradicted the scenario Hofmann reported. They believed that the bomb went off by accident in his hands — explaining why it blasted off some of his fingertips — as he was placing it on the front seat.

Hot date. Meanwhile, witnesses at the other bombing locations recalled seeing a man in an Olympus High letter jacket carrying a package.

Bombing victims Kathy Sheets and Steve Christensen — Victims Kathy Sheets and Steve Christensen

Police found out that, around the time of Christensen’s death, Hofmann had an appointment with Mormon church officials to discuss a six-figure sale of the McLellin Papers — an account of an early Mormon Church member who broke with founder Joseph Smith. (Hofmann’s McLellin documents were fake, and it’s not clear whether any real such papers existed.)

Investigators theorized that Christensen had figured out Hofmann was selling false antiquarian documents, including the “White Salamander Letter,” which Christensen bought for $40,000 and donated to the church. (Christensen’s intentions may have been to “catch and kill” the story — the document, supposedly written by convert Martin Harris in 1830, cast Joseph Smith in a questionable light.)

Hofmann allegedly wanted to get rid of Christensen before he had a chance to raise doubts about his other wares. The con man had reportedly already made $1.5 million off his forgeries during his career and couldn’t afford to ruin a good thing.

Hot plate. Another theory said that Hofmann committed the murders as a way to divert church officials’ attention long enough for him to pull some forged papers together for a sale.

In Hofmann’s apartment, the police found a printing plate used to make counterfeit documents. He owned a letter jacket like the one the witnesses described.

As for the question of who the intended victim of the third bomb was, police suspected it was someone connected with Hofmann’s forged documents — an innocent individual who knew too much, possibly a collector named Brent Ashworth (more on him in a minute).

Dorie Olds, ex-wife of forger Mark Hofmann — Dorie Olds circa 2010

Menace with a pen. Hofmann ended up pleading guilty to multiple counts of theft by deception and two counts of second-degree murder. He got life in prison.

With Hofmann safely locked away, the church took inventory and compiled a list of 10 Mormonism-related forgeries sold by Hofmann.

Although Hofmann’s animus toward the church allegedly played a role in his crimes, Hofmann didn’t prey upon Mormons alone. He penned convincing signatures of mainstream historical figures including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, John Brown, and Button Gwynette, according to the AP.

He followed a 17th-century recipe for ink to create what he hawked as an original copy of the Oath of a Freeman, a Massachusetts Bay Colony document dating back to 1638.

Hofmann reportedly had no trouble making eye contact while telling lies during sales transactions with clients. The esoteric nature of the business also helped.

“Large portions of the trade of antiquarian documents operate in secrecy,” rare-book dealer Jennifer Larson told the Associated Press in a story dated Oct. 26, 1995. “It is the very aspect of the trade that allowed a forger like Hofmann to succeed.”

From sell to cell. Hoffman took precautions at times. Sometimes he would have friends or associates sell the documents in his place.

A fragment of a forged historical document sold by Mark Hofmann — Fragment of a forged document sold by Mark Hofmann

He admitted as much as part of his deal with prosecutors to recount his scams — but he would divulge only the forgeries he’d been formally charged with selling.

After an unsuccessful suicide attempt (sleeping pills) by Hofmann in 1998, prison guards found hidden in his mattress a list of 129 additional fraudulent documents he had possessed at one time.

According to specialist George Throckmorton, who appeared on Forensic Files, all documents known to be sold by Hofmann were fake.

Prose and poetry. The aforementioned Brent Ashworth, a lawyer and collector from Provo, paid $400,000 to $500,000 to buy historical Mormon documents from Hofmann. “I was stupid,” Ashworth told the AP in 1995. “I fell right into it. I was a pawn, but I was one of many.”

Ashworth was correct, and Hofmann’s forgeries continued to float around, even after his incarceration. In 1997, a library in Amherst, Massachusetts, forked over $21,000 for what was presented as a newly discovered poem written in Emily Dickinson’s hand — only to find out it was a fake created by Hofmann, according to a Guardian story that refers to Hofmann as “America’s greatest literary forger.”

Today, Mark Hofmann is better-known as inmate No 41235 in the Central Utah Correctional Facility. At one point after his jailing, his lawyers claimed that Hofmann had bombed his own car intentionally, as a suicide attempt because he was overwhelmed with guilt.

Mark Hofmann as a high school student and in a mug shot — Mark Hofmann, seen in a yearbook photo and a recent mug shot, began scamming at age 14, when he learned to alter old coins

Wife survives. That contention didn’t win Hofmann any leniency. He’s been moved to minimum security, but he has no possibility of parole as his sentence stands today.

His crimes also weighed heavily on his wife, Dorie Olds, although she had no role in them. After her husband’s arrest, reporters and TV cameras dogged her, and some of her fellow churchgoers shunned her, according to an interview she gave to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Olds went on to appear in “An Explosive Love,” a 2010 episode of the ID network’s Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?

She said that the Mormon community eventually opened its arms to her again and she remains devoted to her faith.

The Mormon Church, too, got a reprieve from bad publicity. Ezra Taft Benson remained president until his death in 1994 and is credited with increasing membership by 2.8 million for a total of 8.7 million followers, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Update: You can read about the 2021 documentary Murder Among the Mormons and watch it on Netflix.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Tubi or Amazon Prime

Category: Forensic Files

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