Rebecca Reisner, Author at Forensic Files Now

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?”

Photo of the book Forensic Files Now — Book in stores and online

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

Lana Tisdel and Her Mother: An Epilogue

What Happened to Brandon Teena’s Most Famous Ex?
(Boys Don’t Cry and The Brandon Teena Story)

The last time Lana Tisdel’s name came up in the press was the year 2000, when she settled a lawsuit with movie distributor Searchlight Pictures for an undisclosed sum.

Although she came off as a protagonist in the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry, Tisdel didn’t care much for the Hollywood treatment.

Dramatic-license violation: She alleged that the movie used her life story without her permission and unfairly depicted her as a habitual drinker and drug user.

Tisdel (pictured above in her 20s), who had dated Brandon Teena — who was born a girl named Teena Brandon but dressed and lived as a man — also called out Boys Don’t Cry for falsely portraying her as having been present during the shootings that killed Brandon, 22, and witnesses Lisa Lambert, 24, and Phillip Devine, 22, just before New Year’s Day of 1994.

Ex-cons John Lotter and Thomas Nissen had targeted Brandon Teena for murder to quiet a rape case against the two ex-cons.

Maury comes knocking. A year before Boys Don’t Cry, Tisdel herself had appeared in the documentary The Brandon Teena Story, and she seemed like a sympathetic character there, too.

Shortly after the movies came out, Lana and her mother appeared on A Current Affair and The Maury Povich Show.

So what’s become of the hardscrabble, karaoke-loving Nebraska girl portrayed by actress Chloë Sevigny on the big screen?

Pretty as ever. Today, she maintains a presence on the internet, but she uses her married name, Lana Bachman, and probably isn’t looking to satisfy curiosity seekers.

She has a daughter and two sons and at least one grandchild.

Lana, who in her youth resembled actress Jodie Foster, still has long beautiful strawberry blond hair. She has become more striking with maturity.

It’s not clear what type of work she does or whether she and her husband are still together. (She hitched up with a guy from her hometown of Falls City on Dec. 6, 2001, according to Douglas County records.)

Linda Gutierres, who is Lana Tisdel's mother — Linda Gutierres was Lana Tisdel’s mother

Struggle to survive. Sadly, her mother, Linda Gutierres, who came off as a flawed but not irredeemable character in the documentary, died in 2003 at the age of 54.

Her obituary didn’t disclose her cause of death.

Linda Gutierres had a rough life. She was wounded in a stabbing attack by an ex-husband and supported her family on a monthly disability check of less than $400, according to an account by writer Eric Konigsberg, who grew up in Omaha.

Including Lana, Linda Gutierres left four children behind.

Unwitting accomplice. Lana’s father, L.L. Tisdel, was not included in either film but inadvertently played a role in springing Brandon Teena from jail.

He gave Lana a blank check for a perm, but she used it to pay Brandon’s $250 in bail instead.

L.L. Tisdel died in 2007 at the age of 71.

In August 2020, Lana suffered a new tragedy when her Ford pickup crossed a center line and fatally injured Chrysler minivan driver Glenn D. Aston in a head-on crash in Fairview, Kansas. Lana herself suffered injuries requiring hospitalization, but she has since recovered. (Thanks to reader Charlene for writing in with the update.)

You can watch the interviews with Lana Tisdel and Linda Gutierres in the documentary on YouTube.

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

Read Part I: Brandon Teena’s Killers: 25 Years Later

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

Billy McFarland: Fyre Fraudster Update

The Latest on the Con Man and His Victims
(Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Netflix)

These days, when I’m not rewatching Forensic Files on TV, I’m restreaming Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on my MacBook.

Fyre investor Carola Jain, Billy McFarland, Jason Bell (who was not involved with Fyre), and Ja Rule — Happier times: Fyre investor Carola Jain, Billy McFarland, Jason Bell (not involved with Fyre), and Ja Rule

You can see the Netflix Fyre documentary half a dozen times and pick up something new every time.

Blue-eyed bandit. The 97-minute original production tells the excruciating story of a music festival founder who believed that a high-profile social media campaign would magically compensate for severe unpreparedness and underfunding.

Billy McFarland promised ticket buyers private-jet transportation, ahi sliders, luxurious villas on a nirvana-like private island in the Bahamas, and performances by 10 major recording artists.

The Fyre Festival failed on all accounts.

Most of the well-to-do millennials who spent upward of $4,000 per person to experience a luxurious bacchanalia ended up receiving no-frills flights, sleeping on rain-soaked mattresses in FEMA tents on a gravelly construction site, scrounging for food, and listening to excuses from McFarland instead of performances by Blink-182 and Tyga.

Infernal mess. In a way, even the locale for the festival didn’t exist. McFarland said he had purchased Pablo Escobar’s island, where organizers shot a promotional video featuring such supermodels as Emily Ratajkowski and Hailey Baldwin — who then publicized the upcoming event via Instagram — but the sale never actually happened.

The organizers then arranged to have the festival on Great Exuma, a Bahamian island that isn’t private, so they photoshopped out parts that weren’t.

Before Fyre, McFarland, then 25, probably imagined himself as the next under-30 entrepreneur headed for the Forbes 400 list.

Note the FEMA tents on the Netflix film promo

Card game. Described as charming, intelligent, and persuasive, the towering and slightly tubby New Jersey native first made a name for himself by establishing Magnises, a credit card whose fee included perks like discounted Beyoncé tickets and social events at a Manhattan townhouse.

That venture, targeted at millennials, got off to an impressive start, then fizzled after not delivering on promises. But it didn’t get enough bad press to cloud McFarland’s image as a young visionary.

It was the Fyre Festival flameout that exposed McFarland as a fraud for all the world to see. Virtually every major news media outlet covered the April 2017 disaster.

Schadenfreude samba. The public delighted in watching video footage of privileged 26-year-old attendees having to practically beg just for drinkable water.

“Every time a rich kid gets scammed, an angel gets its wings,” tweeted @snarkycindy, one of many Fyre detractors.

Fyre: The Greatest Pary That Never Happened offers a look at the timeline of the disaster and the financial dealings behind it.

The chronology actually starts before Fyre became synonymous with a fiasco in the tropics. McFarland and Ja Rule created the Fyre brand as an app for anyone who wanted to book musical talent — the “Uber of entertainment.”

Naysayers shrugged off. The Fyre Festival was intended as a vehicle to promote the Fyre app. McFarland’s company, Fyre Media, planned the event.

For the most part, Ja Rule came off as an innocent dupe who believed McFarland’s assurances that he could assemble infrastructure for a new music festival in just four months.

Hailey Baldwin Bieber and Emily Ratajkoweski were among the supermodels who promoted the Fyre Festival — With publicity like this, what could possibly go wrong?

Others, like consultants Marc Weinstein and Keith van der Linde — both featured in on-camera interviews in the Netflix documentary — were either rebuffed or fired when they warned McFarland that his brainchild was looking less like a hedonistic fantasy and more like a dream about having final exams when you haven’t gone to class all semester.

Locals stiffed. Fyre recounts how McFarland lied on financial statements, paid some vendors via a Ponzi-like scheme, and cheated others.

It’s sad to hear Bahamian catering contractor Maryann Rolle talk about losing $50,000 because of Fyre.

The most upsetting part of the saga is that some or all of the Bahamian construction workers who labored under the hot sun for Fyre didn’t get paid.

Still, the documentary leaves open the possibility that McFarland was just a dishonest but well-intentioned kid who got in over his head and lied out of desperation.

William tell. That is, until the last 15 minutes, which shows footage of McFarland gleefully perpetrating a new con — selling phony tickets to events like the Met Gala — while he was free on bail after the FBI arrested him over Fyre offenses.

He attempted some semi-honest hustling, too. According to the LA Times, McFarland told Fyre director Chris Smith he would appear on camera for a $125,000 fee, but the filmmakers declined because “it wasn’t right for him to benefit when other people had been hurt by his actions.”

Prosecutors said that McFarland cheated 80 investors out of $26 million. Victims of the Fyre fraud filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit against McFarland and Ja Rule.

From sell to cell. McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud related to Fyre in 2017. The following year, he pleaded guilty to additional wire fraud charges plus bank fraud and making false statements to a federal law enforcement agent regarding his fake-ticket business, NYC VIP Access.

In October of 2018, a federal judge sentenced McFarland to six years in prison.

Here’s an update on McFarland as well as others depicted on the documentary:

• BILLY McFARLAND, now 27, resides in the Federal Correctional Institution at Otisville, a medium-security penitentiary known for housing white collar criminals. The Orange County, New York, facility offers bocce ball, horseshoes, handball and tennis courts, a baseball field, and cardio equipment. Otisville has a satellite camp for minimum security inmates.

In May 2019, New York magazine reported that McFarland has started a memoir, “Promythus: The God of Fyre,” to explain his side of the story, which he was planning to self-publish. McFarland’s girlfriend, Russian model Anastasia Eremenko, was coordinating the effort.

McFarland has said he’d like to use the proceeds toward the $26 million in restitution he’s been ordered to pay.

As far as McFarland’s quality of life today, it’s not clear whether he lives in minimum security or medium security in Otisville. He’s inmate No. 91186-054, in case that’s a clue to anyone.

From the list of commissary items, it looks as though McFarland has access to more and better food than the festival attendees did.

The Otisville website lists his release date as September 1, 2023.

There have been reports that McFarland wants to try for another Fyre Festival when he gets out.

Update to the update: McFarland may have his bocce balls taken away. On Sept. 24, 2019, the Daily Beast reported that he violated Otisville’s rules by obtaining a recording device and he will likely be sent to a less-luxe higher-security prison, according to the story, which cited two unnamed sources.

• JA RULE didn’t face SEC charges over the Fyre Festival. He has started his own talent-booking business, ICONN, which offers access to such luminaries as Ashanti, DJ Connor Cruise, Alexander Great, Nazanin Mandi, and Ja Rule himself.

Maryann Rolle, who lost money on the Fyre Festival — Maryann Rolle

• MARYANN ROLLE, the cheated owner of Exuma Point Bar and Grille, tallied up $231,000 in donations from a GoFundMe campaign set up after she appeared in Fyre. According to Marie Claire, Rolle had made 1,000 meals a day for workers connected with the festival and housed some attendees in villas she and her husband own. (The $50,000 loss she mentioned in the documentary went toward paying extra food service workers hired for the festival, but her total losses were in the six-figure range, Marie Claire reported.)

In January 2019, Maryann Rolle announced her intention to share the crowdfunding windfall with other locals who worked on the Fyre Festival, according to Bahamian newspaper Tribune 242.

In May 2019, the Daily Mail reported that Pamela Carter, the friend who set up the GoFundMe account for Rolle, attempted to steal half the proceeds.

When she’s not grappling with dubious characters, it sounds as though Rolle knows how to have a good time. She’s a singer and songwriter and her husband, Elvis, is a dancer.

• GRANT MARGOLIN, the Fyre marketing executive who viewers may remember as the guy who said he wanted a “big, big, big, big, big bonfire,” was apparently no innocent victim. He settled SEC charges that he “induced investors to entrust him with tens of millions of dollars by fraudulently inflating key operational [and] financial metrics.” Margolin avoided jail time but had to agree to not serve as a company director or officer for seven years and pay a $35,000 penalty.

• ANDY KING, the gray-haired event planner who appeared on camera in Fyre, told Vulture in February that he had received offers to star in his own reality TV series.

• MARC WEINSTEIN, the young Sacha Baron Cohen lookalike who warned McFarland he needed to abandon the notion that Fyre was a luxury festival and uninvite some of the social media influencers who had been promised free housing, started an LA-area venture capital company called Wave Financial in 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile.

I had no luck finding an epilogue for Keith van der Linde, the pilot whose practical advice about capacity and logistics was ignored. A different Keith van der Linde (there are a few out there) seems amused about being mistaken for him by online researchers.

Hulu has also produced its own documentary about the debacle, Fyre Fraud, which features a post-disaster interview with a slimmed-down McFarland as well as input from his girlfriend. It’s not as absorbing as Netflix’s offering but is definitely worth a watch or two, and you can take advantage of Hulu’s free one-week trial offer.

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

Watch Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on Netflix. Watch Fyre Fraud on Hulu.

Each of 40 chapters is a blog post — plus new research. Book in stores or online

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

Jack the Ripper: Q&A with a Scholar

Historian Richard Jones Answers Pointed Questions

The Jack the Ripper mystery dates back to 1888, too early for help from mitochondrial DNA or AFIS.

A photo of Richard Jones, who has studied the Jack the Ripper crimes extensively — Richard Jones

But that’s not why Forensic Files never produced an episode about the mystery man who stabbed and mutilated as many as eight prostitutes on the mean streets of Whitechapel, a poor section of London’s East End.

Faceless and nameless. The Jack the Ripper case didn’t receive the benefit of Peter Thomas’ narration because the authorities never solved it, and Forensic Files insisted on resolution.

Speculation about the killer remains widespread today. Popular theories include that he was a slaughterhouse worker, medical professional, or Leather Apron — a local known for extorting money from prostitutes.

A documentary produced by British historian Richard Jones explores not only the possible identity of Jack the Ripper but also the sociological and physical backdrop of the crimes.

Cops scared. According to the documentary, some of Whitechapel’s 76,000 residents were so impoverished that they slept standing room only in packed lodging houses.

And the squalid streets of Whitechapel were so poorly lit and full of drunken brawlers and violent thieves that police officers would enter the area only in groups of four.

But once the murders started, police got a little creative, sometimes dressing as women in an attempt to draw out the sadistic killer.

Queen’s land. The homicides stopped within a year, and the law never came close to catching Jack the Ripper.

For this week’s post, Jones, who narrates The Unmasking of Jack the Ripper and also gives walking tours of Whitechapel — which take place regardless of weather conditions and “especially in thick, thick fog” — answered questions about the Jack the Ripper case in the context of the latter part of the Victorian era as well as the true-crime culture of the U.S. today:

Do you find it ironic that society cared more about the slain women after they were murdered than before? Very much so. It is interesting to note the way in which the murders were reported by the press. At first, there was the scare factor, very visible in the Leather Apron scare of early September. But, following the murder of Annie Chapman, on 8th September 1888, the newspaper reporting was far more sympathetic and questions were being asked about why these women had been murdered because they lacked the fourpence to pay for a bed in a common lodging house.

Whitechapel street scene. Courtesy jack-the-ripper-tour.com

Do you think the authorities would have invested more money and resources into the investigation had the victims been middle-class married women rather than prostitutes? This was a question that was brought up time and time again, and it was openly wondered if the murderer would have been caught had his crimes occurred in the wealthier quarters of London. To be honest, this may have been the case early on in the investigation, but by mid-September 1888, I think maximum resources were being devoted to the hunt for the killer.

Did the terror caused by Jack the Ripper grip middle-class and affluent parts of London — or was the fear contained in White Chapel? The fear, thanks largely to extensive press coverage afforded the crimes, gripped all classes of society, and many other countries around the world.

In the documentary, there were a few words toward the end I wasn’t able to hear clearly — does it say that Queen Victoria demanded that more lights be installed around White Chapel to ward off the killer? Yes. One of the reasons that policing the area was so difficult was the fact that the backstreets and narrow passageways that riddled the district were not lit by night. So, later on in the investigation, there were many calls for better lighting in the darker recesses of Whitechapel, and this was the point that Queen Victoria picked up on and commented on.

Is White Chapel still, as mentioned in the documentary, constructed like a rabbit warren? No. Whitechapel was gradually improved in the 30 to 40 years after the killings, and the labyrinth-like layout of the backstreets had become a thing of the past by the mid-20th century. There are, however, a few passageways that still survive that give us an idea of what the area must have been like.

The documentary mentioned that the murders sparked anti-Semitism, because Jewish immigrants were seen as competition for jobs. People speculated the killer was among them. Did the anti-Semitism die down afterward? It was always present, and the fact that you had many Jewish anarchists in the East End of London throughout the 1890s and early 20th century meant that it would erupt every so often.

Which, if any, technology or forensic advancement available today would have helped solve the Jack the Ripper murders? Possibly CCTV.

If the murders happened in the U.S. — with its homicide rates disproportionately high compared with England’s — do you think they would have become a sensation? It is difficult to say. The murders certainly did become a sensation in the U.S., and the American newspapers gave a huge amount of coverage to the crimes. One interesting thing is that many American police chiefs were commenting in newspapers about how their police forces would have no trouble catching the perpetrator if the murders happened in their jurisdiction. This is one of the reasons, when the Carrie Brown murder occurred in New York, in April 1891, the NYPD was so quick to bring a suspect to justice and secure a guilty verdict. As it transpired, their suspect was pardoned a decade later, and it transpired that one of the reasons for the pardon was that Inspector Byrnes had allegedly been too anxious to do better than the London Police.

Photos of the body's of murdered prostitutes Martha Tabram and Frances Coles — Murder victims Martha Tabram and Frances Coles were prostitutes. Courtesy jack-the-ripper-tour.com

However, the Jack the Ripper crimes had such a dramatically large impact because he was seen as being representative of all the evil, vice, and degradation that the East End wallowed in.

Can you compare the terror wreaked by the Jack to Ripper murders to any similar crime spree in the U.S.? Son of Sam in New York City comes to mind. It is safe to say that Jack the Ripper made an impact on society in a way that no murderer had done before and no murderer has done since. I don’t think the universal fear that the Jack the Ripper murders generated has been equaled since.♠

You can watch the documentary The Unmasking of Jack the Ripper on YouTube.

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

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

Candice DeLong Answers 3 Random True-Crime Questions

This TV Host Used to Be a Fed

Candice DeLong was a huge draw at IDCon, but I was fortunate enough to snag a quick audience with the host of Deadly Women and Facing Evil with Candice DeLong.

Her true-crime prowess comes not only from her Investigation Discovery gigs but also past experience as a psychiatric nurse and an FBI profiler assigned to the Unabomber and Tylenol killer cases.

DeLong’s TV series include segments about a number of bad seeds Forensic Files devotees will remember, including Diana Haun and Della “Dante” Sutorius.

I’m working on finding links so you can watch those Deadly Women episodes online. In the meantime, here are DeLong’s answers to three of my nagging but a little out-of-left-field questions about crime and law enforcement:

1. What’s a scenario that could make an innocent person look guilty of murder? A man calls the police from his home. “Help, help, my wife is on the floor. She’s been stabbed.” And in his panic — and a lot of people would do this — he removes the knife. So when the police get there, he’s covered with blood because he’s been leaning over her. He pulled the knife out, so the knife has his fingerprints. His DNA’s on her, her DNA’s on him. Did he do it? A lot of people will think he did. There are situations where DNA is screaming at the police and the prosecutors, but it’s actually inconsequential.

2. How about an example of how murderers trip themselves up with the forensic evidence? In my experience, there are a lot of people who say, “I did CPR,” but there’s no evidence. If you do CPR — and I’m an RN, so I’ve done CPR many times — you’re going to leave a lot of indications that you applied tremendous pressure to that body. Or your saliva would be on their mouth, but it’s just not there. So people tend to get caught because something isn’t there. If someone says they tried to resuscitate a dying person and there’s no indication they did, I would be very suspicious that they had something to do with that person dying.

3. I’ve noticed in Forensic Files that hit men tend to get harsher sentences than the people who hired them to commit the murders (Denise Davidson, Bradley Schwartz). Do you see the same thing in your work? I think there are sentences that are painfully light. There was a show on MSNBC years ago on murder-for-hire cases and it’s astounding that some people get only one or two years in prison for almost killing [via a hit man] the mother of their children. “Can you kill my wife? I’ll give you $50” — that kind of thing. But in most of the cases I’ve seen, the person soliciting the murder gets the heavier hit, which is only right. ♠

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

The Deadly Women “Web of Death” (Season 6, Episode 5), which includes a segment about the Sutorius murder, is no longer available on YouTube, but you can watch on Amazon with a Discovery+ subscription.

Ad for book version of Forensic Files Now — In stores and online!

Author: Rebecca Reisner

Paula Sims: A Mother Snaps Twice

Like this:

Lana Tisdel and Her Mother: An Epilogue

Like this:

Jason MacLennan: Bad Memories

Like this:

Billy McFarland: Fyre Fraudster Update

Like this:

Jack and Linda Myers: Killed for the Farm

Like this:

Jack the Ripper: Q&A with a Scholar

Like this:

Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe: Twin Tales

Like this:

Sandra Duyst: Death of a Horsewoman

Like this:

Mark Hofmann: Forger and Killer

Like this:

Candice DeLong Answers 3 Random True-Crime Questions

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: