Despite the damning and disturbing evidence, the defense seemed optimistic. The most prolific serial killer in American history (he killed nearly 100 women between 1982-1989), Utah native Gary Ridgway was the focus of one of the nation's largest and longest manhunts. Love was a friend and roommate of Wallaces then-girlfriend, Sadie McKnight. Image credit: oxygen . She was also the first woman to be executed by lethal injection. Henry Louis Wallace is considered the most infamous killer in the history of North Carolina after murdering nearly a dozen women around Charlotte who all shared some connection with the man. Sultan argued for a life sentence without parole instead of the death penalty. Henry Louis Wallace is considered the most infamous killer in the history of North Carolina after murdering nearly a dozen women around Charlotte who all shared some connection with the man. She is the service journalism editor and writes about TV and local media for The N&Os Happiness is a Warm TV blog. She also denied discussing Reid's autopsy with anyone and told the courtroom that she would not have been opposed to an autopsy. On January 29, he was handed nine death sentences.[7]. The NC Supreme Court wrote that "the letter was offered into evidence by the State not as the dying declaration of Garvin Thomas but as evidence of defendant's "deceptive plan to throw suspicion away from herself.". Officers arrived to find MacDonald on his bedroom floor next to his wifes body. [2] She was also his girlfriend's roommate and a college student. They discovered that her first husband as well as Reid had died under suspicious circumstances. MacDonald had facial injuries, superficial cuts on his abdomen and a more serious stab wound to the chest, caused by a different weapon from those used on others in his family. He is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, while his attorneys appeal. According to court records, Blanche sought and got permission from Dr. Hamilton to bring Reid food from home. These sisters hold the Guinness World Record for " Most Prolific Murder Partnership ," a dubious honor they earned due to their estimated 91 kills . Her father was an itinerant Baptist preacher described by investigators as an alcoholic who cheated on his wife and prostituted Moore when she was a child. By March 12, 1994, Charlotte police were onto Wallace and there was a citywide hunt for him. The story of The Black Widow, Blanche Taylor Moore. Gary Michael Hilton, a serial killer sentenced to death for the 2007 murder of Crawfordville nurse Cheryl Dunlap is in court today for an evidentiary hearing for his sentence appeal. "I mean that's just my opinion, but I think she did it.". Following his sentencing, Wallace made a statement to his victims' families. By that time, his marriage to Maretta had fallen apart. In May 1992, Wallace picked up 33-year-old Sharon Nance, a convicted drug dealer and prostitute. He was bloated and his "eyeballs were even starting to swell and his skin was splitting.". Wallace raped her and then strangled and stabbed her in front of her 3-year-old son. ", When Reid's body was exhumed from Pine Hill Cemetery in Burlington, an autopsy performed in Chapel Hill revealed "clearly recognizable" Mees lines across the fingernails of both hands, and the toxicology report showed arsenic in Reid's liver "30 times higher than one might see in an average individual.". In 1980, she became reacquainted with her cousin Fritz, whose mother was also the sister of Judge Susie Sharp. 1. One of the world's worst serial killers remains unknown, even after killing 32 elderly women between 2011 and 2012. Though modern DNA testing in 2006 linked him conclusively to the crime scene, he could not be tried again in state court. Wallace is sometimes called The Charlotte Strangler and The Taco Bell Strangler. [8] Mecklenburg County public defender Isabel Day served as an official witness and photographer. Surveillance footage shows them arriving at 12:40 a.m. and surveillance footage shows them leaving the club at 2:06 a.m. But the dramatically increased interest in the genre is evidenced by and likely fueled by our increased access to the stories. He wasn't expected to live.Doctors threw a Hail Mary: They ordered blood tests for herbicide poisoning, because he had used the chemicals before his illness.The results revealed more arsenic than his doctors had ever seen in a living person - 100 times the normal amount.The hospital alerted police, who interviewed him as he lay on what was supposed to be his deathbed. Since the 1900's, nearly 800 serial killer murders took place in Texas, the highest body count after California. On January 7, 1997, Wallace was found guilty of nine murders. On February 19, 1993, Wallace strangled 20-year-old Shawna Hawk, a college student, at her home after first raping her and later went to her funeral. An autopsy found that Kathleens death was a homicide, the result of blunt force trauma to the back of her head. There have been a number of appeals attempting to overturn the death sentence even to the U.S. Supreme Court but the decision has been upheld. [citation needed] As Shawna Denise Hawk's mother, Dee Sumpter, said: Charlotte's police chief, Dennis Nowicki, had said he was unaware of a killer until early March 1994, when three young black women were murdered within four days. Just before her execution, it is reported that Barfield told her son Ronnie Burke that she probably killed him because she left a lit cigarette at the foot of the bed where he lay drunk. Some serial killers are known for killing children, like David Meirhofer in Montana. He was given three life sentences. After killing his family, Lawson walked into the nearby woods and shot himself to death. UNC college student Faith Hedgepeth was found beaten to death on Sept. 7, 2012 inside the off-campus Durham/Chapel Hill apartment she shared with another student. A civilian defense attorney tore apart the militarys investigation of the killings and tried to give credence to MacDonalds claims of intruders. He has been through too much. Updated on May 23, 2019. On July 18, 1989, authorities arrested Blanche Moore and charged her with first-degree murder in the deaths of Taylor and Reid and assault with a deadly weapon in the poisoning of Dwight Moore. Also attending was the manager of the Death Row unit at the prison. Societys fascination with real-life murders and mysteries is not new, despite the relatively new and ubiquitous true crime label it has received. Because they struggled financially, the family lived a very no-frills lifestyle. He later told police he thought Spain might have the combination to the safe at Taco Bell. "He's crying because his murderer isn't coming to see him! Even so, Wallace robbed and strangled Debra Ann Slaughter, another of his girlfriends coworkers at Bojangles. Lieth Steins family owned the Camel City Dry Cleaning chain in Winston-Salem, and his estate was worth $2 million. Dwight Moores sudden and severe illness within days of his marriage in April 1989 that attracted police attention to Blanche Moore and got them wondering about the deaths of several men in her life over several decades. Wallace accompanied his sister to Jumpers funeral. Ratfliffs body was exhumed by Durham investigators and an autopsy was performed, and her death was determined to be the result of blunt force trauma. She also had been beaten in the head and stabbed in the neck at least eight times. Susie and Tom split in 1979 and she gained custody of their two sons, John and Jim. Barfields last meal was a bag of Cheetos and two 8-ounce glass bottles of Coca-Cola. All Rights Reserved. On July 25, Neal Henderson drove James Bart Upchurch to Washington, N.C., where Upchurch entered the Stein home and attacked Lieth and Bonnie while they slept. In 2008, Petersons neighbor, Larry Pollard, held a news conference announcing his theory that an owl attacked Kathleen Peterson and that she died as a result of those injuries. No trial date has been set. Hawk and Wallace both worked at Taco Bell. Velma Barfield: Margie Velma Barfield was born in South Carolina in 1932 but raised in Robeson County, where she lived nearly her whole life. She was at UNC on a Gates Millennium Scholarship for advanced minority students. Barfield also confessed to poisoning and killing her mother, Lillian Bullard, in 1974; Dollie Edwards, an elderly woman for whom Barfield was a caretaker, in 1976; and John Henry Lee, the husband of a woman for whom Barfield was a caretaker, in 1977. There is no date set for his execution. The story has also been the subject of multiple TV shows such as Forensic Files and American Justice. A TV movie based on Bledsoes book starred Jaclyn Smith. Other killers are so famous they are known all over the country, like Ted Bundy, the BTK Killer, and John Wayne Gacy. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department apologized to Charlotte citizens for not spotting a link between the murders sooner. It was Russ first wife, Jo Lynn Snow, who told police about Russ and Barbaras many financial and marital troubles; about the circumstances of the shooting death of Barbaras first husband, Larry Ford; and about Russ fears that Barbara was trying to kill him. During the trial, the prosecution recounted Reid's agonizing death in meticulous and horrific detail. Historical records do not agree with all of the legend, but Fisher was hanged for her crimes in the end. Remarkably, Reid again improved. Stinson was a college student and single mother of two small sons. He knew her through her sister, who was a co-worker of his at Taco Bell. Juana Barraza is a former wrestler who killed elderly women. The story even spawned an FX docuseries in 2020 called A Wilderness of Error. On Nov. 16, 1990, she was sentenced to death. The outcome: Moses pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder to avoid a trial and the possibility of the death penalty. North Carolina's Edgecombe County has been the hunting ground of at least one serial killer, who killed nine women and one man between 2005 and 2010. "She said to me, the end has to come. Dwight Moore became violently ill after eating a chicken sandwich his new wife offered him. His method of murder was str*ngulation and stabbing with a knife. Blanche Taylor Moore hears the jury's verdict at her murder trial in Winston-Salem. Lisa Hutchens, the head nurse in the Intensive Care Unit, testified that she saw Blanche feeding Reid banana pudding on Oct. 1. One of the world's most prolific serial killers might still be out there. During the investigation, police also asked Barbara if she would reenact what happened the night Russ died. Some of them seek out public notoriety, engaging with the crowds, actively creating their public image. Dwight Moore said in 1994 after a hearing before the State Supreme Court. She was a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribal community. Attorneys have appealed, asked for a retrial and argued that MacDonald should be exonerated. It's odorless, tasteless, and builds up in the human body. Four other people in the cult Jadons mother, Vania Rae Sisk; Lavada Quinzetta Harris; LaRhonda Smith and Mosess brother, P. Leonard Moses pleaded guilty to related charges. And strangled Debra Ann Slaughter, another of his girlfriends coworkers at Bojangles being held at Leavenworth... 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