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In 1908, Bill Wilson's wife, Jenny, divorced and left him.  She took their 19-month-old child with her.  In 1912, the skeletal remains of an adult and child were discovered by the Warrior River.  As news of the discovery spread, many area residents, presuming the remains to be ancient, visited the site in the hope of finding Indian relics.

When no relics were found, a farm worker named Jim House began speculating that the remains were not Indian but those of Jenny Wilson and her child, both of whom had disappeared shortly after Jenny’s divorce.  House also belatedly asserted that, following the divorce, he had seen Jenny go into her former in-laws’ home carrying a basket. The next day, House said, he noticed footprints leading toward the river and found what he described as a “child’s cloth” and blood on a rock.  After hearing House’s tale, the county solicitor charged Bill Wilson with murder.

At trial the prosecution presented this evidence, along with witnesses who alleged that Bill had made incriminating statements.  One claimed that Bill had vowed to kill Jenny if he ever saw her again.  The prosecution’s medical expert acknowledged that the remains appeared too ancient to be that of Jenny and her child, though he left open the possibility that they were.  He acknowledged the skull of the child had second teeth, which usually do not develop before age four.

The defense presented six witnesses, including Jenny’s sister, who testified that they saw Jenny at various times several months after the prosecution contended she was dead.  Four of Bill’s relatives, and Bill himself, denied House’s contention that Jenny had come to Bill’s parents’ home after the divorce.  The defense medical expert testified that the teeth in the adult skull were those of an elderly person and that a 19-month-old child would not have second teeth.

Despite this strong defense, Bill Wilson was convicted and the trial judge, Judge Blackwood, sentenced him to life in prison on Dec. 18, 1915.  After the trial, a curator from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC examined the bones and declared them to be very old skeletal parts of four or more persons.  Judge Blackwood concluded that justice had miscarried, but he no longer had jurisdiction of the case.  He asked the governor to grant clemency to Bill, so that he could be released.  Before the governor took action, Bill’s appellate lawyer located Jenny and her child, then 11, living in Vincennes, Indiana.  She returned to Blount County on July 8, 1918, and the same day, after authorities confirmed her identity, the governor granted Bill a pardon.  (NL)  [1/07]

Louise Butler and her paramour, George Yelder, were convicted of murdering Louise's 14-year-old niece, Topsy Warren.  Topsy's sister and two of her cousins testified that Louise struck Topsy with an ax, with which George dismembered the corpse.  The remains allegedly were put into a sack and then thrown into the Alabama River.  Louise had confessed to the murder initially, but the confession was suppressed at trial.  Both defendants were sentenced to life in prison.

Less than a week after sentencing, Topsy was discovered alive and well, and residing less than twenty miles away.  In June 1928, George and Louise were formally exonerated and released.  The children then admitted that they had fabricated the story at the behest of a man who had a grievance against George.  It was never explained why they also had implicated Louise, or why she had confessed.  (NL) (CTI)  [7/05]

Condy Dabney was convicted of murdering Mary Vickery, 14, and sentenced to life imprisonment.  Vickery had disappeared on Aug. 23, 1925.  A month later a girl's body was found nearby in an abandoned mine shaft.  After Mary's father had posted a $500 reward for information, a woman named Marie Jackson came forward and claimed to have witnessed Dabney murder Vickery.

The prosecution's case against Dabney was weak.  The found body was too decayed to be dead only a month and witnesses disputed Jackson's whereabouts on the day of the alleged murder.  Still Dabney was convicted.  Twelve months after Dabney's conviction, a police officer in Williamsburg, KY, 85 miles away, happened to notice the name Mary Vickery on a hotel register.  Because the name seemed familiar, he spoke with her and realized that she was the person Dabney was convicted of murdering.  Mary said she ran away because she was not getting along with her stepmother.  Dabney was released and Jackson was convicted of perjury.  The found body was never identified.  (NL) (CTI)  [10/05]

When Russel Colvin disappeared in 1812, suspicion of foul play fell on his brothers-in-law, Jesse and Stephen Boorn, who held Colvin in disdain.  Seven years later, the uncle of the suspects had a recurring dream in which Colvin appeared to him and said that he had been slain.  Colvin did not identify his killers but said that his remains had been put in a cellar hole on the Boorn farm.  The cellar hole was excavated but no remains were found.  Shortly afterward, a dog unearthed some large bones from beneath a nearby stump.  Three local physicians examined the bones and declared them human.

Officials took Jesse Boorn into custody.  They would have arrested Stephen Boorn as well, but he had moved to New York.  While in custody, Jesse's cellmate, forger Silas Merill, told authorities that Jesse confessed.  In return for agreeing to testify against Jesse, Merrill was released from jail.  Faced with mounting evidence against him, Jesse admitted to the murder, but placed principal blame on Stephen, who legally was beyond the reach of the local authorities.  However, a Vermont constable met up with Stephen, and Stephen agreed to return to Vermont with him to clear his name.  After his return to Vermont, Stephen confessed as well, although he claimed to have acted in self-defense.

The local physicians then changed their minds that the found bones were human, and declared them animal.  Nevertheless, the prosecution pressed ahead with its case and both of the Boorn brothers were convicted and sentenced to death.  The Vermont legislature commuted Jesse's sentence to life in prison, but denied relief to Stephen.  Shortly before Stephen was to be hanged in 1820, Colvin was found living in New Jersey.  On Colvin's return to Vermont, both brothers were released.  (NWU) (CTI)  [12/05]

Lyons, the newly elected pastor of small church in Reid's Ferry, got into a quarrel with the old pastor, James Smith, over $45 in church funds.  Lyons threatened to kill Smith.  Smith soon disappeared from the community.  A few months afterwards a decomposed body that seemed to match Smith's description was found near Suffolk.  When questioned, Lyons stated he had seen Smith in Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Newport News.  These statements were shown to be untrue.

After Lyons' trial and conviction, the judge was willing to grant his lawyer's motion for a hearing for a new trial, but only after the lawyer went to Lyons, told him the motion was denied, and asked what really happened.  When the lawyer followed instructions, Lyons stated he had been involved in the murder as part of a conspiracy with church members who had testified for the prosecution.  Three years later Smith was located living in North Carolina.  He had read newspaper stories about Lyons' trial and conviction, but had done nothing because he feared prosecution for absconding with the $45 over which he and Lyons had quarreled.  (NL)  [7/05]

*Case occurred in Nansemond County, now extinct, which merged with the City of Suffolk in 1974.

On Aug. 21, 1910, in the small town of Osa de la Vega, in the province of Cuenca, José María Grimaldos, known as “El Cepa,” was seen for the last time.  He was on a road to the nearby village of Tresjuncos.  His family feared foul play and reported his disappearance to the Civil Guard (police).  During the investigation the family and others expressed their suspicions that two shepherds, Gregorio Valero and León Sánchez had killed him for his money.  This investigation was closed in Sept. 1911 without any indictments.

In 1913 a new judge by the name of Isasa arrived.  Influenced by the local boss and right-wing politician, the judge reopened the case. The two suspects were arrested by the Civil Guard and, under torture, they confessed they killed Grimaldos, cut his body up, and fed it to pigs.  The ''fiscal'' (DA) asked for the death penalty.  The case took its time in the court system, but on May 25, 1918 a popular jury convicted the defendants of murder.  They both were sentenced to 18 years in prison.  Both were released on account of a general pardon on Feb. 20, 1924 after serving eleven years of imprisonment.

Two years later, in early 1926, it was discovered that Grimaldos was alive after he applied for the necessary papers to marry.  He had been living in a nearby town.  With much legal difficulty, the case was reopened and, after much delay, Valero and Sanchez’ convictions were overturned.

In 1979, a movie entitled “El crimen de Cuenca” (The Crime of Cuenca) was made based on the case.  The movie was initially banned in Spain, because the torture scenes in it are depicted in great detail and crudity.  However, in 1981, the movie was allowed to be shown in Spain and became a box office success.  (FJDB)  [11/07]

William Harrison, the manager of a wealthy estate, went out to collect rent money from tenants.  When he did not return at his usual time, his servant, John Perry, was sent to look for him.  Harrison's hat and comb were found and had been slashed.  Harrison's collar band was also found with bloodstains.  Harrison was presumed murdered and searches were made for his body, but it was never found.

For unknown reasons, John Perry confessed to the murder of Harrison and implicated his brother and mother.  Perry later retracted his confession and his brother and mother professed their innocence, but all were convicted of the murder and hanged.  Two years after the executions, Harrison turned up alive.  He told a story of having been kidnapped and held as a slave in Turkey.  (CWP) (CW) (FJDB)  [12/06]

Malik Taj Mohammad was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Malkani Bibi.  Prosecutors claimed that he killed her over an acrimonious property dispute.  Mohammad claimed that he could not have murdered Bibi, as she was still alive.  However, he did not present any proof and the trial court relied on testimony of Bibi’s relatives who said they had buried Bibi.  In 2006, Mohammad’s supporters discovered that Bibi was alive and imprisoned in the eastern Pakistan city of Gujarat.  She had been imprisoned there on a theft conviction in 2004.

Mohammed petitioned Pakistan’s Supreme Court for a new trial based on the new evidence.  The Court then summoned Bibi to appear before it.  Satisfied that Mohammed had been wrongly convicted, the Court ordered his immediate release.  It also ordered a lower court to investigate how Mohammed had been prosecuted and convicted of a crime that never happened.  (JD33 p28)  [2/07]

Teng Xingshan was convicted of the murder of Shi Xiaorong.  A chopped up body identified as Shi's was found in Mayang County, Hunan Province in April 1987.  Police settled on Teng as the guilty party because he was a butcher and the dismemberment was "very professionally" done.  Teng soon confessed to the murder, allegedly after police beat it out of him.  However, he protested his innocence all the way to the execution ground.  Authorities alleged that Teng had sex with Shi and killed her because he suspected she stole his money.  Teng was executed by gunshot in Jan. 1989.

Teng's family had heard reports that Shi was alive in neighboring Guizhou province as early as 1993, but it took years to verify the reports and Teng's family lacked the funds and the courage to sue the government.  The case first received publicity in May 2005, when the family formally filed a lawsuit with the Hunan Higher People's Court.  News reports of another Chinese murder victim turning up alive in March 2005 may have prompted the decision.  Shi denied ever meeting Teng and said she had been sold into marriage to a man in eastern Shandong Province a month before the chopped up body was found.  Shi returned to her hometown in Guizhou Province in 1993.  Teng was posthumously exonerated in Jan. 2006.  (UPI)  [4/08]

In the fall of 1907, a human skeleton was found in a wooded area, about 3/4 of a mile from the nearest road.  The nearest human habitation was the Bates sawmill, about four miles away, near the town of Heavener.  Not long before, in August, an employee of the mill named Bud Terry had mysteriously disappeared.  Terry was in his early twenties.  His aunt, Mrs. Knotts, with whom he lived, had heard nothing from him since his disappearance.  Knotts had raised Terry since he was orphaned, and it was Terry’s custom to keep her informed whenever he left home for any length of time.  There was suspicion that W. L. Bates, the owner of the sawmill, and his employees knew more about the Terry’s disappearance than they were willing to admit.

Terry belonged to an Odd Fellows Lodge and had a $1,000 life insurance policy through it, payable to Mrs. Knotts.  The Lodge and Mrs. Knotts made a wide search for him, including extensive advertising.   However, the search proved fruitless and the Lodge, being satisfied of Terry's death, paid the insurance.

In Nov. 1909, Sam Swider, who had worked part-time at the sawmill, was convicted of larceny and sentenced to five years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.  In the fall of 1911, Swider met with the prison warden and told him that he saw a sawmill employee named Millard Vaught kill Terry.  According to Swider, Bates and another employee named Will Stiles assisted Vaught.  After having talked with Swider, another former sawmill employee, Louis McKibben, backed up Swider’s story.

According to Swider, Bates confronted Vaught for telling people that he, Vaught, had being going around with Bates’ wife.  Vaught denied the accusation, but Bates stated that Terry had informed him of Vaught’s tales.  Vaught then confronted Terry, who admitted what he had done.  The two got into an altercation.  Bates and Stiles actively took sides with Vaught.  Vaught then hit Terry repeatedly with a piece of lumber, crushing his skull, after which he died.  The three participants then moved Terry’s body to the place where the skeleton was found, making the location look like a hobo camp so no one would think the victim was a local person.  The three also threatened to kill Swider and McKibben if they ever revealed what they saw.

Vaught, Stiles, and Bates were arrested.  Since Terry’s killing allegedly occurred three months before Oklahoma became a state, they were indicted and tried under Arkansas law, which prevailed in the territory prior to Oklahoma statehood.  Because the statute of limitations for manslaughter had expired, the three were tried for premeditated killing (murder), as they could not be charged with unpremeditated killing (manslaughter).  At trial, the found skeleton was presented along with compelling testimony that the skeleton was that of Bud Terry.  Swider testified to witnessing the killing, and McKibben corroborated his testimony in every detail.  The defendants, however, presented strong alibis, particularly Vaught, whose alibi would normally be regarded as insurmountable.  The jurors became deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial.  The trial judge interviewed members of the jury and found that jury entertained no doubt that the defendants had killed Terry.  Their disagreement was due to jurors believing that the defendants were guilty of manslaughter rather than murder.

Stiles then successfully demanded that his case be severed from his co-defendants, and he was retried alone.  With virtually the same evidence, a jury acquitted him.  When interviewed, the jurors reported a unanimous opinion that Stiles, Vaught, and Bates had killed Terry.  However, by following the judge’s instructions, they could only find him guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, and consequently they could not convict him.  Since there was no reasonable probability of convicting Vaught and Bates of murder, the charges against them were dismissed.

Despite the acquittal and dropped charges, the defendants, particularly Bates, were incensed and began an unremitting search for Terry.  The search never yielded a result, but fate would eventually intervene.  A man named R. E. McClelland of Los Angeles, California, had two brothers in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, who had informed him of the disappearance of Bud Terry and of the trials of Vaught, Stiles, and Bates for his murder.  Years later, in July 1917, McClelland became an inmate at Los Angeles County Hospital where he met Bud Terry, also an inmate.  McClelland told Terry of the events that transpired in Oklahoma.  Terry immediately wrote to McClelland’s brothers and others in Oklahoma, giving an account of his wanderings after leaving Oklahoma.  Bates learned of these letters, located Terry, and arranged for his return to Le Flore County.

Because Swider and McKibben had been absent from Oklahoma for much of the time since giving their testimony, the statute of limitations for their perjury had not expired.  When both were confronted by Terry, the two confessed that all their testimony was fabricated.  Both pleaded guilty to perjury and each was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.  (CTI)  [12/07]