Murder At The Defender Mine

Willard "Red" Shannon (Inmate 14663)

When you think of criminals on the run during the 1920’s and 1930’s, you may think of some of the fugitives of the past such as John Dillinger, “Baby Face” Nelson and maybe even the infamous pair of Bonnie and Clyde.  Sometimes, we as people romanticize the whole idea of being “on the run,” evading police at every turn.  The entertainment world has succeeded in callousing our minds into thinking that was an exciting era, full of danger, suspense at every corner and the ideology of “ride or die” thinking. Sadly, we do not remind ourselves of the victims of these "criminals" often enough. Most go on leaving a trail of blood and death and so many ignore that part, only choosing to remember the exciting parts.

When you think of California history during such an era, one would assume that we would not have too many stories in comparison to the Dillinger’s and the Bonnie and Clyde’s of that time period, or do we? 

Well, I have a story for you….one of deception and murder. This is a true story, one that would go on to make nationwide headlines and one that would seal the fate of one, Willard Shannon. A story, that after reading you won't soon forget.

The Man

Willard Shannon- (aliases: Willard Mead, Willard Webster, Walter Riley)

Given up at birth and placed in a foster home at the age of four months old, Willard Shannon had a rough start from the very beginning.  As a young man he served time in Eastern State Penitentiary and eventually was moved to Folsom Prison, where he was released in 1926. He knew only how to make a living the wrong way and became institutionalized in the worst way.

The Plan

Fixated on a scheme that would bring him great fortune, Shannon decided to set his sights on robbing several California mining men in Amador County. It took several weeks to plan but Shannon eventually convinced a automobile salesman by the name of Harold Lage to travel with him up to Amador County to purchase a vehicle. Perhaps, under the rouse of showing him his “mine” that he allegedly owned, Shannon lured Lage up to the area known as Defender.  It was obvious that Shannon was a liar. He went about telling people that he was in fact a wealthy miner who had plenty of money to go around.

There were two different stories printed in the paper in regards to where Lage was killed. One story  says that Shannon stated he and two other friends (unidentified) planned to rob Lage’s home in Stockton . They shot Lage in Lage’s own garage and then drove up to the mountains of Amador County to dispose of his body.  This is interesting because eye witness accounts stated that Lage was seen arriving to Jackson in his car and then leaving with Shannon up into the mountains. 

According to records, Shannon paid Lage for the vehicle with two counterfeit checks and it wasn’t until Shannon disposed of the body that he started claiming that he was in fact Harold Lage. Had he killed Lage prior, why would he identify himself as Shannon on his way up the mountain, stopping in Jackson?

It seems that either Lage caught him in a lie once they were up there or perhaps Shannon just felt it was better to dispose of Lage all together once he had him in a desolate area and once he had Lage's car.  Nevertheless, Shannon shot Lage and disposed of his body under the cover of thick brush and deep wilderness in the vicinity of Pioneer, California.  At that point in time, the area was known as Defender and it was close to the Defender Mine.  In fact, Lage’s shoes and socks were found near one of the abandoned mines in the area.  It took dozens of men searching the area before some local boys discovered Lage’s body, and the cause of death was then determined.

On December 31, 1926, Willard Shannon killed and disposed of Harold Lage's body.  Shannon then decided to take on the “persona” of Harold Lage himself. Once he was departing the area alone, he then told a resident of Jackson that his name was now Harold Lage.  It was only after giving the description of the man the witness saw, that authorities determined it was Willard “Red” Shannon, not Lage that the witness had spoken to.

At one point the Lincoln that Shannon had stolen from Lage was mired in the mud at Jackson Point. A young teamster was called to aid in the removal of the vehicle from the mud. The witness claimed that Shannon was alone. Once the vehicle was released from the muddy dirt, Shannon traveled down Highway 49 headed for Sonora.  He stopped to purchase some merchandise, using Harold Lage’s checkbook. When he learned that the roads past Sonora were blocked due to weather conditions and mud, he returned to Sonora and booked a room at the Hotel Victoria (later renamed The Sonora Inn).  In order to pay for his room Shannon signed over to the Hotel, Harold Lage’s Christmas Bonus check that was within his wallet. 

On The Run

Shannon travelled through Yosemite and down into Southern California evading police the entire time. During the manhunt for Shannon, the newspapers mention that the main highways were being canvassed by deputies  armed with machine guns, ordered from Sheriff Lucot and other law enforcement throughout the state.  Can you imagine?

According to newspaper archives, Shannon made it to his aunt’s home in Santa Maria and also to visit a sister in Lompoc. He even gave his aunt a ride home where he slept over for the night, before leaving again the next day. He told her he was going to Oakland, but that was not the case.  He then went to the salesroom of another automobile dealership. He had planned to ditch Lage’s car and get himself another one.

According the man who may have been Shannon’s next victim, John Ross (an auto salesman in Bakersfield), Shannon tried to convince him that he was a wealthy miner with plenty of money. He also admitted that he was coming into more fortune in the coming weeks and that his money was in the form of gold, so that he just wanted to take a “test drive” on a new Chrysler. He explained that he had no intention of purchasing a vehicle that day, and that he would have to return to get it, but was adamant that he wanted to take it for a spin.  The salesman had suspicions about Shannon, and it was obvious that Shannon caught on to it.  Finally, Shannon retreated in a hurry.

Throughout his various travels Shannon would leave telegrams in Harold Lage’s name, even going so far as to send telegrams to Lage's wife hoping to avoid the authorities suspicion of whether or not Harold Lage was in fact missing or worse, dead. He couldn't do that for long though, since eventually Lage's body was found.

In a last ditch effort to rid his ties to Lage, Shannon sent a telegram at the Western Union, stopped to ask two Boy Scouts for directions to Los Angeles (as he was in a hurry) and ditched Lage’s car in Paso Robles, California. Boarding a train to Chicago, Shannon escaped out of California without one hitch and laid in hiding for several days. He then travelled to Butte, Montana and then onto Salt Lake City, Utah around January 29^th, 1927.

It was in Salt Lake City that he met an architect by the name of Walter R.Ware. Shannon was now completely penniless, so he begged Ware for a job at his company.  While he was there, Shannon stole checks from Ware’s office and attempted to purchase a ticket to Los Angeles. The ticket agent grew suspicious when Shannon asked if he could write him a check. The police where then called and Shannon was arrested upon boarding the train.

Once Sheriff Lucot of Amador County learned that Shannon was being held in Salt Lake City, on charges of forgery under the alias Walter Riley, he traveled to Salt Lake City to make sure this was the right man that he was hunting for.  As soon as he got there, it was confirmed,  Walter Riley was in fact the murderer Willard Shannon, and Sheriff Lucot was determined to bring him back to Amador County to face the consequences for the crime Shannon had committed. Once in Utah, the Sheriff had Shannon extradited over to California where the trial for the murder of Harold Lage began.

The Trial

Shannon had admitted to authorities in Utah, that he was involved in the death of Lage. He also claimed that two other accomplices were the real murderers and that he was just another witness. He refused to reveal the names of these two "accomplices" he claimed were involved. Of course, no one bought his story and the trial started quickly. According to the papers, the trial was one of the quickest of record at that time in the state of California. The trial started on a Monday and ended three days later. The jury was out for a whole thirty minutes before returning with a unanimous verdict.

On March 23, 1927 at approximately 5:15 pm, Shannon was found guilty of murder in the 1^st degree and Judge Vicini ordered that he be hung until dead.  The night before his execution, Shannon requested  that his last meal be toast, strawberries and chocolate. He also requested a phonograph to play the Shannon Quartet's song, “The Sidewalks of New York” over and over, while he sat impatiently smoking cigarettes awaiting his doom.  After three failed attempts of appealing the verdict, inmate # 14663, was hung on May 5, 1928 at 10:02 am at Folsom Prison.  It took Shannon 10 minutes to die and he was pronounced dead at exactly 10:12 am.

The Aftermath

Harold Lage

The victim, Harold W. Lage who suffered a terrible death at the hands of Willard "Red" Shannon (nicknamed for his auburn hair), was laid to rest at the Woodbridge Cemetery in Woodbridge, California. ( Address:  19071 Lower Sacramento Road, Woodbridge CA 95258). The internment for Harold W. Lage was on January 10, 1927. Services prior to that were held in Stockton with Leroy Johnson, a chaplain for Karl Ross Post of the American Legion performing the service. Also, a Practioner of Christian Science was there by the name of William Yarnold who spoke as well.  Pall bearers were fellow members of the American Legion.

Harold was a native of Iowa. He served during World War I, having enlisted with the 23rd Engineers in 1917. He later settled in Stockton as an automobile salesman.  Harold was only 29 years of age at the time of his death. His wife, Avis Lage, was forced to raise two children on her own. His son, Harold W. Lage Jr and daughter Lois moved to Woodbridge in 1928.  Upon my investigating I learned that his son Harold Jr, went on to lead a productive and interesting life.

Avis, remarried a man by the name of Fred Burgstahler of Lodi.  Harold W. Lage, Jr. attended high school and graduated from Lodi High in 1943. He then served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, returning to Stockton after the war. Later, he moved out to Minnesota and onto Texas where he worked as a service representative for White Equipment Company in the late 1950's. He enjoyed hunting and fishing according to his obituary. Sadly, at just the age of 63, after an unexpected illness Harold W. Lage, Jr. passed away on January 30,1988.  He was buried next to his father Harold W. Lage, Sr. on Plot # 3.4 at Woodbridge Cemetery as well.

Although I am sure that Harold Lage’s family was never the same after his death, I would hope that his wife found some sense of closure after Shannon’s execution. The newspaper’s claimed that once Shannon had been apprehended in Salt Lake City that Lage's wife was ecstatic, claiming it had been so difficult for her knowing that he had gotten away with murder and continued to evade the police for so long. I hope that wherever Harold Lage’s family is today, that they were able to keep his memory alive and hold it dear to their hearts, not allowing Shannon to rob them of that, too.

Harold W. Lage's grave (courtesy Find-a-grave)

To read an in depth account of Willard Shannon's time in Folsom, as well as his execution please check out the book "Folsom's 93" by April Moore. 

Copyright  5/23/2012- Republished 3/28/2018  -- J’aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com 

Thank you April Moore for the photo of Willard Shannon and the interesting info about Shannon's last meal in Folsom! Also a big thank you about the info about Shannon sending telegrams to Lage's wife during his time on the lam.(www.folsoms93.com)

Sources:
Photo of Harold Lage's grave c/o www.findagrave.com
Amador County History (archived books)

Modesto-The News (1/7/1927)

Bakersfield Californian (1/3/1927, 3/28/1927)

Bakersfield Morning Echo (11/27/1927)

Lodi Sentinel (1/11/1927, 2/8/1927, 3/24/1927)

San Mateo Times (2/10/1927)

The Forgotten Town Of Contreras- Amador County History

woodcut originally published circa 1860

Long ago, back in the days of the "Gold Rush," there was a small town founded and inhabited by a Mexican family in Amador County.  The name of the town was Contreras. Not many books mention it, as it has been long forgotten and left in the archives for many years. Most people don’t even know where the real Contreras once stood, but I believe I have figured out this mystery.

It is funny how this whole story began, as I stumbled upon this mystery at the Amador County Library months ago. I had come to the Library to view microfilmed newspaper archives but someone was already using the machine. I decided that I would kill some time by reading some of the old archived books.  I came across an old book, tattered and worn down that said “Amador County History.”

I skimmed through the pages and came across the name “Contreras.”  I was surprised at first, as it mentioned that it was once a town in Amador County. I lived up there for a few years growing up, I spent some of my summers there as a teenager and had never heard anything about that town in its history before, so I became very intrigued.  

As I read it spoke about a man named Pablo Contreras who came to Amador County in the 1850’s to mine for gold. He was a well educated and  prominent man who purchased a large claim and mined successfully, adding to his already established fortune. He brought along with him, his family which included some very beautiful daughters.  So beautiful in fact, it mentioned that miners from all around the county would gather to Contreras on Saturday nights to attend a weekly dance at the town's Dance Hall, with the hopes of dancing with one of  Señor Contreras’ lovely daughters.

Contreras  had everything a western town during the “Gold Rush” might be assumed to have,  2 Saloons, a Dance Hall, Mercantile Store, Blacksmith Shop and Butcher Shop. It was said to have served up to 1,500 people at that time. Many times after a night of dancing on Saturdays, the crowd of drunken men became rowdy and fights ensued on the street.  There were rumors of shootouts just as you would see in any good western film. Most always the blame for their own vigilante justice was due to cattle rustling.  One night, during one of those many shootouts, a young boy from Sutter Creek disappeared and was said to have never been heard from again. I tried to look into archives to verify whether or not the boy had ever been found, but without knowing the exact date and his name, I was left at a dead end.

WHERE WAS CONTRERAS LOCATED?

Well my friends, that would be the mystery now wouldn’t  it? According to old archived books and stories it was between the Pioneer School House and the Mokelumne River at West Point. I also found an old mining ledger that stated it was 5 miles northeast of Pine Grove.  I also noticed that the old settlement known as DEFENDER was located in the very same general area, 5 miles northeast of Pine Grove and 5 miles east of Volcano. After going over maps and intricately researching the information I had found, I was dumbfounded when I realized that the general area in which both Defender and Contreras would have been located ,was none other than present day Pioneer, California. According to a recent contact I made with Bobby Keeling @ amadorgold.net , he states that the remains of the town of Contreras was recently located after going through old census maps. They discovered the site closer to the North Fork of the Mokelumne River, which is near Pioneer just off Defender Grade Road going towards West Point.  It amazes me to this day when I think about the fact that there once stood two very different towns right there in Pioneer, California and most people wouldn’t even know it.

BACK TO PABLO CONTRERAS….

Later on after the mines ran dry, Pablo Contreras and his family- including his beautiful daughters, moved back south towards Mexico. It was recorded that a few “enamored” American miners followed Contreras’ daughters when they left Amador County. Whether or not Señor Contreras eventually made it to Mexico is unknown, however I found some interesting information in regards to this history.

According to the 1852 Census it states only three Pablo Contreras’ for the entire state.  One lived in Mariposa, one in Tuolumne and the other in Calaveras County. Now remember, Amador County was not really formed until 1854, thus the same Pablo Contreras from the 1852 Census in Calaveras County could be the same Pablo Contreras from Amador County. Or could it? After looking over the records I see that Pablo, had he been the correct one, was only recorded to be 24 years of age in 1852.  Perhaps he was the son of the elder Pablo Contreras in Tuolumne?   That Pablo Contreras was 40 years old at the time of the census and could very well have been the father of the Pablo who was 24 years, given the time frame and age difference. Remember, Señor Contreras probably had many workers, including family running the mines for him, thus he could have lived in Tuolumne while owning the mine in Amador County.

By the time the 1860 Census came around there was no trace of any of the Pablo Contreras’, which would make one think they traveled out of state or back to Mexico.  I found a very interesting article about families from Sonora, Mexico who came to Amador County to mine for gold. What struck me was the name of one of the men, Antonio Contreras.  The article went on to say that he was from Magdalena, Sonora (Mx.) and that he came with his family to Amador County to mine for gold. It goes on to state that he may have taken a decent amount of fortune from the mine, enough to claim on the 1870 Census in Arizona that he had property valued at $5,500.00.  At that time in history, only five other residents in that area owned that much property.

Perhaps Antonio was related to Pablo in one way or another. Perhaps when the family parted their ways back to Mexico, Antonio decided to follow his own path to Arizona. Of course this last part of my story is speculation, although I am still trying to put the pieces together. I am sure we will never know the exact history of this exciting and mysterious story of a forgotten town from the “gold rush” days. However,  it is history seekers like you, the reader and myself who continue to dig up stories such as these and make them available to other people that keeps history alive, and that is truly a treasure worth searching for.

J’aime Rubio (Copyright 5/11/2012) Republished 3/28/2018
www.jaimerubiowriter.com 

SOURCES:

Amador County Library Archives
Thank you Bobby Keeling @ amadorgold.net for the additional info.

History of Amador County, California – J.D. Mason (1881)

Amador County History (Archived Books)

which sampled work by Margaret Joyce- (Amador County Library)

2/2/03-Frank Love (Yuma Sun Newspaper)

The Real Joaquin Murieta- Fact Is Better Than Fiction

When you hear the name Joaquin Murieta, what comes to mind?

Maybe you think of a bandito who stole from the rich and gave to the poor? One who waved his pistols in the air, shooting and screaming “Viva Mexico” while riding his noble steed into the sunset? Or perhaps, you think of a debonair Mexican vaquero who won the ladies hearts and magically eluded the authorities from capture. 

In some areas, Joaquin Murieta is a hero. Someone who was treated badly by the “Anglos” and was wrongfully given a bad reputation. To others he was a heartless killer who sought only treasure, no matter what it meant he had to do to get it. There have even been claims by people who say they are his descendants and that his whole operation was his way of fighting for the land that once was Mexico. 

Whatever you choose to believe, is probably based on stories and legends heard or read in books throughout the years. Unfortunately, much of the stories have been fabricated or overindulged in great detail. The real story has been covered over and forgotten for so many years that I almost thought I couldn’t find it, but I did.

The story of Joaquin Murieta (also sometimes spelled, Murietta or Murrieta) had been romanticized after a writer by the name of “Yellow Bird” (John Rollin Ridge) decided to write a dime novel about Murieta. That is when he took some fact and overindulged his own ideas of fiction to bring a fantasy story to life. What many people don’t realize is that the real story was better than fiction. 

PHOTOS OF JOAQUIN

First things first, there are NO photos of Joaquin Murieta in circulation. Many people claim to have photos of him, however the most circulated of photos (found in the Murphy’s Museum) that is alleged to be of Joaquin was a photo that belonged to a man named Frank Marshall. Again, there is no evidence whatsoever that this is the real Joaquin Murieta. All other photos are just drawings depicting Murieta, published in various newspapers during that time period.

THE STORY EVERYONE HAS HEARD

So, as the story goes- Joaquin Murieta was up in the gold country with his wife and brother when American’s came upon their camp. They raped and killed his wife and murdered his brother while they beat and horsewhipped Murieta. He fled and came back with a vengeance going from town to town, raiding and pillaging for gold and loot, killing anyone in his path.

As the State reported, they hired a man by the name of Harry Love, a former Texas Ranger who formed a posse and hunted down Murieta, killing and beheading him. His friend “Three-Fingered Jack”was also killed and his hand cut off. 

According to the June 18^th, 1893 edition of the Los Angeles Herald, it says that Love and his posse snuck up on Murieta and Three-Fingered Jack while they were at camp. The posse shot Jack and chased Murieta who had jumped on a horse and fled. One of the men shot Murieta in the wrist and he fell off the horse and surrendered with his hands raised. The rest of the posse came up and shot Murieta to death without a fight.

They then cut his head off with a knife and threatened the other two captured men in the group to tell them where the rest of their group was or they would cut their heads off too. It was reported that one of the men smiled and motioned to slit his throat because he was loyal to Murieta, even if it meant death. It was claimed that the very same man later threw himself off of his horse, landing in a slough and drowned due to his hands being bound with rope behind his back. Now, they only had one man left from the party. They brought the head of Murieta and the hand of Three-Fingered Jack back to Millerstown where they jarred the two body parts in jars of Brandy and charged people to view it like some sort of side-show attraction.

The last man that had been captured was killed by a mob of Mexicans in jail because they thought he was a traitor and would reveal “evidence” at court. The men who assisted in the capture of Murieta and his men, including Love received their reward for capture of Murieta and the case was closed…..or was it? Murieta’s own sister claimed that the head of the decapitated man was not that of her brothers. After that, the State gave another $5,000 in reward money to Love and his posse for no apparent reason.

I was contacted by a distant relative of one of the men in the group who were attacked by Harry Love and his men, and given a few more details into the story.  Terri Smiley, is a direct descendant of one of the men in the group, Antonio, the one who drowned. He was one of two men captured alive and were being taken to Fort Miller.

According to Smiley, as they were crossing the Sanjon de San Jose Slough, Antonio's horse got tangled in the swamp grass, drifted into deep water and both Antonio and his horse drowned. The Rangers claimed he jumped from his horse trying to escape and drowned, but a man named Juan Mendez found Antonio's body, still tied to his horse so the Ranger had lied.

Antonio's sons worked for Henry Miller of Miller & Lux Ranches for many years. His grandson also worked for Henry Miller and became Constable of Firebaugh, California for approximately 13 years. Smiley said that there is no way to know for certain if Antonio could not speak, but that he was described as "not wired for sound," which gave the family the impression he was mute. Either way, Antonio was not a criminal, and he was the uncle of the owner Juan Jesus Lopez of El Rancho de Tejom and whose Spanish lineage came to this continent with Cortez.  Throughout the entire story being retold, it is obvious to Antonio's descendants that the group attacked by Harry Love's men were victims of mistaken identity. 

THE REAL STORY

Now, what I am going to tell you about Joaquin Murieta is going to be a shock to you. After hearing this new version and the facts supporting it, I hope you come to the same conclusion I did.

According to the Los Angeles Herald dated May 14^th, 1905, it states that Murieta came from Mexico to California during the “gold rush.” At the age of 19, Murieta eloped with a daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher. After staking out a claim in the golden hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, he was visited by lawless Americans who told him that Mexicans were not welcome and threatened him to leave. One of the men made disrespectful remarks against Murieta’s wife and so a fight ensued.

Due to the fact Murieta was outnumbered, his wife was assaulted and Murieta was beaten severely. Afterwards, Murieta collected other Mexicans to join him in seeking revenge against the men who dishonored his wife.

Sadly, some of this story is true. According to a childhood friend of Murieta’s, Manuel Marquez (who knew Murieta since Marquez was 16 yrs. old) stated that Murieta did elope with a young lady and they did stake a claim up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. He also confirmed that an event similar to the story above did take place. He also dropped a bomb on the world in this interview, that has long since been covered up. Murieta was disabled and therefore could never have done all the things the media has claimed for over 150 years.

“Joaquin Murietta was a peaceful man. He was a cripple. An American, who came here and imposed on us, insulted him and the two got in a quarrel. This stranger struck the cripple and threw him into a well. He was rescued with many injuries.

Then the cripple challenged the stranger to a duel and the stranger was killed. It was ended for Joaquin, He was not used to the “new way.” They made him an outlaw, and what could he do?
It was death for him if he was caught so he said “death to those” who sought him, and many there were whom he sent to the finish.”- Manuel Marquez (Los Angeles Herald, 10/27/1909)

Marquez confirmed that Murieta’s wife had been assaulted, though he never indicated whether she was killed or not. Perhaps Murieta, knowing his life hopes were over, sent his wife back to her family. Many other articles indicated that Murieta was in fact a quiet mannered man and very peaceable.

Unfortunately, the life he was thrust into as a new “outlaw” forced him to survive any way he could. Being captured would mean sure death to him. According to Marquez, Joaquin Murieta’s sister lived at San Gabriel Mission. On many occasions Marquez admitted to helping Murieta evade the authorities and even hid him in his own home. When Murieta would visit San Gabriel Mission he would travel down the coast from San Buena Ventura.

According to Marquez, Murieta wasn’t the hard, mean and vicious bandito that many made him out to be. In fact, Marquez claimed that he was a very loving, peaceful and poetic man. Murieta used to sing a song as he travelled down the coast to see his sister and Marquez was familiar with the tune in Spanish that translated meant:

“As I ride alone by the ancient sea,

No tears are shed for me,

For my only consolation and greetings,

Are the songs of the birds”-

Joaquin even had a poem that he would sing outside his sister’s window, to let her know he was there.

Translated it reads:

“Bright star of the morning,

You look like a grain of gold,

A blossom of filigree,

First cousin to the moon,

Star of morning,

Joaquin, your brother arrives”

According to Joaquin Murieta’s sister, Murieta fled to Mexico and was not the man who was hunted down and killed by Harry Love and his posse of men. Manuel Marquez did not comment on whether he knew if Murieta survived or not, but being that he didn’t say anything at all about his death leads me to think he wasn’t killed at all. Of course, Marquez wasn’t about to admit his friend was alive and well when he knew that the State had stopped searching for him. They had “found their man” according to the papers, so he wasn’t about to give away the fact his friend was very much alive in Mexico now would he?

Famous writer, Joaquin Miller (Cincinnatus Hiner Miller), dubbed the “Poet of the Sierras” even adopted the name Joaquin due to his sympathetic view on Murieta. He believed Murieta was given a bad reputation built on lies and even believed that Murieta had evaded the authorities and escaped to Mexico. San Francisco Attorney, O.P. Stidger stated in 1879 that he heard Murieta’s sister claim that the displayed head was not that of Murieta’s. So if Murieta didn’t die that day, who did?

IF JOAQUIN WAS NOT KILLED, THEN WHO?

In the Daily Alta California newspaper, dated August 24^th, 1853 there was a very interesting article that read:

“The citizens of Los Angeles have a curious story among them, that the capture and decapitation of Joaquin Murieta did not take place on the person of the bandit. It is stated that the portion of Joaquin’s gang is alleged to have been surprised and routed, was none other than a party of native Californians and Sonorians who had gone to the Tulare Valley for the express and avowed purpose of “running mustangs.”

Three of the party have returned to Los Angeles and report that they were attacked by a party of Americans and that the balance of their party, four in number, had been killed. That Joaquin Valenzuela, one of the party was killed and his head cut off by his captors!”

If you think about it for a second, this story you just read has to be true. You know why? Because it makes perfect sense with the original newspaper article I showed you in the beginning about Harry Love’s account of capturing and killing Murieta.

Think about it, if they had killed Murieta why would they be questioning the other two men in the group about “the rest of the party”? They wouldn’t be. The Governor put a reward on Murieta, and ONLY Murieta. He was the “brains” of the operation, according to the authorities, so if they had really captured and beheaded Murieta they would have just killed the rest of the men. They were questioning them and threatening them because they wanted to know where the REAL Murieta was. They only cut off Joaquin Valenzuela’s head so they would have some sort of proof of killing someone in order to get their reward. Harry Love and his posse were liars and claimed to have killed Murieta just so they could get their money and satisfy the State for their bloodthirst.

I believe that the man killed by the angry mob at the jail was killed because the Mexicans knew Murieta was still alive and they didn’t want him telling the authorities that they killed the wrong person. Harry Love killed a Joaquin that day, but it wasn’t the Joaquin he was supposed to have hunted down. It was obvious the Governor eventually figured it out, thus the extra pay off of an additional $5,000 to Love and his men- to erase any doubt in the public’s mind about Murieta’s death and relax knowing their villain was dead and gone.

You see, before the media frenzy of Murieta’s death, the public had made the legend and stories of Murieta take on a life of its own. I read dozens of paper clippings in newspapers all over the State of California claiming that Murieta robbed them, some were accounts on the same day but hundreds of miles away from the other.

The point I am making is, anytime a person was robbed by a Mexican, Joaquin was blamed for it. He became that omnipresent entity that was everywhere at all times and always seemed to be one step ahead of the authorities. Not to say he didn't commit any crimes. We just have no way of knowing which ones he actually committed. When the Governor appointed former Texas Ranger, Harry Love on the job to hunt down Murieta he became the hero hunting down the villain and thus an example had to be made of Murieta (whether it really was Murieta or not).

An article in the 1893 Los Angeles Herald states:

“ Joaquin Murietta, became as famous from one end of the State to the other as was the King of the Sherwood Forest in the merry daps of old England. Joaquin Murietta , completely terrorized the dwellers in the valley. So great was his fame that eventually ALL crimes committed between Los Angeles and Sacramento, Sierra Nevada and the Coast were charged to his account. Ubiquitous Mexican demon sent to torment the hated intruders- los gringos.”

So as you see, Murieta didn’t stand a chance against the State and the media to which blamed him for each and every crime committed by a Mexican across all of California. He then became a villain that had to be stopped, even though that made up Murieta they had built up so big and so infamous really didn’t exist. Yes, the real Joaquin Murieta did exist, but not the one they wrote about and made into a monster.

Whether Murieta truly robbed the rich and gave to the poor we will never truly know for sure. He may have sought out revenge on the men who attacked him and his wife, after getting some of his friends together and thus his group of “Banditos” were created. We will never really know to what extent of crimes he really committed besides killing men who had attempted to capture him at times. Personally, I believe the only reason he had a group of men with him at all times was because he was crippled or disabled in some way and needed help to protect him.

There were always rumors that Murieta robbed various American camps and gave back to the poorer Mexican camps throughout the Sierras and surrounding valleys. There were even rumors that he had a hidden treasure along the Feather River, that was assumed to be worth millions of dollars back then. Of course, whether any of that is true is unknown.

I would like to imagine that if Murieta did live on and fled back to Mexico, perhaps any treasure he had went back to Mexico with him. Maybe he went back to the ranch of his father-in-law, where his beloved wife may have fled after her attack. Perhaps she was there at her father’s ranch, waiting his return. All we know is that according to Murieta’s sister, he left and never came back to the U.S. There were never any sort of newspaper clippings or evidence that Murieta’s wife was killed, thus it is possible she survived that fateful event that changed her husband’s fate indefinitely.

WHAT HAPPENED TO HARRY LOVE AND HIS MEN?

The February 9^th, 1900 edition of the Amador Ledger states that Harry Love, the former Texas Ranger and man who claimed to have killed Joaquin Murieta met his demise after a shoot out with Chris Ericson. Love’s wife, had hired Ericson to work on her house and while Love was away he suspected that the two were having an affair. When Love came home and saw Ericson leaving the property a shootout ensued. Ericson shot Love, injuring him severely. During an amputation surgery, Love died on the operating table. 

Allegedly, one by one, the men who assisted Love in the capture and killing of their alleged “Murieta” and “Three-Fingered Jack” were hunted down and killed or died suspicious deaths over the years. I cannot confirm or deny that allegation, although it has been spread around over the years. 

In conclusion, I hope that the facts I have brought before you today persuade you to understand that we do not know whether Joaquin Murieta was a bad man or not. Nor do we know if he was really the wild and ever eluding outlaw that many have actually idolized as a huge part of Mexican American folklore.

J'aime Rubio (Copyright) 2012

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Preston Castle History

Preston Castle - Copyright 2011 (J'aime Rubio)

If you are searching for the blog that was originally posted here, I have since moved that information to my new blog, dedicated solely to the history of the Preston School of Industry. 

You can find all that you are looking for right here at 

PRESTON CASTLE HISTORY- THE PRESTON SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY (CLICK HERE) 

or you can enter www.prestoncastlehistory.blogspot.com into your URL search and it will take you there!

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope to see you over at PRESTON CASTLE HISTORY!

Sincerely,

J'aime Rubio, Author

Jeanne French & The Red Lipstick Murder- Los Angeles 1947

It was a cool, dewy morning that Monday out on “The Moors.” It was a lover's lane of sorts. A place where hills once stood overlooking Los Angeles, near Indianapolis Street and Grand View Avenue. Just as a young bulldozer operator was travelling near the site of a new housing project that morning, he stumbled upon the body of a woman.

The name of the victim was Mrs. Jeanne French. The details surrounding the events prior to her death remain a mystery to this day. Many claim to have tied her murder to the infamous Black Dahlia Murder of Elizabeth Short that took place just one month prior to Jeanne French’s death. As much as people like to speculate, there are NO TIES to Jeanne French’s murder and Elizabeth Short’s.

LET ME EXPLAIN-

When Jeanne French’s body was found, the media had made it there probably just as soon as the police did. Being that the local papers and reporters listened in on the same radio frequency as the police dispatch, the crime scene was not kept a secret for long. It was well known that the reporters took photos of the body and quickly tied this murder to the Dahlia case based on one thing, initials.

The body of Jeanne French was literally stomped on to death. She had been stomped in such a vicious manner that her ribs fractured and her liver among other internal organs had hemorrhaged so badly that she internally bled to death. She had also been knocked in the head with an object but that did not kill her. It was the stomping of her upper body that ultimately did poor Jeanne in.

On her naked and exposed body was written, “F--- YOU P.D.” and then “TEX” just below it. What many people think based on misguided information is that the body said “B.D.” as in BLACK DAHLIA, however the Coroner’s report even explained that the lipstick spelled out P.D. not B.D.

Let’s stop here and imagine we could go back in time, to the moments before she died. Let’s really think about this for a second. Here is Jeanne French, lying there probably dying a slow painful death. She was naked and exposed to the elements. Her murderer had stomped on her with his shoes, the same shoes that walked through the dirt, rocks and grassy areas to get her body there. Imagine now it is around 2-3 am and the morning dew was setting in all around. Imagine all the dirty foot prints left all over her body and then he decides to write on her body with her red lipstick. 

It appears as if he wrote “P” (see mark 'A' on photo) and then attempted to write “D” (see mark 'B' on photo) but perhaps her skin was too slippery from the dirt, the morning dew and grass to accept the texture of the lipstick, so he moved over a space and now he finally completed the letter “D” (see mark 'C' on photo). That is why it looks like an extra loop in between the P and the D. If you look closely enough you will see that it really doesn’t look like a “B” at all, in fact the bottom part of the B would look significantly larger than the top. What do you think he is going to do, wipe it off and start writing all over? It’s not like he had a great margin for error…

Another conclusion is that the bottom part of the B is quite simply a muddy heel mark that curves perfectly and happened to have been on the right part of the skin that during the photograph taken appeared to show a B instead of a P. Nevertheless, the Coroner stated that the writing “in lipstick” was “F--- YOU P.D.” and “TEX.”

JEANNE FRENCH- THE WOMAN, THE WIFE, THE MOTHER

 

So who was this lady Jeanne French? She was a 45 year old woman who lived in Los Angeles. She had once been known as one of the first “flying nurses” during WWII, where she gained much recognition for her contributions to the country. She dabbled in acting, only nailing small roles in her younger years, using the stage name “Jeanne Axford Thomas.”

Jeanne had married young to a rich oil tycoon named David Yandell Wrather of Amarillo, Texas. In 1920, Jeanne gave birth to her first and only child, David Yandell Wrather Jr. By 1924, the marriage between French and Wrather had fell apart and records show that French gained full custody of the young boy who was only four years old at the time.

Between the years 1924-1938, while her son was a minor, it is unknown as to what she did for a living and how she supported her son. She was good friends with oil heiress Millicent Rogers, so it is logical to think she was in a socialite lifestyle during her young adult years. It is possible that she continued her small acting jobs or went to school to be a nurse, but I have not been able to locate any other information about this. I did find that by the time that WWII had broke out she was long gone serving her country all over the globe travelling with “The International Set.”

In 1945, French met serviceman Frank French, who was a veteran of two wars. They had only been married for two years before the marriage began to fall apart. French, probably being resentful for the fact her new husband couldn’t provide that lavish lifestyle she had been accustomed to, began drinking heavily to ease her pain. She became a mean drinker and would often take it out on her husband after she had a few drinks in her.

Frank French, on the other had was dealing with his own personal problems. Coming home from the war, the experiences he dealt with first hand at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack obviously had taken its toll on him mentally. In fact, he had agreed to a six month marital separation and that he would admit himself to a psychiatric ward of the V.A. Hospital just days before his wife was killed.

Frank & Jeanne French

THE DAY BEFORE THE MURDER-

The day was February 9, 1947 and it was a Sunday evening. Just nine days prior French and her husband Frank had got into a bad argument where Frank ended up punching her in the face and giving her a black eye. French then had her husband arrested on domestic violence charges. Soon after that incident, Frank moved out to a small apartment in Santa Monica near his job while, French remained at their residence alone.

The night of Sunday, February 9^th, Jeanne was seen visiting her estranged husband’s apartment at 1547 Stanford Avenue, Santa Monica around 11:45 pm. The couple argued outside the front porch for awhile before Jeanne was seen leaving without her husband. Her husband was questioned later where several articles in the paper say that he had been out drinking with her earlier in the evening, but then other statements say that he remained home for the evening and even had his landlady vouch for his alibi.

Jeanne then went out after visiting Frank and ended up at The Picadilly Drive-In at 3932 Sepulveda Avenue, in Los Angeles between 12:00 and 1:00 am. A carhop was stated later saying that he saw French eating with a mystery man, later leaving her car parked there. A janitor later claimed the car was still parked there well after 2 am. It is obvious to conclude that Jeanne then left in the car of her murderer, unknowingly of course. 

WHO KILLED HER? 

When you think of the classic whodunit tale you must first come up with a motive. In this instance, many would first think it had to be her husband, right? Wrong!!

Did he have a motive? Sure he did, but did he do it? I don’t think so.

From all the interviews it seems that Jeanne was more the violent type than Frank was. Yes, he “allegedly” beat her up nine days before she died, but do we know what Jeanne did leading up to it? Even Detective Gene Bechtel said after questioning Frank, that he could see Frank couldn’t have done it, “His story stands up.” There was no evidence pointing to him anyways. 

The footprint of the killer was significantly smaller than Frank’s shoe size and he wasn’t getting anything out of her dying anyways. Yes, Jeanne’s death cancelled their court appointment that morning for the domestic violence charges he was being charged with along with an impending divorce. But one thing many do not mention was that Frank had already applied for admission to the psycho-neurotic ward of the V.A. Hospital to help him cope with all the issues he had experienced during the war just to show Jeanne was trying to get better. You see, he wanted to get better and see if it helped matters.

From the articles and interviews, Jeanne was not exactly the perfect person either. She was a drinker, and mean one, too. Her own son David Yandell Wrather Jr. made remarks to that effect when his step father was quoted saying, “She was mean when she had been drinking.”

MORE TO THE STORY-

Well, to go further into the story we then have to dig a little deeper. Remember Jeanne’s body also had the name “TEX” written on the left side of her waist in red lipstick?

Why doesn’t anyone ever bring this up? Simple, no one has ever figured it out.

TEX is obviously standing for Texas. Jeanne was from Texas originally, and her first husband was from Texas as well. After her marriage to David Yandell Wrather was over, she ended up a single mother with custody of their son, David Y. Wrather Jr.

So what became of her ex-husband? He remarried a lady named Lucille and records indicate that in 1932 they had a son, who they also named DAVID YANDELL WRATHER! 

Back up a second, did you notice something?! Why on earth would a father name his second son, after the first son he had? That doesn’t make any sense to me. Does it make sense to you?

So he was married to Jeanne and had a son in 1920, who he named David Yandell Wrather. Then they divorce and Jeanne takes the boy. 1930, he remarries this time to a lady named Lucille and has a son in 1932 and names him David Yandell Wrather, too?! Too weird.

It almost seems as if this man was replacing the son that French took away. I did some records checking and I found the death information of David Wrather Sr. and his second wife. There are no records of their son on their graves or funeral notices, only the mention of a daughter they had, but no son. I find that quite strange, also. I am not saying this has anything to do with who killed Jeanne or that any of them did it, but I did have to state this because it just struck me as odd. Just an extra tidbit of trivia for you!

BACK TO THE STORY!

Could it have been possible that someone that Jeanne knew from Texas, even possibly a past relative or friend could have taken out revenge on her for something from the past? I think it is quite possible.

Her very own son David, when he was told the news that she had passed, was said to have collapsed from the emotional stress. He then told the police he wanted to speak to his step father alone without them listening, saying “He will tell me things that he won’t tell you.” Of course Captain Donahue declined his request.

As David Yandell Wrather Jr. came in to speak to his step-father he shouted, “Well, I have told them the truth.”

I don’t know about you but that sounds strange. Does that sound like something you are going to blurt out? Especially, the minute you walk into a room to speak to a person that is being held for questioning on the murder of your mom? 

When Frank French replied “I swear to GOD I didn’t kill her,” then Wrather replied back, “You know I loved Mom very much.”

Now I don’t want to start blaming people and accusing them of anything, but I still find Wrather’s comments to be strange and out of place. (Again, I am not accusing anyone!)

Later on David Y. Wrather Jr. was interviewed for various newspapers saying, “She made friends easy, awful easy. She went out alone sometimes. She's gone now, and I'm sure she would want me to say the right thing. She made a lot of her own trouble. Her husband tolerated a lot from her. He was a tolerant man, a very tolerant man."

Was her son insinuating that his step-father did it? But then why didn’t the evidence point to Frank? Remember this, her own son said “She made a lot of her own trouble.” Could this mean he was insinuating that she often pissed people off? How many enemies then do you think Jeanne may have made?

Who then could have had such a resentment to Jeanne that he could have just lost it and murdered her? It was said that the murder of Jeanne French was a murder of hate. Whoever did this to her was very mad at her, to the point of insanity. I believe that whoever killed Jeanne had some connection to Texas and was mocking the police, as if they had some deep pockets and weren’t going to get caught.

I also find it interesting that there was a mystery man questioned later but all records remained sealed, so no one knows who it is. It was as if the whole thing was covered up due to deep pockets and people in high places. Smells like rich people with lots of money to me. 

MY CONCLUSION

The murder of Jeanne French was an atrocity of mass proportions, there is no doubting that. The connection people claim it has to the Black Dahlia is a nonexistent one.

There have been people such as the likes of writer, Steve Hodel that claim his father Dr. Hodel was in fact the murderer of Jeanne French as well as all the other unsolved murders of women in Los Angeles during that time period. Despite the fact that the Modus Operandi in each murder is significantly different, except for the murder of Georgette Bauerdorf and Elizabeth Short, Steve Hodel still claims his father is the serial killer.

Jeanne French was not killed by the same person who killed the Black Dahlia. There is no way. The killer cut Elizabeth Short up and literally butchered her. Her body was not precisely dissected, but upon a closer examination you would see that a common butcher knife was used to cut her up like a piece of meat. There was no ingenious mad surgeon going around killing just a few women with knives and scalpels and then later choosing Jeanne just to stomp to death.  Dr. Hodel is not some omnipresent person who saw all and was everywhere at all times. It is ludicrous to even think that Dr. Hodel was the killer of the Black Dahlia let alone also the Torso Murders of Cleveland and the Lipstick Murders of Chicago as some claim.

With ending, I have to say that Jeanne French’s murder was just a murder by someone who apparently knew her and had a strong hatred for her. Could it have been her son? No, I don't think so. But even if I did think so, I won't stoop to such lows as to accuse him of it.

 

I just found out that Jeanne French's son passed away this year, according to my research. I also find it in poor taste to accuse someone of murder (a) without evidence and (b) who doesn’t have the capability to defend himself.   I do think that the killer of Jeanne French was someone who had been close to her at one point or another and more than likely had ties to Texas (given the TEX found on her body).

In the end, the answer to who killed Jeanne is inconsequential being that they are long dead by now and thus have to account for their sins with GOD on their own. 

What I bring to this story is the truth. Jeanne French was a woman who had a story. She was a wife and a mother. She lived a short while in the social limelight and had her dreams crushed later as age took its toll on her. She became bitter and sad and went to alcohol for relief. Perhaps too many drinks that night led her to poor judgment and poor reflexes, which didn’t help her fight off her attacker.

Her body was then left to be humiliated out in the open, exposing her to the elements. The killer wanted to make a statement, he wanted to show her for who he thought she was…..obviously he hated her if he chose to stomp her to death. All the while her poor cold body lay there on the dirt and rocks and grass, slowly dying. Each breath growing shorter and shorter until no breath at all. Somehow her story became entangled with another high profile story that had a life of its own, leaving Jeanne's story to fade to black and be forgotten.

This story is to remember Jeanne French as an individual with a story of her own. Not to be a stapled attachment to the Black Dahlia Case, but to show that her murder was as significant as Elizabeth Short’s, just different. A woman was killed, a murder was committed and a mystery left unsolved.

J'aime Rubio 2011 (copyright)

Sources:

The Pittsburgh Press- 2/11/1947

Tonawanda New York Paper- 2/11/1947

The Gazette- 2/12/1947

The Evening News- 2/11/1947

Reading Eagle- 2/11/1947

Personal Research-Archives

Was William Holden's Death an Accident or Murder?

What I am about to tell you is going to shock you. Many people have written articles about William Holden in the past and even to this day. What they fail to provide you is the facts of the story. Bottom line, they fail to provide the truth.

If you 'Google' "William Holden" or “William Holden’s Death” I am sure you will find pages upon pages of articles, blogs and stories pertaining to his untimely demise. However, no one wants to actually figure out the whole story. If you were around when William Holden died you probably read about it or heard about it on the news or radio.


Most stories include that he slipped or tripped on a throw rug and hit his head on a night stand, which in turn caused the injury that killed him. Another tidbit they never fail to mention is that he was allegedly “drunk” due to his blood alcohol level at the time (0.22) according to the Coroner. Of course that would never be left out, given Holden's reputation for alcoholism. This leads you to the conclusion that whole thing should be written off as a 'drunk slip and fall accident' and nothing more.

There are some who say that the apartment Manager, Bill Martin became concerned and let himself into the apartment only to find Holden’s body. Many also claim that Stefanie Powers was the long time love of his life. Due to this theory, people assume that is why she inherited most of his fortune after he died.

What if I was to tell you that there was more to this story?

What if I was to tell you that William Holden was no longer with Stefanie Powers but was planning to marry someone else, someone he had a relationship long before Stefanie?

What if I was to tell you that the day he died was just one month short of a planned trip he had with his “secret love.” A lady that seems the media has chose to leave out of the story for the last 30 years?

Today, here and now you are going to hear the real facts of the story that have been long left out since November of 1981. You will also see the possible link to Natalie Wood’s death as well. Now I am not going to sit here and defame or accuse people downright, but I am going to lay out the facts and then you can be your own detective and draw your own conclusions from it.
Sounds good? Ok, here we go………….

BACK STORY-

William Holden’s body was found Monday, November 16^th after the persistent calls from Brian and Elaine Keating, Holden’s live in staff at his Palm Springs home. But what many don’t know is that they weren’t the only ones who were calling the Manager there at Holden’s complex at 535 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

In fact, Patricia Morgan Stauffer was the one who kept insisting that someone check on Holden after she hadn’t heard from him for several days. Contrary to many stories, the Manager Bill Martin did not seem to care at all about the welfare of Holden. In fact no one had seen or heard from Holden in days until Patricia Stauffer and The Keating’s got the police involved after being refused entry into the apartment by none other than the Manager, Bill Martin. Sargeant Dick Tapia was called to the residence and was the first person to discover the body after breaking down the door.

Most people do not know who Patricia Stauffer is in this whole story. She is usually just mentioned briefly in one or two sentences as a caring friend who was concerned about Holden after not hearing from him for several days. 

Holden and Stauffer had planned a trip to Africa on December 13^th and were to be married at the Kenya Safari Club on New Years Eve just seven weeks from that date. Holden wasn’t answering his calls or calling her back for any sort of explanation. After speaking to the Keating’s they also grew worried about Holden and started making phone calls.

William Holden’s friends and employees, the Keating’s were aware that Patricia was his love, not Stefanie Powers as many believed. Even Holden’s friend and former publicist Jay Bernstein claimed that he believed that story of Holden and Stauffer planning to wed to be true because he claimed that Bill “had always been in love with her.”


WHO IS PATRICIA STAUFFER & WHAT ABOUT STEFANIE POWERS?


Patricia Morgan Stauffer met William Holden on New Year’s Eve in 1964. Soon after, Patricia -who was married to Teddy Stauffer at the time, started an ongoing affair with Holden for nearly 10 years while he was going through ups and downs in his marriage to actress Brenda Marshall.

In 1966, Stauffer divorced from her husband while it took until 1971 for Holden and Marshall to be divorced. Patricia claimed that the first round of her relationship with Holden lasted until 1974, when he eventually he became linked to actress, Stefanie Powers. It was known in Holden’s family and through his close friends that during his relationship to Powers that he continued to remain very close with Stauffer. It was also not a secret that Holden preferred to keep his personal life quiet and that is why much about his relationship with Patricia before and after Powers,was unknown.

Holden had mentioned marriage to Patricia for years after the divorce of his first wife, but it wasn’t until he proposed officially to her over the Labor Day weekend September 1981, that she accepted in front of their friends in La Costa, Calif.

The mainstream media says that Holden was with Stefanie Powers at the time of his death, since she did inherit most of his fortune which he had bequeathed to her in his Will, while Stauffer only inherited a small amount of money (according to my research). 

According to Powers in her many interviews she acted as if they were still together at the time of Holden’s death despite the fact she no longer lived with him. When asked about their relationship in an interview for harttohartonline.com she says: “Bill and I were like soul mates. He came along at the lowest emotional point in my life. I was working- surviving, but at the end of a very unsuccessful marriage. He helped make me back into a human being....”

When asked about marriage Powers also stated: “We didn’t need to get married. We’d both done that before. There was no question of having children- Bill couldn’t have anymore. We simply didn’t feel the need to marry.”

“We didn’t need to get married”- may have really meant he didn’t want to marry her, not that he didn’t ever want to get remarried. Especially so since Patricia Stauffer- who knew Holden much longer than Powers, claims he had spoken of it often to her since the early 1970’s.

It is not a secret that Powers’ and Holden’s relationship was volatile. There are several stories about them having a very explosive relationship and sometimes even having physical fights with one another. Then there are the rumors of his drinking problem and that he was impotent due to extensive alcohol issues, which caused more problems in their relationship. It is true that Powers was no longer living with Holden at the time of his death, but it is very possible she still had a key to the apartment.

So here we are on the day of his death, which the Coroner claims was November 12^th (which happened to be a Thursday) and his body was found on Monday the 16^th.


HOLDEN’S DEATH- ACCIDENT OR MURDER?


Holden was found in his apartment on Monday, November 16^th laying on the floor of his bedroom in his Santa Monica apartment. It appeared to Medical Examiner Thomas Noguchi his initial feeling was that Holden had been murdered. However, over the course of the investigation somehow Noguchi’s opinion changed.

Holden’s body was found in an advanced state of decomposition. He was dressed only in a white blood stained shirt and a robe. His head had a large laceration on the forehead and there were maggots present on his skin and wound due to many days of decomposing on his bedroom floor. The floor surrounding his body was full of blood and body fluids, as well as the sheets of his bed. There was blood spatter on the phone in the bedroom on the nightstand although no evidence that the phone had been used to call for help.


According to Noguchi’s notations: "On the basis of the autopsy findings and the at scene investigation, it became clear that the decedent accidentally fell due to tripping over the throw rug on the bedroom floor beside the bed, and fell into the sharp edge of the bedside table causing a deep cut on the right forehead followed by profuse hemorrhage. There is no evidence of vomiting blood as there is no evidence of hemorrhage in the Gastrointestinal Tract or gastric contents in the blood pool on the bed or on the floor. There is no evidence of foul play as the room is not disturbed and the room was well secured as well as presence of numerous blood soaked beside the bed."


BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVELS CALLED TO QUESTION-


So the report claimed that Holden’s blood alcohol level was 0.22. So what!
If you read my story about Natalie Wood you would know that I have clarified the fact that when a person dies their body starts to produce ethanol on its own, to start the decomposition process. So basically unless you check the vitreous humour (in the eye) to check for pre-mortem alcohol levels there is no way to differentiate the two types of ethanol in your system (pre or post mortem) from the blood or organs. 

Therefore, after four days of William Holden’s body laying there rotting away on the floor, the ethanol his body created to start decomposition is more than likely the cause for such a high blood alcohol level and not that he was drunk. I am so surprised that these doctors, being that they are licensed and supposed to be able to figure this stuff out just left all this out of both Natalie’s autopsy report and William Holden’s as well.


THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT (OR CRIME)-


I find it quite interesting that Dr. Noguchi stated that at first glance he thought Holden had been murdered, but then he later recanted that statement. I also think it is quite interesting in how the Coroners claim he died. They think he slipped on a rug and hit the teak nightstand in his bedroom. The autopsy claims that his head hit with such a force that it caused a “blunt laceration of the scalp” which was 2 inches long and the nightstand was pushed so hard into the wall that it left an indention in the wall 3 inches deep.

When one of the investigators at the scene tried to move the nightstand he had to ask for other men to help him move it. Doesn’t that tell you something? How did William Holden trip and hit his head so hard on the nightstand that it would leave such a deep impression into the wall, but yet it was so difficult for one man to move on his own? 

(Personal Opinion: I think that someone hit him over the head with an object, and staged the nightstand to look as if he hit it and caused the injury.)

If this was the case, it had to be more than one person to move that nightstand, too. It was also stated that the apartment was decorated to look like the stage of the movie "Love is a Many Splendoured Thing" and everything was neat and put in its place most of the time. But upon investigation the teak nightstand was sticking out like a sore thumb in the way it was placed in the room, it had been moved there by someone....it didn't appear that it was supposed to be there normally.

So here we are at the scene, can you imagine it now? 

There is William Holden, he has been hit by some object and is profusely bleeding. The reports say he may have been conscious for up to fifteen minutes before death. It was obvious that if he was murdered, he was awake in the room with his killer or killers. 

The injury didn’t crack his skull as many appear to think, because the death certificate says his cause of death was “exsanguination” meaning he bled out. The laceration on his forehead was also on the death certificate but there was no mention of skull fracture or brain injury from the blunt force to the head.

DID HE KILL HIMSELF?


Many speculated that Holden was a depressed drunk and had committed suicide however his friends and family knew that was not the case. “That is not what Bill left us, the fact that he had a battle with alcohol is not the story of his life,” said friend and former publicist Jay Bernstein. “He was not looking to end his life. He had proposed marriage to someone he had known for seventeen years.”

In fact, as soon as Bill Holden had found out that work on an upcoming project, “The Championship Season” had been postponed until the Spring of '82, that is when he made plans to go on his Kenya Safari vacation with Stauffer to spend those weeks together, marrying on New Years Eve.


TIES TO ANOTHER SIMILAR DEATH---


So how is all this connected to Natalie Wood? Well, I cannot give you a concrete affirmation that this is connected to her death. But I will state to you the scenario that is a possibility.

So here it is the early 80’s and the series “Hart to Hart” starring none other than Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers is in its prime. Powers’ and Holden’s relationship was not much of anything anymore and Powers’ was living in her own house as well. Remember, Stefanie Powers wasn’t all that famous before she got with William Holden. Their May-December romance was one many didn’t understand or cared to understand. Holden had nothing to gain out of his relationship, but Powers’ had everything to gain. When he died, she got a huge chunk of his estate, and the media craze from Holden’s mysterious death sky rocketed her into serious celebrity status.

FOR THE RECORD, I am not accusing or insinuating that Stephanie Powers had ANYTHING to do with William Holden's death, I am merely stating the information that is already out there in public domain that speaks about their past relationship. One thing though that I would like you to remember, Holden was planning to marry Patricia Stauffer and they were just about to leave on their trip and get married. He wasn't in a relationship with Stephanie Powers when he died.

I just find it very strange that both William Holden who was linked to Powers (Hart to Hart) and Natalie Wood who was married to Wagner (Hart to Hart) both died within two weeks of one another. Both people suffering from suspicious deaths, both examined by Dr. Noguchi and both ruled “Accidental” when the evidence says otherwise.

The evidence doesn’t lie. Go ahead and do your own investigation into William Holden’s death and I am sure you will find holes in it, just as you will find tons of holes in Natalie Wood’s death, too.

It hurts me to my very core wondering what truly happened to both Natalie Wood and William Holden, and how much I feel that the two deaths are somehow connected. Even if there isn't any way of proving it.

History is full of mysteries and unsolved or suspicious deaths that are ruled “accidental” but sometimes with the right information and the passion to uncover the truth you can see through the veil of lies and open your eyes to the truth, hidden in plain sight!

Bill Holden with Patricia Stauffer Labor Day Weekend 1981 (source: Associated Press Photo 1981)

J’aime Rubio (Copyright 12/15/2011)
some of my sources:
William Holden Death Certificate, Autopsy Report
Arguss Press (11/17/1981)
William Holden: A Biography- Michelangelo Capua
Daytona Beach Morning Journal (11/220/1981)
Ocala Star Banner- (11/19/1981)
Hart to Hart Online