Morbid - Episode 518: Sharon Kinne- La Pistolera Pt.1

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

On March 19, 1960, Kansas City police were called to the home James and Sharon Kinne for what they believed was an accidental shooting. According to Sharon, she had found their two-year-old daughter lying on the couple’s bed, a gun near her hand and her father’s body next to her with a large hole in his head. Unable to find evidence to the contrary, the shooting was ruled an accident and Sharon collected on her husband’s life insurance policy. It wasn’t until a few months later, when the wife of Sharon’s new boyfriend went missing and eventually turned up dead, that investigators came to believe that James Kinne’s death was no accident.Sharon Kinne was eventually arrested and charged with the murders of her husband James and of Patricia Jones, the wife of Sharon’s boyfriend at the time of her arrest. During the course of their investigation, detectives began unraveling a lurid tale of infidelity and conspiracy that resulted in at least two murders. Ultimately, Sharon would be acquitted of her Patricia Jones’ murder, and would be tried three times for the murder of James Kinne. Before she could be tried for a fourth time, Sharon fled to Mexico with the help of yet another boyfriend, where she killed Francisco Parades Ordoñez in what she claimed was self-defense. The Mexican authorities rejected that claim and in 1964. Sharon was tried and convicted for murder, receiving a ten-year prison sentence. However, after serving just five years of her sentence, Sharon Kinne escaped the Mexican prison and has been on the run ever since. Today, more than fifty years later, she is still considered a fugitive with active warrants out for her arrest.Thank you to the wonderful David White, of the Bring Me the Axe pod, for research assistance ReferencesDoyle, Patricia Janson. 1962. "Sharon thinks of trial, jury and jail." Kansas City Times, January 13: 1.Hays, James C. 1997. I'm Just an Ordinary Girl: The Sharon Kinne Story. Leawood, KS: Leathers Book Publishing.Kansas City Star. 1961. "Anxious in his hunt for wife." Kansas City Star, June 16: 1.—. 1961. "'Changed her story on gun'." Kansas City Star, June 15: 1.—. 1960. "Fin a woman slain in woods." Kansas City Star, May 28: 1.—. 1962. "'Fixed a price for his death'." Kansas City Star, January 9: 1.—. 1960. "Officers study life of families in slaying probe." Kansas City Star, May 28: 1.—. 1960. "Puzzled over a fatal shot." Kansas City Star, March 20: 1.—. 1960. "Rap coroner in slaying probe." Kansas City Star, June 2: 1.—. 1960. "Weird ties in murder probe." Kansas City Star, May 29: 1.Kansas City Times. 1962. "Boldizs views offer as jest." Kansas City Times, January 10: 1.—. 1969. "Kinne Search Widens." Kansas City Times, December 9: 1.—. 1962. "Mrs. Kinne found guilty." Kansas City Times, January 12: 1.—. 1961. "Sharon Kinne goes free." Kansas City Times, June 23: 1.—. 1962. "Somber Sharon Kinne starts jail routine." Kansas City Times, January 12: 1.Kelleghan, Kevin. 1969. "Sharon Kinne hunt eases up." Kansas City Times, December 18: 31.Maryville Daily Forum. 1961. "Testimony on death gun to KC jurors." Marysville Daily Forum, June 19: 1.Olwine, Margaret. 1974. "Sharon Kinne: Is she free forever, part II." Kansas City Star Magazine, February 17: 14.—. 1974. "Sharon Kinne: Is she free forever?" Kansas City Star Magazine, February 17: 17-19.Weber, David. 1964. "Sharon Kinne in jail." Kansas City Star, September 20: 1.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Hey, weirdos! I'm Lada, and I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. I had just like stretched one of those good strong deep stretches when I said that that that's why it came out a little crackly. That's okay. I was yawning while you said, hey, we're not working. It's early. It's early.

It's wedding week. I'm tired. It's just all of that. We're working. We're working. We're working. I'm tired. It's just all of that. We're working. We're working. I'm really trying to learn how to twerk. I was just going to say, we are not twerking.

You could twerk if you wanted to. You can twerk if you wanted to. You can leave. You can give the twerk. You can give the twerk. No, Ashley's on a quest. I am. And I'm not going to interfere in that quest.

I'm just going to be on the sideline, and I'm going to cheer her on. Thank you. The gonna be on the sideline and I'm gonna cheer her on. Thank you. The TikTok girlie say that you just lean forward and shift the weight between your shoes, but I look like a duck when I do that. So, but I was doing it the other day in my mirror and I think I'm getting somewhere. Oh, I think I can't show you quite yet.

I'm really perfecting the strategy, but I think I figured something out. Good, I mean, I shall wait with Bated Breath. I'm glad that's me on my twerk journey. Thanks for hearing me out. Brought to you by twerk journey. We're still in goofy today. We are. You know, it's a crazy week because Ash is going to be a married lady at the end of it. Whoa. So that's fun. That's Kuku Natsu bananas. crazy week because Ash is gonna be a married lady at the end of it.

Whoa. So that's fun. That's Kuku Nuts bananas. And then we just go back to the chart. Yeah. And then we just go back to regular life. Well, for like a minute, but then I leave again. Yeah.

But like first Thanksgiving. I wasn't gonna leave for that. I fucking love your Thanksgiving. In last year, I got the neurovirus on Thanksgiving, so I couldn't cook. And then I tried to take over Thanksgiving and nobody wanted me to, so. Because I've really put my stamp on Thanksgiving. No, it's if I can't cook it apparently again. I mean, pretty much actually was the answer that I was given.

But this year, the worst part was last year was I had all the stuff ready to go. And I was right, because I always have it like all laid out. I have some things cook the night before, like at least prepared the night before. And I woke up in the morning and started dying. Yeah. Got full blown neurovirus literally the morning of thing, like woke up at 4 a.m. And that was that. So nobody, so you know, everybody had store about Thanksgiving that year. Yeah. Last Thanksgiving was the most depressing thing that was ever because last year was depressing. Last year was so depressing.

Yeah. Drew's dad had COVID last year. So we couldn't even go to like his parents. Yeah. But Thanksgiving, so we literally just like sat at home. Yeah. And that was like the worst year anyways. Like we had a lot going on. People were making our lives miserable.

Not you guys trust me. No, never you guys. The people who didn't know who they are. And we're not gonna have that this year. No, cause we said behold my field of fucks for it is barren. I said, you will not ruin it. Dave's eggs, you know what I mean.

That's what I do. But yeah, it was rough. It was rough actually my youngest this year. You know, literally asked me last night. She said, can you promise not to get the tummy bug this Thanksgiving? And I was like, you're like, let's trust me. I was like, let's trust me.

That was not my intention last year. I did not ask for that. I did not manifest it. But you should take, you should start taking airborne. I'm going to, I'm going to do everything. I'm like, because now I'm scared. I like the, I like the, this is not sponsored, but the elderberry, elderberry,

airborne's first one. The first, delicious and second of all, elderberry, elderberry is like just one more punch to the food-punch season. All right, well you heard it your first, okay? Elderberry, elderberry. Elderberry. Elderberry, if you're from Boston.

I know, every time I say it, I'm like someone's gonna correct me about that, just like, elderberry, a finesty. Respect your elderberries, okay. Oh gosh. I'm in such a silly mood, but I have to tell you a pretty rough tale. Awesome. I do have a two-pada for ya.

A two-pada, Ken. Two-pada. We're gonna be talking about Sharon Kinney today. Also known as La Pistolera. Very familiar, that name. Yeah, I actually, like I'd heard her name before, but I did not know the details of this case. I think that's where I am.

I've heard the name. I don't know anything about what you're about to tell me. Well, I kind of love that because this is a wild tale from start to finish. Um, part one is pretty like fast paced, like we're gonna get through a lot. Well, I kind of love that because this is a wild tail from start to finish. Part one is pretty like fast paced. We're gonna get through a lot. And then I will tell you,

part two is a little bit trial heavy in the beginning. Okay. But I have to make it that way. Just like it makes sense for the setup. But once we get through the trial stuff in part two, shit goes down. Okay. So just know that.

Like bear with me through that in part two. Yeah, and I know some of you like really like going through the trial part. Yeah. So you know, you'll love that. It's some people's cup of tea. It's other people's not cup of tea. Personally, it's actually not my favorite tea. It's a trial part.

Yeah, it's like I would drink it, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't. It wouldn't be my first choice. Yeah, I feel you. You know what I mean, Bill? Let's get into it. We're gonna talk about Sharon Kinney. Let's go.

But before she was Sharon Kinney, she was born Sharon Elizabeth Hall, on November 30th, 1939, an independence Missouri. Missouri? Missouri. Her father was Eugene and her mother was Doris Hall. Eugene was a steel worker and Doris was a homemaker. And when she was young, her father actually,

Sharon's father heard himself on the job and became unemployed due to that injury that he got. So once he was out of work, he started drinking heavily and he really paid no attention to his kids. So dark from the start. I was going to say so we're killing it already. Yeah, and we're not really going uphill at all because Sharon's mother Doris was equally distant, especially when it came to her daughter.

And as a result, Sharon started to develop a very creative imagination, I think, God of loneliness. That makes sense. And a former school friend told reporters, she'd take us on explorations down through a sewer on the way home from school. She'd talk about finding money and jewels

that were hidden there. We didn't even see the filth or no, it was there until we got home and our mother started howling. Oh, she's like, just enjoying me in the sewers. But I kind of love that. She was such an adventurous, like, let's go find hidden jewels. Yeah. I love that. That was me as a kid. That was a cool thing about her. I was always making that shit out. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, I like that about trying to share. That's the thing.

I don't know anything about this case, so I didn't know Sharon was, yeah, I don't know what's going on. She's the perp. But either way, that's, that was me as a kid. I just wanted to do weird shit like that. And you feel bad for kids Sharon. Like her parents were basically just like, fuck off. Yeah, you know, it's true. Now by the time she reached high school,

Sharon's creativity had taken a more serious garden tone. Oh, okay. Another former friend said, I think Sharon was always strange and alone. Oh, and as a teenager, I know it is. As a teenager, her complexion was described as, quote, modeled in salo, sometimes pimply, which made her the target of a lot of bullying and shitty comments from people.

Oh, that sucks. And then when she was 14, the family actually moved briefly to Washington due to rumors that Sharon had secretly married an unnamed man who, quote, died when his truck plunged over a cliff in Idaho. What? The wild thing is there's not evidence to indicate whether these rumors are true or not, but when Sharon did eventually marry her question mark first or second husband, James Kinney, she did list herself as a widow on the marriage license. What? Yeah.

That's just like so bizarre. It just came out of nowhere. And then when you learn about the secret man who plunged over a cliff in a truck, like, what? Well, when you learn about like what Sharon is all about. Huh. Maybe that did happen. I don't know.

Damn. Wild. So this wild. Widow or not, the halls ended up moving back to independence about a year later when Sharon was 15. And she resumed her increasingly solitary life. In the summer of 1956, she met 22-year-old James Kinney at a Mormon church function.

And even though she was six years younger than his 22-year-old self, oh. James was instantly attracted to the 16-year-old. Yeah. Unlike Sharon, who was smart, savvy, and emotionally mature, James was shy, he was deeply self-conscious. And he was a student who was a home-unbreak from Brigham Young University. It makes sense that he was, you know, emotionally immature. Yeah. And you know, because I mean, she's 16. Exactly. Exactly. Like, what are you going

to do? What do you have to comment on? If you're not emotionally mature. Now Sharon noticed James was staring at her all night, but he didn't make any move to come over and talk to her. So she actually took the initiative and approached him instinctively sensing that his attraction to her kind of gave her the upper hand in the situation. Now to James, a shy Mormon boy on campus surrounded by chased proper Mormon girls,

Sharon's boldness was very exciting. And also her unfamiliar sarcastic biting wit kept him off balance the entire time they talked, which was even more exciting to him. In my opinion, also so wrong, because you know, she's 16 years old and he's 22. Yeah, this is not a cute moment. No, it's not.

But Sharon knew that she had the upper hand, like I said. So she made it seem like she wasn't super interested, but she did end up giving James her phone number before abruptly walking away. Wow. Now, in all reality, James, or someone like him, offered a potential escape from this small town life that she'd been dreaming of since her family came back

to Missouri the year before. She wanted to act like she's bored, she's lonely. She neglected. So. Exactly. Yeah. Author James neglected. So, exactly. Author James C. Hayes wrote, Sharon maintained ambitious dreams. She wanted to find a prince who'd spirit her off

to anywhere that wasn't Independence, Missouri. She wanted to be a woman of glamour and wealth. Now, James Kinney may not have been a prince, exactly, but Sharon saw that she could use his, for lack of a better term, naivete, to her advantage. And while she figured she might have been able to do better than him, she definitely could have done worse.

Wow. What a dream. Ambition. Yeah. So James did not wait long to call Sharon and despite the considerable age difference, they did start dating very quickly and quickly they became inseparable.

I'm uncomfortable. Me as well. I also feel like it doesn't excuse this behavior, but I feel like this was so much more common in the 50s. Oh, you know what I mean? Definitely was. There's no excuse for it at all, but you're right. This was a much more common thing.

That was just kind of like not side-eyed. No, it really was. It's something, and it's so strange to look at now. It really is. It's again, I always think we're in the year 2000 here. So I'm like, you know, like 50 years ago, it was, and that's a long time. But I'm like, no, it was a lot longer than 50 years ago now. So like, that's a long time ago. And it makes sense now that we're like, oh, like what the fuck? What the fuck? We're like that about a lot of things. Yeah. But the more infatuated James grew with Sharon, the more people around him became suspicious

or uncomfortable with her. There was something off about her. Okay. For example, just after just a few weeks, James' father, Haggard Kinney, had become so uneasy around Sharon that he actually voiced his concerns to his son. Wow.

And he said he was worried about the way she, quote, played James like a Mary in that. Oh. He was like, I think she's got the upper hand. Yeah. And like sure that could be fine, but she's playing you. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like you want to have some balance here.

Yeah, nobody should be the all-powerful being in your relationship. Right. And James, he loved and respected his father immensely. Like they talked about a lot. They were close. But he did not agree. He simply could not see what other son, Sharon,

and dismissed their concerns without even a second. Oh, I've seen so many people like this. Love blend. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUT [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ With Hello Fresh, you get Farm Fresh, a pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes to love it right to you at all step. Skip those trips to the grocery store and count on Hello Fresh to make home cooking easy, fun, and affordable. That's why it's America's number one meal kit. Let me tell you something.

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And I don't really think he was in love with her at that point. I think they were maybe getting there. Yeah. But she did know that he was her best chance to get out of small town life. It's co-dependence. It's co-dependence, exactly. And she was very, very worried

that with him heading back to school, some other girl might take that away from her. So playing into his religious sense of moral responsibility, Sharon sent him a letter at school in September saying, quote, the sins of summer have produced a child in my womb. Shut the fuck up.

But don't worry, I don't expect you to sacrifice your education and return to independence. I'll handle the situation. That is so dark to do. And so manipulative. That's unbelievably manipulative. And just like the way she phrased it up. The sins of summer.

The sins of summer have produced a child in my womb. I got to go. I got to go. The sins of summer had not produced a child in the womb. Of course, that's not part of me believed that. In case anybody else out there was like, wait, is she bright? No, she's not. She's not. She's not prudentante. I don't even know this story and she's not. She's not prudentante. She's not. She's not. She's not. She told me that thought she was telling the truth. No, no, but she knows what she's doing because he's deeply religious. So her saying, she's essentially saying, I love this situation, you know, and you're deeply religious and obviously that would trigger something in him precisely. Wow. Yeah. Wow. She's like six. Oh, she's just going to say, is she 16? That is high level

manipulation. Sharon. Sharon operates at a higher level. I'm not saying it's a better level, but she operates at a higher level of depravity. It is. Exactly. That's so beautiful sentence. Thank you. I like, I like when you say depravity. I like depravity. That's good. Now, James, he didn't like depravity, but he was a little shocked and not really sure what he should do. Yeah. He's not a kid, but for all intents and purposes, he kind of is. Well, and it sounds like he was emotionally very immature. So it's like this is a lot. And to me, it sounds like he lived a very sheltered life.

But I'm also like, you guys obviously committed some sins over the summer. Yeah, I mean, yeah. So you can't have that, you mean, you can't have that. You can't be that like that attitude to those thoughts that you have, those boundaries that you have. It seems like they might be a little fake. Because it seems like it. Or it seems like Sharon was like, listen, we're fucking doing this.

Yeah, but it's like, it takes two to ten go. Yeah, it takes two to ten go. But so he wasn't sure what to do. So he showed the letter to a female friend. And she was like, you know, she might be lying to you to trap you into a relationship. It was me. She was like nothing about that is real.

She was like, poetic, but yeah, like wow. But garbage, garbage. And James was like, no, Sharon would not lie to me. And I don't think she would lie about this. I don't think she's capable of that. She would. And she absolutely happened. And I don't think she would lie about this. I don't think she's capable of that. She would. And she absolutely had. And having been raised in a strict Mormon family,

he just couldn't believe that a woman would lie to him, especially about something like pregnancy. But it's like, you guys fucked before you are married. Yeah. You're not super connected to these ideals, obviously. That's the thing. Like the cherry picking here is really annoying. It's just like, okay,

well, you can't be that upset about it because you guys fucked. So I don't know. It's one of those things though, where like, I know they are super connected to those like, this seems very cherry-picked what you're going to like be bothered by. But it is. It's just kind of funny. I'm like, okay. But he came to the conclusion that the only thing he could do was return to independence and make Sharon an honest woman marry her. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Mormons.

Pick that part. Why not? Yeah. So in early October of 1956, James took a leave of absence from Brickham Young University, packed up the few belongings he had, headed back to Missouri, intending upon doing the right thing. On October 17th, James, his father and Sharon went to the Jackson County Courthouse to apply for a marriage license.

Now, having secured her future with James, Sharon's attitude underwent a noticeable change. According to author James Hayes, who wrote the Sharon Kinney story, quote, she no longer shared complicity in the pregnancy, but blamed the child on him alone. She angrily reminded him that his lust interrupted her college and hinted at having been through this before with another man. What? Sharon has been around, baby.

And she's just got so like, I'm just like, the high, again, the high level of manipulation here is just like really sinister. Because she is a 16 year old woman running around like she has seen some shit, been through some shit. And it kind of sounds like she had been through some shit. That's a thing. And it's like, and I know I'm like, I was like getting on James here for like cherry picking what he was going to follow in his religious and moral beliefs here. Yeah.

Which I stand by. That's very cherry picked because like you were having sex with an underage girl, so there's your first moral cherry picking. First whammy. And two, you are fucking before marriage, that's your second moral cherry picking. But like, I also believe he is clearly being high level manipulated here, which is like a wild part,

so there's a lot of things going on here that I'm just like, this is all wrong. Oh, it's wild. It only gets wilder. Damn. So she's saying that she's gone through this before. She's upset with him now that he's back when it seems like that's exactly what she wanted.

And as she's filling out her portion of the paperwork, she starts mumbling all these kinds of shitty things about his father Haggard, who is right there, literally standing right next to her. And she's openly berating James for allowing his family's beliefs about virginity and religious purity to rob her of the traditional church wedding that she thought she was entitled to.

What? But it's like, isn't this what you wanted? But now you're upset because this is what she wanted, but it's not her version. I think she wanted him to marry her, but I think she wanted it to be this big fucking bash in a church and like, yeah, she wanted all the attention. She wanted it to exist in there.

But like you, but you're in a fucking pickle right now. You're 16. You're pregnant by this Mormon guy. He's gonna keep this hush hush. He's not gonna give you this big huge wedding that you think you're entitled to. Damn. And we're gonna pretend like you got pregnant

after this courthouse ceremony. And it's like, she's not pregnant. And she's not pregnant. Like, this is all just a lie. So it's like, the lie is keeping you. The lie that you do most of this. The lie that you made up. What the fuck?

She's reaping what she's sown and she doesn't like it. But she thought, she was sowing exactly this. Damn. It's wild. This is just like so much. There's so many layers of just like wrongness here. That's what I'm like. Where are those like potatoes that people make where there of just like wrongness here. That's what I'm talking about.

You know those like potatoes that people make where there's just like six billion layers of crispy potatoes. Yeah, that's the story. But not as scrumptious. Yeah. This is a not delicious version of that. It's like, well, they've like retitouille. No, like they've gone bad at this point.

What did the cheese do yesterday? It's coagulated coagul. Oh, yes This is the coagulated version of every layer. It's just yuckier Yeah, moldy, you know, because you know the cheese goes on the potatoes, but it's bad after a while Yeah, this is just because like the manipulation is wild, but it's by a 16 year old So it's like the power dynamic here is so weird because it's like she's a younger dynamic here so weird because it's like she's a younger, what? Young lady? She's six years younger than him.

Who is much younger than him, where they shouldn't even be in a relationship to begin with. But not mentally. So like that's the problem there. Mm-hmm. Like the first problem. And then it's like, but then the manipulation

is coming from the person who shouldn't have the power and that's an area like very strange. It's a weird, I don't know how to do that. I'm very upset by all of this. You will continue to get so upset. I think it's all fucked very strange. It's a weird door tie. I don't know how to do that. I'm very upset by all of this. You will continue to get so upset. I think it's all fucked up personally. It is. But the next day, the marriage license was approved

and the two were married in a small ceremony held in the kidney home. Oh, okay. Not the big wedding that Sharon had hoped for. No. Now, believing he'd done the right thing, James packed himself in his new life into the car and the newly married couple returned to Utah.

Of course they did. He was like, I'm gonna continue my studies because I have my future. Yeah. Now, and now he was more determined to then ever to quote unquote make something of himself and support his new family. Well, because now again, like he's got this strange set of ideals. So it's like now he's he's being pulled in several different directions and he's probably feeling like, okay, now I really got to finish this because I'm going to be the provider.

Oh, yeah. Like, of this child that doesn't exist. Exactly. Yeah. Now when they arrived in Provo, James and Sharon moved in with James' friend temporarily while he worked to find a place of their own. But unfortunately, any hope that James had

of Sharon settling down now that they were married was immediately dashed once they settled in Utah. From the moment they arrived, Sharon complained about absolutely everything, from their temporary accommodation, which was pretty cramped, to the fact that he never had time to take her anywhere because he was studying just everything. And her constant negativity and cruel comments made it impossible for him to focus on his studies because they were always fighting. Yeah, it's just this is abusive.

Exactly. And in late December after just two months in Utah, they ended up moving back to independence. Which is exactly where she wanted to get away from. No, this is what she got away from it. She sabotaged it. That's the thing, that's what I mean. She doesn't know what she wants.

I don't think she does. She doesn't, she thinks she knows what she wants. She doesn't. That's the thing, that's what I mean. She doesn't know what she wants. I don't think she does. She doesn't, she thinks she knows what she wants. She doesn't. That's the thing. She wants power, she wants control. But it sounds like she wants chaos as well. So it's like, I don't know. I think she's somebody that thrives in chaos

without recognizing it. Yeah. Now back in Missouri, James and Sharon moved into a small house next door to his parents, which his father owned. So, like, allowed them, they gave them a home to happen. And Sharon is constantly talking about how much she fucking hates this man. Oh, man.

She also hated living next door to the end-laws. She looked down on them. She constantly mocked them for their conservative ways and their deep held religious beliefs. Which is like, what the fuck is it to you, man? Well, it's like, this is the person that you chose to trap. That's the thing, it's like, this is the family you married into. We know what you were getting into.

And we just, the beliefs they held, they weren't hiding them. No, like, that's the thing. Now, while James' father had already realized what kind of person Sharon was, and that's exactly why I shouldn't like him. I was gonna say that's why I shouldn't like him. From the jump. Yeah.

But his mother refused to believe that any kind of young woman could be so cruel and calculating. Believe it, girl. Ooh. According to Hayes, James' mom, quote, believed in storybook relationships and thought that a mother and her son's wife should be close. She sounds like a very sweet woman.

I was gonna say, I mean, yeah, that sounds delightful and that is absolutely like the ideal. Well, and Sharon's mom barely ever made time for her in her childhood. Yeah. And once they came back to Independence, James and Sharon, the mom, Sharon's mom still wasn't involved. But James's mom went out of her way to be kind to Sharon.

She offered to pay their bills when they fell behind. She would take Sharon on shopping trips. She'd take her out to lunch. She sounds like, that's like your ideal mother in law. Are you kidding me? Like she's acting like a mom, like, step in and being like, a mother figure to you. And when you're not necessarily the nicest person

to her husband or herself. I was just gonna say you've been a shit-tastic person to her son and her husband. Like, but she's trying. You're mocking their religious beliefs, you're mocking all of everything about them, and she's still being kind to you. I mean, that's the way that people,

you know, it's supposed to be. Exactly. Exactly. But Sharon, she was like, thank you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.

No, not long after they resettled an independent, Sharon started filling her days, spending what little monkey James was making at the time, which quickly turned out to not be enough to satisfy her spending habits. So as a result, she set out to find her own job to subsidize her constantly to spend money. Now, even though she was very skilled at nearly every job

she tried, she worked in a print shop, she was a babysitter at one point, she was a legal secretary, a hotel receptionist, and she was great at all of those things. But every time she started a new job, she just got bored easily. And the second she got bored, she quit. And like, she spent zero time at the shop. So she has no staying power for something. Like, she's not going to stick it out. Even if she's good at it, it's just mundane. If she's bored, it's not going to happen. Exactly. Even if it's a good thing.

Even if it is. And when she was working and making money, she also insisted that the money she made should not be considered family income. Instead, she thought of the money that she made as hers to use as she pleased. And even with her own income, she continued to spend money recklessly, usually charging things to James' account instead of her own. This is dysfunctional. It's the definition of dysfunctional. I mean, you do what you want with your bank accounts in your own homes.

Yeah. Of course, your business. This is dysfunctional. This is not well-bitch because everybody is not happy with this arrangement. Because it started out on a lie. Yeah. And it's still pregnant. I mean, isn't she still claiming to be pregnant?

Mm-hmm. And we're like, that's going to come when there's no actual pregnancy or child. Yeah. That's. No, she didn't have to fess up. No, she doesn't. No. Okay.

So what actually, Lord, we're there. Okay, guys, and just quickly trigger warning for like mention of pregnancy loss. Oh one afternoon Several months after they settled back in independence. I think she realized like I'm not pregnant I'm not gonna start showing anytime soon. So I gotta do something about this She decided she was tired of the pregnancy ruse since it had served its original purpose of getting James to marry her So she was like man, I'm done with this. So James came home that evening, and this is so sad. He found her in a panicked state, and she told him that shortly after he left work that morning,

her body, quote, began to reject the baby. So she's claiming she's suffering a miscarriage, which is, fuck this bitch. I can't even. Yeah, fuck this bitch. Honestly. So James was confused and Sharon used the opportunity to gain even more sympathy from him

by making it seem like his high security job at the Bendix Corporation had put too many barriers in place for her to reach him. And that's why she hadn't told him sooner. So she's literally manipulating him by saying that it's basically like your fault that you didn't make this. I've had it, I'm like, I'm suffering a miscarriage

since you left for work this morning and I couldn't reach you. And you don't know is because I couldn't reach you. So this is your fault. That's so fucking sinister. If you are able to fake a miscarriage and like carry on that lie to the father. Quote, quote, quote.

Something is deeply, deeply- Yeah. Like that's fuck you, that's what I say. On another level. You're faking a miscarriage fuck you. Fuck you. Yeah. Intuable if you.

Yeah, that's fucked up. So in January 1957, not long after ending the pregnancy scam, if you will, Sharon learned that she was pregnant for realsies this time. And in the fall, she did give birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, which they named. I think it's either Dana or Dana. Dana? Two ends, I would say Dana.

Dana was my first instinct. Okay, cute name. Now from the outside, Sharon seemed to be a devoted mother, constantly doting on her daughter, really living up to every responsibility of domestic life. She actually even started going to church with the family, and for a second, it seemed like she was embracing the Mormon lifestyle. But like her attempts to hold down a job, she quickly got bored with the life of a homemaker and just went back to spending excessively. She's gonna stick

to something girl. She's something. She sticks to Schemen. Well, there you go. She's steady Schemen. She's steady Schemen. Now, by 1959, she'd given birth to another child, a boy which they named Troy, and the family moved into a newly purchased home in a subdivision.

And the new baby in the new house seemed to occupy Sharon's attention for a little bit, which made her at least temporarily less abusive towards her husband. Oh, nice. It's great. Yeah. But the baby in the house also gave her a reason to spend more money.

And in response, James actually took a slightly higher paying second shift at the Bend Ex-Corporation, which left Sharon alone with the children in the evenings and put more emotional distance between her and James. With James working in the evenings and the children having gone to bed, Sharon found herself with way more free time than she'd had in years. So she said, I'm gonna look at my old high school boyfriend, John Baldese.

Oh, girl. Now, unlike her life with James, which was filled with constant arguments, emotional distance, you name it. Her relationship with John was exciting because it was the forbidden fruit to you. Because it was not this one, that's why. And she reveled in the thrill of infidelity,

sneaking around behind her husband's back to meet John at cheap motels in the backseat of his car. And where James had become increasingly immune to her domineering personality and manipulations, John was easy to manipulate and control because this was new. And that made her feel powerful. Now, even though Sharon eventually grew tired of John too, and only turned to him when she

couldn't find another man to entertain her for the night, he was fallen for it. Now, by 1960, life in the Kenny House had deteriorated to a near breaking point. It seemed to James that Sharon was never home, which was mostly fine by him, except that she wasn't really living up to her end of the domestic bargain. Yeah, that he's working and she's not doing anything.

Remember, this is a time where a man worked during the day and came home to a hot meal and his children were fed and loved a lot. So he could no longer expect a hot meal when he came home. And instead, she was just leaving him out frozen meals. And that was not the only thing that she was absent. But she was absent from the children. Yeah. They were being neglected on a regular basis.

Their basic needs were more often met by babysitters than their own mother. Yeah, it's like, I'm sorry. If you're going out to like, uh, fuck other men and leaving your children to be neglected, like, that sucks. Exactly. Like that's not cool. Yeah. And that's the thing. James was being like, okay, you're not with the children. I'm not getting hot meals. Where the fuck are you? So he, he caught on pretty quickly to the fact that she was cheating on him, but he had no idea to the extent which he was right. And as a deeply, deeply religious person, he knew that divorce would have been discouraged by everybody in his community and he was right.

Whenever he brought the subject up to his parents, his mom would typically encourage him to work out their problems for the children's sake. It's never the way to go, man. No, it's never better. I understand that. I understand that. Like, that was just the way it was back then. Well, I know it's like a religious thing. It still is now. Yeah.

A religious thing that, like, you don't get divorced, you just suck it up and have a horrible marriage for your children. And, like, no. People always say, like, for the sake of the children, the sake of the children. The children are not going to thrive in an abusive household.

Oh, they see everything. Kids know when you're arguing and when you're not loving each other and not having a respectful discourse and if anything is better to look at them and say, sometimes these things don't work out. And my father and I respect each other enough to not continue with this. Yeah, just never for the sake of the children never really works out. Yeah. And not that I've seen it.

Well, and it didn't here. Yeah. It didn't at all. Now, as the weeks went on, staying with Sharon seemed more and more impossible to James. And finally, in mid-March, he actually did bring up divorce to Sharon. And she agreed that their marriage had reached its end. But her terms for divorce were- I do.

Where this was going to come. Outrageous and unacceptable. She would have bankrupted. Yeah, I was gonna say there was no way she was just gonna have to be like, let's amicably divorce. No, and honestly, her idea of the terms of this divorce are so disturbing to me at least.

According to Hayes, she was willing to go along with the divorce, but only if James gave her the house, Dana, and a thousand dollars in cash. I'm a Troy, am I right? I was just gonna say only one of your kids. Like she wants to say, I would like this one. She wants her daughters. James can have the boy.

Oh, I hate this. House blocked. I hate this a lot. Yeah, that's really fucked up. Oh yeah, you love Dana so much. You're leaving her and babies. Yeah, you're in the collecting here. And James was like splitting the children up

is out of the question. They're siblings. Like you're just going to split them. That's so crazy. Like this isn't the parent-travel friend. Yeah. And so he was like, no, that's out of the question. And with the idea of divorce seemingly being moved away from, his parents were relieved.

In fact, after giving it some thought, Sharon herself even decided that she didn't love the idea of the porn. Yeah, of course she does, because she wasn't going to win. Oh, guys, come on. I would get her. I would get her, but he involved here except for James. So I'm like, get out of here. This poor man. Oh, honestly, this poor man.

Yeah, at this point, it's like, jeez, like he's given it his best shot here. He is. Absolutely. And the thing was, so Sharon, at this, they talk about the divorce for a little bit, but then she's realizing he's not going to agree to her terms. And then she realizes that her terms aren't even really good enough for her. It would get her out of marriage, but $1,000 was not enough to live on for very long. And it definitely would not sustain her lifestyle.

And the salary that she was working for temporary jobs really gave her little pay. So it wasn't going to be a win for her. But there was another way that Sharon could get out of the marriage, and it almost guaranteed that she would get everything she wanted and more. Oh, no. It's that time of year. Audible's best of 2023 picks have arrived. Audible's carefully curated list and sure that you get the very best of 2023 in every category. Discover the year's top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one place.

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Audible, the one place to hear it all. Listen now, go to audible.com slash B-O-T-Y and discover all the years best waiting for you. That's audible.com slash B-O-T-Y. On Saturday afternoon, March 19th, 1960, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department received a frantic call from Sharon Kinney, saying that her husband had a heart attack, and she needed help right away. Now when Sheriff's deputies arrived at the Kinney home, however, they found a very strange

scene. James Kinney was lying on the couple's bed. His target pillow, excuse me, his target pistol on a pillow next to him, pointing toward the large hole in the back of his head. At the time. I feel like that's not a heart attack. No, it's very unclear why she says heart attack. Yeah. I don't know if she thought they were going to come faster. Yeah. I think they would still come pretty fast if you said said he was shot. Yeah. I don't know. Strange. I don't know if maybe she didn't want something recorded on the 911. I mean, I don't know. But at the time that they they got there, he was still alive. But unfortunately,

he would die a short time later on the way to the hospital. So it was not instant, which is really awful. Now, this is so fucked. Sharon told the officers that he'd gone into the bedroom a short time earlier to take a nap and then a short time later, while she was in the bathroom getting ready to go to church. She's a good woman.

She heard their two-year-old daughter, Dana, ask loudly, how does this thing work, daddy? How does it work? And then she said she heard the shot ring out. I'm sorry. She's blaming this on her two-year-old daughter. She is blaming this on her two-year-old daughter. And not only that, she's gonna get away with it.

Shut the fuck up. She's gonna get away with blaming it on her two-year-old daughter for a little while at least. I'm without words. Without words. Now, James had always had a fascination with guns, and he would take them apart to clean them. But Sharon said that he was also forgetful and careless with them. According to her, he would sometimes leave them lying around the house. Oh, that's fucked up. It is. On the kitchen table, next to the television, where the children

could easily reach them. And the officers did note that his gun belt and ammunition were lying next to the bed, which did seem to support Sharon's claim. But then that her statement was also confirmed by James' parents. He was in a irresponsible family. Oh, that's fucked up. And that's just the truth of it.

But still, the death did seem suspicious. Yes, accidental shootings did happen, but not typically with a two-year-old. Yeah. And investigators wondered why James would have laid down to take a nap with a loaded pistol lying next to his head. Yeah. Like, you can be an irresponsible gun owner, but I don't think it goes to that.

That's pretty far. Now, and you can't be like I'm saying there are irresponsible gunners. Now, unfortunately, there wasn't much evidence to prove or disprove Sharon's claims. Yeah. The 22 caliber pistol was taken from the scene, but it was covered in so much gun oil. Well, unfortunately, there wasn't much evidence to prove or disprove Sharon's claims. The 22 caliber pistol was taken from the scene, but it was covered in so much gun oil that it was impossible to get any fingerprints off of it, which is interesting. Then the lab technician also didn't bother to test either Sharon or Dana's hands for gun shot residue.

What the fuck? No idea why. Or excuse me, I do know why. They believed at that time, this particular lab technician believed that those tests were unreliable. Why wouldn't you just do it anyway? Couldn't tell you.

I feel like it's better just to do it. And also, how is that unreliable? You either have gunshots. I was gonna say. Because I do all your hands or you don't. And it's like it's better to do it and then argue about it later than to not do it and be like, well, I guess we'll never know.

Well, if you do test their hands and share and has it on her hands, yeah. Boom, there you go. Yeah. What? But the only other test that they did was to determine the poll necessary to fire the gun,

which was smart. Now knowing that the pistol required a 3.25 pound poll, they returned to the Kinney House with a similar disabled pistol to find out whether Dana actually had the strength to pull the trigger and they did find out that she did. She was able to. In fact, not only did she possess the strength to pull the trigger, but she also knew how to release the safety catch on the gun. Why the fuck did she know that?

A two-year-old. Why did this two-year-old girl know how to release a safety on a pistol? I do not know. I'm just trying to think of my kids at two and I'm like, that a two year old. Why did this two year old girl know how to release a safety on a pistol? I do not know. I'm just trying to think of my kids at two and I'm like, what's is going on here? Like, this is wild. You would think of a two year old, like, and you don't want to think of a two year old gun, a two year old with a gun, but when you do, you would think that they'd be like waving

it around like, that's the thing. Like, you just, I don't, this is just so strange. It is. It is very strange. It really is. And I don't know if it's a thing where Sharon taught her how to do it so that she could shoot her father. Oh my God. Or if maybe she just saw her dad shoot the pistol all the time.

Maybe. And like that's why. Yeah. I honestly have no idea. I don't believe that Dana shot her father. Seems highly unlikely to me. I believe that Sharon did. Yeah.

Or that if Dana somehow did shoot her father, it was because Sharon made it happen to do that. You know, she was set up. But in their statement to the press, Sergeant Herman Davis of the Kansas City Police told reporters, the bullet had entered from the rear and lodged just under the skin between the nose and the right eye. Now Davis continued that this was consistent with the position of the gun, which was quote, lying flat on the pillow when it discharged, leaving a crease

where it cut the cloth and powder burns were on the pillowcase. So the press were also made aware of the working theory that two-year-old Dana had accidentally shot her father while he was asleep and they did stress that their test confirmed James could not have fired the shot himself. Yeah. And the investigators actually never bothered to ask Dana whether she'd fired the gun or not or any other questions about the incident. I'm sorry what? They just felt like the evidence supported that what Sharon had told them. There was no evidence of their conjuring and they were ready to rule the death and accident.

No one ever said to this two-year-old who they claimed it was walked into a room and was like, Daddy, how does this thing work? Daddy, and then pulled the trigger, took the safety off and pulled the trigger, no one was like, you know what, we should ask this prodigy if she actually did that. Like we just ask her, kids will tell you shit.

Oh yeah. Kids will tell you everything. Like any, I'm sure any preschool or kindergarten teacher knows, they know everything about what happens in your house. Your kid's gonna tell them everything. 100% of you know. Have you ever seen that meme where it's like,

my mommy has two boyfriend. Yeah, it's like literally like, it's like me like, what? What's the love? Yeah where it's like, my mommy has two boyfriend. Yeah, it's like literally like, and it's like me like, what? What's the law? Yeah, it's like, it's, why wouldn't you ask that child? Like, did you fire this gun in your dad in your parents' room?

Like, there's a way to ask where you're not like, staring her, making her feel like she did something. They should have brought some kind of expert in. Yeah, bring a psychiatrist in like a child psychologist that can ask in a proper way. 100% to get the proper answer like a real, no, a shoddy police work. It's also, you couple that with the fact that Sharon called

and said he had a heart attack. And it's like, why the fuck wouldn't she have said an accident happened here? I couldn't find anything to say that they really ever questioned that. This is so bizarre. It is. What the fuck? Maybe she was having an affair with so bizarre. It is. What the fuck?

Maybe she was having an affair with somebody on the police force. What the hell's going on? She was having lots of affairs. She was. Yeah. That's complete speculation, by the way. But with the autopsy complete and the cause of death

listed as accidental officially, Sharon was free to collect on the various life insurance policies that had been taken out in the years before James' death, including from the Veterans Administration, life insurance, and homeowners insurance. And with James dead, the balance on the mortgage for the house was wiped out and transferred to Sharon. She received roughly $29,000, which today would be like receiving $300,000. God.

So she cashed on this. Now, if it weren't for her reckless impulsivity, Sharon Kinney might have never become a suspect in her husband's death, but she was arrogant and narcissistic and constantly looking for something or someone to validate her and proper her self-esteem, which is what led her to Walter Jones. Now, after cashing out on all those insurance policies, she wasted

absolutely no time spending the money. And actually long before James's death, she'd been pestering him to buy her afford thunderbird. She really wanted a thunderbird. And he refused because he was like, one, we have two children. Like, yeah, that's not necessarily a family car. And not two, those are fucking expensive. And we don't have the money. But now with James out of the way and her pockets flush with cash, Sharon went down to the Rudy Fick Ford dealership on April 18, 1960 and she was helped by one Walter Jones. Uh oh. Now Walter was said to be a handsome guy with a big friendly personality. He had all the charm and per se's persuasiveness necessary to succeed in car sales. He has to say car sales. He is. In fact, at the time, Sharon

only intended to get the air conditioner in James' old Nash fixed, but Walter quickly and easily talked her into trading in the old car, her husband, her dead husband's car, for the one that she had dreamed about. Her new car. Yep. And soon she was making regular visits to the dealership if you catch my friend. What do I mean? It's like globe motors and the superannos. Now, it turned out while Walter may have been a good car salesman,

he was a really great person. No. At the time he began his affair with Sharon, he was married. Married to his high school sweetheart Patricia. Everybody chill the fuck out. No, they can't. You're all too much the most. They had gotten him in Patricia.

They had gotten married right out of high school just before Walter enlisted in the Marines, and they relocated to California. Now, after he was discharged, they moved back to Missouri, but by then their marriage was doomed. In fact, Walters affairs began almost immediately after they married and continued up until he met Sharon in the spring of 1960.

And Patricia, excuse me, her choice to stay with her husband was only because of their two children and her desire to work things out for their sake. And that is, I mean, that's still a fact. I respect it. And it's, like we were, like, it never works out. It really doesn't. I haven't seen many things work out in that when that's the motivation. No.

But you can also understand people's motivation for thinking that's going to be a good thing. So I want to make sure you guys know, like, we know why people do it. Yeah. It just, there's a lot of evidence to prove that it doesn't work. Right. And again, of course, there's a lot of evidence to prove that it doesn't work and again Of course there's there's an exception to every rule Of course, they could work out and this was a different time and that was much more the thing back then Yeah, like more or than now is now now it's usually more to do with like morality things and like religious things

Right, but that was like the norm. Yeah, like back then it wasn't just like religious people No, it's like let's not get divorced. For society at all. Society, exactly. Now Walter's marriage was of course always a source of frustration for Sharon, not because she was in love with him, but because as long as he was married she wouldn't have total control over her. Exactly. So now to determine to break up the marriage, Sharon relied on a strategy strategy strategy that had worked for her in the past. And in mid-May, she told Walter that she was pregnant with his child and demanded that

he end his marriage. She's the worst. She's not pregnant, by the way. Yeah, she's the worst. She is. And she'll let me get worse. Fuck Sharon. So the news came as a surprise to Walter, but he was hardly ready to give into those

demands. He was already cheating on his wife and to children. You think he's gonna marry you and do the right thing? Exactly, no, please. By that time, his invidelity was actually not really that much of a secret to his wife, which had led to several arguments between him and Patricia, who by then had threatened to leave him and take the children multiple times.

Which they go, girl. And faced with the possibility of losing his wife and kids, he actually started to reconsider his relationship with Sharon. She was controlling manipulative. She could be cruel. And now he'd actually begun to resent how dependent he'd become on her for attention and the money that she occasionally provided with all those life insurance payouts.

And to add to all of that during the week of May 27th, while Sharon had been away on vacation, he spent more time at home like then he ever had while he was dating Sharon, and realized how much he actually missed his wife when Sharon, like when she was gone and he actually went to spend time with his wife. What a guy.

He was like, wow, I actually miss you. Like I remember why I married you. Roman. You fucking imagine. No, I'm awful.. I remember why I married you. Roman. You fucking imagined. No, not at all. So given that, he decided that when Sharon returned in a few days, he would end the relationship and really begin working on repairing his marriage.

Okay. But unfortunately, he would never get that chance. Uh-oh. On the evening of May 27th, 1960, John Bouldese, I'm sure you remember that name. Sure, it's high school boyfriend. High school boyfriend. you remember that name, sure, and Ty School, High School, Boyfriend, and, you know, side piece called the Jackson County Sheriff's Department to report that he and his lady had taken a drive

out to the lover's lane area just off of Phelps Road, a little outside of Independence, and they'd made a horrible discovery. At first, Bulldees told investigators the couple had thought the woman who was illuminated by their headlights had just fallen asleep in the wooded area, but after getting out to investigate, they had found four bullet holes in her head, stomach, and both joy and God. He was calling to report that he had found a body.

Now, when investigators arrived on the scene, they found very little evidence to work with. The woman who would later be identified as Walter's wife Patricia Jones. What the fuck? Had been shot four times, and at least one of those shots had been fired close enough to leave powder burns on her skirt.

Oh my God. Now, there was a surprising lack of blood at the scene, which led investigators to strongly consider whether she'd been shot elsewhere and dumped in the woods. And her clothes seemed to be disarranged, but they hadn't been removed. And there wasn't any other evidence of a sexual assault. She had not. She had not. She had not.

It appeared to investigators that Patricia had been killed elsewhere and dumped in the woods, and the scene had been staged. But as far as a motive, they were lost. Now, the next morning, Walter was brought into the sheriff's office for questioning, and he explained that he hadn't seen his wife the previous morning, and actually he had filed a missing persons report when she failed to return home the night before. He even offered to take a polygraph test to prove his innocence. Damn. No. The case took a surprising turn when investigators learned that

Baldese's girlfriend was none other than Sharon Kinney. Holy shit. The woman whose husband was killed just two months earlier. What the fuck? Sharon's explanation for the death of her husband seemed a bit suspicious at the time. Yeah, did. But without any evidence to suggest anything otherwise, investigators had no choice but to accept her statement. But now her proximity to two murders in a two-month span raised those earlier suspicions a bit higher. Yeah. And to add to those suspicions, in his statement to the sheriff, Walter admitted he'd been having an affair with one sharing Kenny for a little more than a month and also mentioned that one of his wife's Friends had seen Patricia and Sharon together the day before share up. Excuse me the day before Patricia went missing

What the fuck? She was spotted with Sharon Then Sharon not by just like a random eyewitness by one of Patricia's friends Sinister this woman woman is st- Sinister is far truly. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- Sinister is far truly [♪- [♪-inister is far truly [♪- Sinister is I definitely didn't learn anything about managing my money. But that is why I am so excited that I heard about the build card from Current. Current is banking and credit building together. Current helps you spend, save, and manage your money better, and it's easier to make the most of what you've got. You can set up a direct deposit to unlock a ton of extra features, like getting paid up to two days faster.

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babysitter before heading to work himself. And when he got home later that evening, he expected to find her, but she was nowhere to be found. So he starts calling all her friends and co-workers, one of which was the woman who said she had seen Patricia and Sharon together, and then another friend told Walter that she'd asked to be dropped off at an unusual location where quote, they had seen Mrs. Jones enter in 1957 or 1958 Dodge driven by a young woman. Huh. So upon hearing this, Walter said he called Sharon, who said that she had indeed spoken

to Patricia that afternoon, and told her that Walter was having an affair with her sister. So that's a little bit confusing. So Sharon contacts Patricia and says, I know your husband, he's having an affair with my sister. And I wanna tell you about it because I think you deserve to know. And that's how she gets her into a car with her. Sharon sucks, big time. Now Walter's statement and Paul Lee graph.

Paul Lee graph. Paul Lee graph. My graph. That's an insider. This Paul Lee graph examination didn't rule him out entirely, but it did go a long way toward removing him from the suspect list. Yeah.

Sharon, on the other hand, did little to get herself off of that suspect list and pretty much everything to get herself onto it. Yeah, that's not shocking. Walter had agreed to that polygraph exam and he actually signed a written statement to his whereabouts. Sharon made a verbal statement, but she refused to sign anything

and refused to take a polygraph examination. In her verbal statement, she claimed she had only gone, quote, on about 12 dates with Walter, which, like, that's a lot. He's still married with kids, my friend. And, like, your relationship has only been going on for... 12 dates? Two months, so like that's pretty standard. Yeah, like, it's a lot of dates.

She said that she called Patricia Jones and met with her about Thursday afternoon to break off the relationship with Walter. But it's like, no, you didn't. No, you said that he's having the same. You're so like, what the hell? You were setting her up. Exactly.

The officer who took her statement recalled Sharon saying, I'm very fond of Walt and I didn't want anything to happen to him and his family. So she said she called Patricia and told her there was something she needed to tell her about her husband, but that she needed to do it in person. So you're fond of Walt. You don't want anything to happen to him or his family, but you're going to tell his wife that you guys have been having an affair. You're going to blow up his entire family by saying that you, your sister in him, the family in a fair. Now, Sharon's story was that she had borrowed her father's car

that afternoon. So that Dodge perhaps? So that Walt wouldn't recognize her car when she dropped his wife off at home and that she picked up Patricia at the location where she was last seen by her coworker. So that was Sharon. Like honey, you did it.

You're admitting it already. Like, you're not getting out of this, I hope. Please tell me. Once they were in Sharon's car, she told Patricia that Walter had been having an affair with her sister, and she wanted her to know because she felt it was inappropriate and needed to come to an end. She had to fuck up, Sharon. Shut up, Sharon. Now, after they'd spoken, Sharon said, you know, it was awful. I can't believe I had to tell her that. And then I dropped her about a block away from the Jones house, which why would you drop her about a block away from the Jones house,

which why would you drop her off a block away? You're in a car that it doesn't recognize. That's the whole reason you had that car. Exactly. But she said, she then looked in the rear view mirror and, quote, Psalmist's Jones talking to a man in a two-tone green 1957 Ford. So she got out of the car and immediately this other guy's like, warp up.

Here I am. Absolutely. That makes total sense. Yeah. According to Sharon, it came as a total shock to go. Incidentally, happened upon Patricia's body where she and Bull Dees were out at the Levers Lane, that evening. Yeah.

Isn't that wild that you talked to the wife of the man that you've been having an affair with that day? You dropped her off and then, oh my God, you just stumbled upon her dead body later that day. You happened to be the ones who discovered it? Whoa. By a lottery ticket, Sharon. By as well.

Wow. Now, as far as she knew, she said that Patricia was quote, upset, but not mad after she informed her of the affair. So she couldn't imagine what could have happened to lead her to death. No, of course you can't because nothing else happened. You killed her.

Yeah. No way. Here's that. Also, you went to a lover's lane with your boyfriend. Where the fuck up? She's in her early 20s. But like, grow the fuck up, honestly. Well, you have two children, what are you doing? Yeah, you shut the fuck up.

It's wild. We went to them that very same. Like, shut the fuck up. Dave makes like little notes sometimes and he was like, I know it may seem weird that they're in a lover's lane, but please remember that she isn't her early 20s. Because it's also just crazy to be like, she isn't her early 20s. Because it's all so memorable. It's crazy to be like, she is in her early 20s. Yeah, and all of this is happening in her life.

In your head, you're like, Jesus Christ, you're 35, what are you going to do? You're going to be like, grow up. But she's young still. She's still a lot. Oh, yeah. The autopsy determined that Patricia's cause of death was the gunshot wound in her head.

And they placed the time of death around eight or nine p.m. on May 27th, just a few hours before the body was discovered. But unfortunately, the three bullets that they retrieved from the shoulders and the head were so badly damaged that they couldn't be used for a match to the weapon. And the fourth bullet had entered Patricia's stomach and exited it out of her back and then presumably got lodged somewhere where she'd been killed. So with no other leads, detectives went back to the woods

where the body was discovered and started searching with metal detectors hoping to find that fourth bullet. Now, a team of investigators spent all day searching the woods for that fourth bullet, that passed through Patricia's stomach, but they had no look finding it or any other additional evidence. Because I don't think it happened out there. It gets a little hairy. Okay. And you'll see where in part two. But in the meantime, Walter and John Bulldees were both brought

in for additional questioning. And they both were given a polygraph examination, which they passed. It was then that Walter admitted when he learned that Sharon had been with his wife the night she went missing, he did not call her, like he had said originally. He actually went to her house and confronted her in person. Oh damn Walter. Yeah, it gets worse. According to Walter, when Patricia's friend said that she saw her with Sharon, he went to Sharon and after putting a knife to her throat, demanded that she help search for his wife. These poor children involved in this kind of shit. She just hoped that they weren't around. God, I hope they weren't. They weren't. Hopefully they were with her.

The babysitter, that's raising them. Exactly. And James Kinney's parents were still very involved in their lives. But within an hour of that incident, Sharon and Baldi's discovered Patricia's body in the woods. How convenient. I love that Walter shows up, puts a knife to your throat, tells you to go, you better find my wife and you're like,

cool, he leaves and you're like, hey, John, you wanna go to a lover's lane? And just hang out. And John's like, yeah, sure she is. And he's like absolutely. And then you just stumble upon, you're like, hey, John, you want to go to a lover's lane? And just hang out. And John's like, yeah, sure. She's like absolutely. And then you just stumble upon you, like, wow, good luck for me. Fortunately. And it's like clearly she led you to a certain area in this clearly. We all know that. So she clearly led you to the location where she knew your headlights were going to, of course, like illuminate Patricia. Oh my god. headlights were going to. Of course. Like illuminate Patricia. Oh my God.

That way she could like, rid herself of the issue of Walter being like, find my wife. Right. And also be like, oh, she's gone. That's crazy. Yeah. I saw her get into a car with some random ass man. Wow. Now the good thing investigation wise was that each new revelation

seemed to lead to some other piece of critical information about the case. Because when Bull Dees was asked about Walter's story, he admitted that he and Sharon had indeed gone out to the woods, not for intimacy, but to look for Patricia. I was going to say. Yeah. So, that's how that explains that. And that wasn't all he told investigators.

According to him, a couple of weeks before Patricia's murder, Sharon had, quote, talked him into going to the sheriff's office to try to get James Kinney's pistol back. But obviously, they refused that request. What the fuck? But it's like, okay, is that the same police department like investigating this death? Because would you not have that on note

that some random man was like, I need James Kinney's pistol back? Are the police okay here? No. The answer is no. No. The answer is not well bitch. They are not well bitch.

Cause like what, you're not even asking that. The fact that they didn't even talk to that two year old to be like, hey, why? Let's see what she says about whether she shot her dad or not. Yup. Like, just give a shot. Mm-hmm. Not doing that.

And then like this, they're like, oh yeah. How crazy. We don't have that on file. It's like, why does fuck? Like this lady's obviously got a lot of shit going on around her, maybe like keep an eye when she asked for her pistol back. You would think that was involved in a murder.

Or when her lover comes in and asks for it. Like come on, it's like maybe make note of that. But while the detectives continued questioning Walter and Valdese, a team of investigators switch their attention from the wooded area where Patricia's body was located to an abandoned farm building across the street. And on the morning of May 30th, investigators searching the barn found two blanks with bullet holes and powder burns, leading them to suspect that Patricia may have been taken to the barn and killed before being dumped in the woods. Oh, that's fucked up. And they believed that could account for the chunk of time where she was missing, between

when she was last seen by co-workers and when she was discovered in the woods. Ah. That was a theory. Now, the search of the barn didn't give much in terms of new evidence, but as investigators were starting to feel like they were losing momentum, a co-worker of Sharon's from the photo processing plant that she was currently working up, came forward to police with what he thought was vital evidence. According to this coworker, a few weeks before Patricia's body was discovered,

Sharon had pressured him into buying a high standard 22 caliber pistol for her. How does she convince people to do these things? She has a way with men. If she's manipulative, she's got a way with men. Yeah, some women just do. Now, when detectives confronted her with this information, Sharon quote, explained she wanted the weapon for protection on her trip to Washington, that she'd taken with bull d's just days before the murder, and claimed she left the gun with family in Washington. Okay.

Now, all right, although their physical evidence was weak, the circumstantial evidence again Sharon Kinney at this point was substantial. She'd been having an affair with the victim's husband. She was the last person to be seen with Patricia Jones. She was the one to find the body in and out of the way location. Yeah, she had to go and find it. She had gone out of her way to obtain a gun and then lost said gun.

Yeah. She was refusing to make any sworn statement or submit a polygraph exam. And on top of that, her husband had died under similarly mysterious circumstances just two months earlier, after which she collected on insurance policies that not only gave her a clear title to the house, but also solved

any financial problems. It may not have been a slam dunk case, but she definitely looked guilty. This is wild. And it's also so weird that we chose cases this week that had to do with insurance payouts right in the nick of time before financial ruin. That is weird. Like that's the exact thing with the O.C. scene case. That is very strange. Very weird. But on the evening of May 31st, just hours after Patricia Jones' funeral, deputies from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department served a warrant at Sheriff's House. Yes.

And she was taken into custody and charged with the murder of Patricia Jones. Good. Get her. And that's where we're going to wrap for part one. Yeah. I'm so sorry. But in part two, there is a lot to cover. Like I said, part two is going to be a little bit trial heavy and you'll see why.

But once we get through the trial part of it, which like if you're like me and that's not necessarily not necessarily your thing, we're going to get through it together and it's going to be worth it because then we go into a whole slew other wild shit. Damn, I don't know how this can get more wild, but here I am. You know what? I was saying the same thing as I was writing this, and then I was just like, it got more wild.

It got more wild. It got crazy. Yeah, yeah. Wow. So, we hope you keep listening, and we hope you keep it weird. But it's a word that you try to stage your husband's burner like your two-year-old did it, because that's just really fucked up. That's so fucked up. That's so wild. I can't get over that. Just blame it on her two-year-old did it because that's just really fucked up. That's so fucked up. That's so wild. I can't get over that.

Just blame it on her two-year-old. Just wait. It's wild. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.

What would you do if you thought you had met the love of your life? But as things began to slowly unravel, it went beyond your capacity to help, ending with his untimely death. What would you do? I'm Wittnessel Dine, the creator of this is actually happening. A podcast that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them, and I'm excited to share that we have hit 300 episodes. In honor of this, we've decided to revisit the first ever episode of the show, entitled

What If Your Boyfriend, Lit Himself on Fire. It's been about 12 years since I started the show with this interview, and both the story teller and the show have evolved so much in that time. Our 300th episode is a deeper dive into the story and everything that has happened since then. To hear this story and so many more, follow this is actually happening on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can listen to this is actually happening Add Free on Wondry Plus. you