A DESPERATE DAUGHTER

Lynne has spent nearly 30 years

fighting for her cousin Virginia.

She said the timeline doesn’t work,

Virginia didn’t have enough time

to kill her father and step-mother.

Lynne said Virginia was at a friend’s

house when a neighbor heard

the gunshots. There was also a string of

robberies that night, she believes her

aunt and uncle’s place was one of them.

A neighbor saw a man with a gun but

didn’t call the police. She said other

people had motive, because JD was

involved in stolen goods. Lynne claims

Virginia didn’t have a motive.

Virginia got 2 checks from her

step-mother that night, which she

cashed the next day. I agree with

Lynne about Virginia’s being

worth more alive.

(If my parents wrote me checks

like that, I”d probably visit more, kidding.)

Chris and Fatima begin the investigation
by dividing the leads. Chris focuses on
the police work. Fatima looks into
the legal issues.

Fatima goes to speak with Virginia’s

friend Linda about that night.

Linda says Virginia was a little

boy crazy. Linda said Virginia was

with two guys that night and wasn’t

acting any different than usual.

Lynne said Virginia didn’t have

enough time to drive everywhere

to commit the murders, so Chris

gets in the car to check out that timeline.

Chris made it in plenty of time, so it stands.

Fatima investigates Lynne’s claim

that many people had motives to

kill JD. She speaks to an anonymous

local about JD’s stolen goods ring.

He said JD had a lot of enemies.

There were threats against his wife

Marilyn, the bar was robbed, and a

lot of them were into drugs.

He believes these things got them killed.

He says Virginia was a troublesome,

fun-loving, party girl, but doesn’t

believe she was the type of person to

kill her parents.

Fatima speaks to a bank teller named

Cathy about a memorable experience

with JD shortly before he died.

JD went to the bank in April just

before the murders. He said,

“My name is JD Wells. I want this

bank to know in case anything happens

to me that there’s gonna be a large

deposit made to my daughter’s

account within the next few days.”

Cathy said he was nervous.

Chris investigates Lynn’s lead that

Virginia’s parents may have been

killed by a gang of robbers. Chris

talks to Jim Walker, a retired police

sergeant, who interviewed the suspects.

There were claims that gunshots were

heard near one of the murders and
one of the robbers. The robbery suspect
had information, that wasn’t in the
newspapers that was

pertinent to the murder investigation.

It was in Sgt Walker’s and his partner’s

report that was never followed up on.

Fatima and Chris meet for the debrief

to compare notes. Chris tells Fatima

that his test run proves Virginia did

have enough time to commit the murders.

Fatima discusses her talk with Linda.

Fatima said she couldn’t see how

Virginia could have commited the

murders and then seem “somewhat

disheveled, nervous, paranoid.”

Chris replies, “In my experience

it would take a very jaded and

demented person, but yes,

there are people that can do that.”

Fatima says she’s going to talk

to a handwriting expert to see if

the checks were forged or written

under duress. Chris plans on talking

to Virginia himself. Since he’s twice

her size, he doesn’t want to appear

intimidating. (I don’t know, Chris.

I’m 5’4, I think the most you could

give me is a cramped neck.)

For the first time, Chris confronts

the convict about the case.

Virginia said things with JD were

estranged off and on, because of

personal issues. Virginia got married

at 18 to get out of the house and had 2 sons.

She got a divorce because of her infidelity

and her inability to handle money.

Virginia admits to being a compulsive
gambler. She claims JD told Marilyn
to write her 2 checks to help with her
car and bills.

Virginia leaves her sons with her live-in

lover and runs into a couple of other lovers,

one of them was with a friend and asked

if she wanted to party. Then she went to a

park and had sex with both of them.

(I want to know how this chic gets all

these guys.) Virginia said that she was

too ashamed to tell the police.

She had gone back home, her live-lover

said her friend Linda was looking for her.

So she went to Linda’s. They drove around

for an hour to an hour and a half.

(She couldn't have done the crime because she was "busy".)

The following day, she took one

of the checks to pay for her car and

the other to the bank. Virginia claims

to be shocked when she heard of her

parents’ murder. Virginia says people

grieve differently, and she can’t be

boo-hooing. She said she thinks the

police came straight to her because

she didn’t tell them the full alibi.

Chris says it’s a huge coincidence

that she was at the crime scene hours

before the murder, getting checks,

and her only alibi is she was out

partying with friends. Virginia tried

to commit suicide the day she was

sentenced. Virginia says, “I won’t

for a second say I’m an angel or I’m

a good person. I know I’m not. Okay?

But I’m not a murderer. I’m not a murder.”

Fatima takes the checks to Dianne

Peterson, a handwriting Analyst,

to see if they were written out of

fear or duress. Dianne says

handwriting is more reliable than a

polygraph and is used in court.

Fatima shows her the two checks in

question and a previous one that we

know she had written. Dianne said

Marilyn, in her opinion, did author

all three checks.

Chris and Fatima meet with Lynne

to discuss the results of their

investigation.. As for JD operating

in stolen merchandise, Fatima talks

about the anonymous local and

some please reports about threats

made against JD and Marilyn.

She said the police didn’t take it

seriously, so that lead’s a bust.

Chris talked about his conversation

with the cop about the robberies that

night, but the suspect denied being at

JD’s house. Although the report did

state the suspects new about the murders

before the word got out. Chris also said

he tested Lynne’s timeline theory,

but there was still time for Virginia

to commit the murder. Plus, there was

no proof Virginia went home first.

Fatima brings up how Lynne believes

Virginia didn’t have motive to kill JD

and Marilyn and talks about her

conversation with the bank teller.

Fatima mentioned that Lynne may

not think Virginia had motive,

but the fact she had such money

problems certainly does look like

desperation. Fatima said she and

Chris agree that there was a sloppy

investigation done. Chris doesn’t

think Virginia could have commited

the murders alone.

Chris says, “As a homicide investigator,

I don’t believe in coincidences that

actually point to guilt, and this case

has a lot of coincidences. Virginia puts

herself at the scene. And, in fact, she’s

the last person that we know of that’s

actually saw her mother and father

alive that night. It’s been nearly 30 years,

and she can’t come up with one solid

witness that saw her that night and

can say that she wasn’t at the crime

scene. That’s coincidence.

The morning after the murders,

she’s suddenly flush with cash.

She has $4,400 to pay for her car and

she has enough money to pay off her

other debts. That’s a major coincidence.

And here’s the capper--the gun that was

used to kill her parents belonged to

Virginia’s ex-husband. He had reported

it stolen just a few weeks earlier.

That’s a really big coincidence.”

Fatima adds, “And speaking of

coincidences, those checks that

Virginia cashed the day after the

murders, I actually took those to

the handwriting expert.

She’s almost positive these checks

were all written by the same individual--

Marilyn Wells. But the handwriting

expert says that they do show some

signs of stress.”

(Personally, I think something’s

messed up if you misspell your own name.)

Chris talks about his visit with Viginia,

and he doesn’t believe she’s passionate

about her own defense. He thinks she

even believes some of the things she

was telling him. Chris says Virginia

may just be going through the motions

of defending herself just for Lynne.

Chris advices Lynne to just go and

talk to Virginia, because there’s more

than she’s letting on. Chris said,

“I’m sorry we couldn’t give you

better news, but sometimes we just can’t.”

Thank you for reading.

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