Mamie Thurman | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Elena and I'm Ash and this is morbid yeah you had like a stoner Vibe
about that the way you said more bad I'm in a different Universe right now tell the people let it out put it all in the
book this all goes in order actually cuz the last time we talked to you guys was
yesterday when um my ceiling flooded oh yeah we y all the the alarms in my house
went off because it flooded into the smoke detector and other parts so it set the detectors off so that was yesterday
that was wild that was yester and then in the middle of the night last night because all the water had flooded into
one of those smoke detectors at uh 3:00 a.m. the witching hour the alarm started
blaring in my house and a nice robotic voice was saying fire fire fire and my and I shot up out of bed and I said oh
my God and my kids ran down the hallway to us crying cuz they didn't know what was going on that's and John's running
downstairs where just like everybody's it's chaotic it's Mayhem he discovers that it is that that it's like a false
alarm so we try to get everybody back to sleep but everybody's all wound up and terrified my littlest one was like
sobbing it was awful one of my twins is trying to tell my littlest one like it's
okay we have fire drills in school it was so cute like cute it's cute now at the time I was like this is chaos yeah
but so we finally get everybody kind of settled and then within 10 minutes it blares again and it does that another
four times back to back within 10 minutes each or like 5 minutes sometimes till finally he was able to like clean
it out disconnect that one and he was like finally get it so that it wasn't going to trigger again right but by that
point it had been over an hour of all of us being shot up and not going back to sleep and the kids being upset me being
Str like it was just all a mess so it was chaos like the youngest one didn't want to go to sleep so John was trying
to sleep like on the end of her bed to Cal her down and that's too tiny for John one of my twins was like is
everything cool and I was like yeah and she was like see you and just went to sleep the other one was like can I come
in bed with you and I was like sure and so it it was chaos last dogs had no [ __ ] clue
what was going on so they're just like what have you done I know and think of how loud that was to them loud it was
and you could they were like what is going on it's loud to us but it's like so high pitched in their poor little
ears also in full like they've officially reached the point where they're like full protect family mode
when something happens so they if they see people upset they like lose it they're like barking and so they're like
losing their minds being like who's [ __ ] with you guys like they're just like let me out of here like just so let
me out let me out them which was like beautiful for them I love them they're wonderful and I'm glad they do that but
at the time I was like this is this is a nightmare this is a nightmare so today I'm just a zomie okay um it's like
Halloween all over again yeah I'm just you know I'm living that right now I don't know how much sleep we got because
also it was so like off and on and also sorry I'm like telling you my whole life
story right now but I'm so tired it's going to be a rambling Rose moment but I don't think that's like your whole life
story also one of my twins lost a tooth at school yesterday so the Tooth Fairy came just you know in the middle of all
in the middle of all that she still to do it which can can be very stressful for the Tooth Fairy as well yeah you
know so so that was added on to it luckily the Tooth Fairy did come and it was great because the Tooth Fairy never
misses you know damn she really does be working OT she does so job Tooth Fairy shout out to the Tooth Fairy shout out
to the Tooth Fairy the Tooth Fairy now has to answer the children's letters that they write her when they lose te
now that they can write and they're like what's your favorite food on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving in fact one time it was um the last one I promise I'll be done after this you're like the last the last
letter that they wrote to the Tooth Fairy they asked what she wanted to be for Halloween and the Tooth Fairy
answered a stack of pancakes I hope that's what she was I like that she told them her
favorite swad on Thanksgiving is um his mashed potatoes because of the color teeth that's so creepy why did the Tooth
Fairy say that the Tooth Fairy was up late so she's a that's her favorite fla but yeah
that's where I'm at today so I'm really glad that how she was telling you the story because I don't know what kind of
rocket ship I would take us all on today so I watched some Gaba goul last night and then I watched some Southern Charm
and then I fell asleep at a normal hour I'm sorry but I slept like for [ __ ] baby well okay the night before though I
was up all night because of my freaking cats cat jiggling the door all night like let me in let me in I'm like I'm
not letting you in here because you're going to go crazy and you're going to shove everything off my nightstand at
all hours of the night so no I'm I'm not doing it no and then last night they were on their best behavior good for
those cats my cats my cats my cats well I I wish that I had like a uplifting story for you a story of Justice or you
know like something spooky to make you LOL but I don't oh I have a pretty tragic case um the woman at the center
of this case is a cool lady though like reading about her and learning more about I mean her life is very tragic but
learning about who she was and kind of like what was important to her I was like this lady I want to be friends with
like I'm into it and it's a bit of an oldie it's um it's like but a goodie 2030s but it's really really interesting
and I hope you like it so this one's for you this one's for me yeah I don't know
I'm just I felt like I was introducing a song at a concert so it just felt right
to say this one's for you so hey co-host this one's for you so yeah this one's for you Elina
despite the extensive coverage of her murder and the trial that followed there's not a ton of information out
there about Mimi Thurman's life and that's who we're going to be talking about today M Thurman okay uh but what
we do know is that she was born M Morrison on September 12th 1900 to George and olly Morrison of Kentucky and
also the name of Olly is so cute that is really cute and usually you hear it for
a boy but I think for a woman or a girl it's so pretty yeah but unfortunately in
late January of 1901 when M was just four months old olly ended up passing away leaving m in the sole care of her
father oh damn so she never really knew her mother and despite suffering such an
early and tragic loss may she grew up to be a really happy intelligent girl she was charismatic she was confident she
was outgoing she had everything going for her author F uh Keith Davis wrote with a bubbly and outgoing personality
she knew few strangers like just wanted to be friends with everybody would talk to whoever yeah and as she got older she
carried that confidence and friendly nature into adulthood she enthus embraced the fashion of the early 20th
century she dressed in like tight fitting clothes she loved a little low neckline to show show the girls off got
a girl she accessorized with like really beautiful eye-catching jewelry and while
most adults at the time discourage such quote unquote provocative attire Mimi loved colorful glamorous clothing she
loved outrageous hats head wraps the turbin they would wear hell yeah she was a fashion gly it wasn't just the fashion
that M loved it was all the latest cultural Trends uh being what her half brother George Jr described as a flapper
which is like my faith fler flapper she completely embraced the suffet movement for emancipation of women and she really
reject rejected the conservative modesty of the previous generation she was like
going out there on her own going to do the damn thing in style she like tits out everyone yeah chin up titties up
let's go yeah let's go and honestly which is another thing I really love about her she kind of just leaned into
the shocked responses that she would get from people people cuz remember she's from a small town in Kentucky so people
didn't necessarily appreciate her bold outfits or you know gorgeously applied mug but you know what what PE other
people think of you is none of your business Rupa so but more than anything M loved the budding jazz styles emerging
in places like New York Chicago New Orleans and they that kind of music usually went along with crazy like new
styles of dance where people were like OMG are you summoning the devil over there obviously and may was like [ __ ] I
might be basically she was just a cool chick way ahead of her time sounds like it I love
her now in 1924 she met and married Jack Thurman he was a construction worker from Brads
Bradford I can say it you can do it I have faith in you bradfordsville Kentucky but pretty shortly after they
got married M and Jack moved from Kentucky to Logan West Virginia a little over 4 hours away now Logan was really
just as rural as bradfordsville but it had more opportunity and Jack was able to find construction
work pretty quickly actually mostly thank to thanks to M's father her dad had also worked in construction and he
worked a lot in that area so he put in a good word for his son-in-law and then meanwhile M started taking secretarial
classes at the local high school and when she had wrapped up her coursework she was able to get a really good job as
a secretary at a local car car dealership cool now moving from Kentucky to West Virginia it did put a lot of
distance like I just said it was a 4-Hour move so put a lot of distance between M and her family but she made a
point to go back as often as she could to visit her dad by then he had actually gotten remarried and started a family
with his second wife but he and M stayed close and she was close to the his whole
family there she was a lot older than his youngest kids but they also were super close like I just said her half
brother George later said at first I thought she was my aunt M my father's sister not his daughter it wasn't until
many years later that I discovered she was my sister whoa cuz there was just such an age difference yeah and despite
the years between them George completely adored M he told a reporter I thought M
was the most beautiful woman in the world that is so sweet like your brother just thinks you're the most Gorge I love
that and it wasn't just her younger brother and her dad that Mimi was close to she also was really really close to
her stepmom because they had a ton in common and they actually considered each other close friends until M's death wow
in fact George George senior M's father and his second wife they had a pretty difficult marriage and they actually
separated on a number of occasions but M would tell her dad exactly what she thought he had done wrong and more often
than not she'd side with her stepmom oh my God that's really funny cuz they were
closer in age too so she was like you're kind of [ __ ] my friend over here she's like I kind of get this so yeah
now when George senior unexpectedly died in 1928 Mimi actually helped her stepmom
move into a one room quote unquote No Frills apartment at the Pioneer Hotel in Logan and she kept visiting her and
hanging out with her as often as she could oh my God yeah and like I said that's really sweet it is and like I
said they were pretty close in age so they actually would like go out with each other at night you know
occasionally in the company of other men oh may may had a little fun on the side
yeah apparently yeah and you know her stepmom could because her dad had passed away but yeah she's a widow exactly but
a few years after moving to West Virginia Jack ended up joining Jack as M's husband he ended up joining the
local police force and M was able to get a better job working as a secretary at one of the largest banks in town and
that was where she became acquainted with some of the most influential men in Logan and then sometimes she'd get more
than acquainted oh yep one resident of the Town said of her that M sure was a high stepper she was a welln she was
well-known and a very fine looking lady um imagine being described as a high stepper and a very fine looking lady I
mean let's go what a what a legend what a legend that's the thing Legacy is what
I meant but Legend works too what did you say I said a legend to leave I meant a legacy oh oh uh but you know it all
it's in the same word family so it's fine yeah High you guys know what I mean a high stepper was like a nice thing to
say kind of but also like I think it depends on how you interpret it ex for yourself it kind of means that you're
like leading a wild and fast life yes exactly but so I think it's like if you're fine with that then you're like
hell yeah I'm a high stepper and I kind of think May was cuz like I said she leaned into this whole thing I think she
would have been like yeah that's me but some people would be like oh [ __ ] exact
I'm getting I'm getting a reputation for being a high stepper exactly but he also
said a fine looking lady I mean hell yeah I'd be Focus focused on that personally but the thing was while most
people really publicly knew M as a respectable quote unquote woman of quiet demeanor a devoted wife a faithful
congregant and regular attendee of the services at church behind closed doors people knew a little bit more and talked
a little bit more about her and rumors were starting to spread she may have been all of those things all of those
great things but people also said that she was promiscuous and she often went out alone and she danced with men at
Speak eases O and you know she had a tendency to drink too much at a time when literally all forms of liquor were
still illegal damn so she was dabbling in some I was just going to say she's really dabbling in the uh almost in like
the 20s underworlds kind of exactly like the 20s underworld like it feels like in
in Mulan Rouge how like that whole world was like yes this like wild underworld of folks everywhere you know like in
different kind of it's so funny that you said Mulan Rouge because the entire time
I was doing this case I was thinking of that movie yeah cuz I think they kind of
like say like they're creatures of the underworld like this you know what I mean they or they like you know kind of
hint at it yeah that's that's what it feels like to me this like cool just like Society a little reckless like you
know that it's cool I you know I love a good time yeah we're far removed from it
so it's cool for us now exactly back and be like that looks cool and it was but it was also somewhat dangerous to dabble
in those things back then and especially not only just like for your safety but for your reputation and remember her
husband is a police officer now so exactly you know so she's really rolling the dice here that's the thing but we
all know that multiple things even contradictory things can all be true at once she was like a really good wife she
was you know devoted in her own way she went to church but she also dabbled in those underground things she had many
facets yeah she was that's the thing she was multifaceted yeah but she also was a
young woman in her late 20s remember who wanted more for her life than just small
town Logan had to offer yeah and it actually you know it wasn't that she and Jack were poor they weren't struggling
to get by by any means but M had an appreciation for those Finer Things in life and she and Jack weren't
necessarily bringing in the kind of money to make those things a constant yeah so in the meantime she did her her
best to manifest these things okay F Keith Davis wrote M was determined to go after opportunities and pursuit of this
endeavor she spent much of her free time with friends in affluent neighborhoods within City Limits all right so you know
she's trying to rub shoulders with the right people to make a better life she's networking
exactly but rumors and moral judgment judgment aside it is true that even though she was married she did see other
men her half brother recalled I remember M coming over to visit mom who stayed at
the Pioneer Hotel I remember men coming in and going out of our room at all times of the day and night o so it's it
also reminds me of like Gatsby a little bit it's very much like that that one scene where they had the hotel party
with yes oh remind that very stressful now it's unknown exactly how many extramarital relationships M had but
most sources cite that her relationship with Harry Robertson was the most long running and most significant
relationship that she had aside from her husband Jack so Harry was the son of Logan County's former sheriff and he was
really well known in the community because he worked at the I think it's Guion Valley Bank and that was the the
bank that Mimi worked at but it was one of the other biggest banks in town okay cuz I was like it was one of the biggest
banks in town before this was the other one there's so many big Banks there's so
many big Banks and most people considered Harry to be a decent family man he married his wife Louise in 1914
in nearby Huntington and after they got married they moved in settled in Logan Harry went to work at the bank and 10
years later they'd had two children they were living in a large three-bedroom House near the center of town they they
had a beautiful life get it guys and to offset the cost of you know living they rented out part of their property to
borders okay you know Liv TOS at the cost of you know existing I feel everybody feels that right now they're
like I heard that exactly so when Guion Valley Bank I think I think I said it a different way this time but whatever I
love the variety yeah that's what I'm here to offer the spice of life when gion Valley Bank merged with Logan First
National Bank which is where M worked Harry kept his position as head bookkeeper at the new institution and
that is when he became acquainted with M who like I said worked as a secretary for Logan First National Bank ah so
because those Bank those Banks merged it made M and Harry co-workers now they already knew each other
casually but I think they got to know each other a little bit better here if you pick up what I'm putting down
carnally yes in fact it was actually Harry who was largely responsible for Jack Thurman M's husband becoming a
police officer because Harry used his status in the community to advocate for Jack and around the late 1920s an
article in the local paper the Logan Banner referred to Jack as Harry's quote own favorite appointy of the city police
force damn messy messy just going to say this is a messy it only gets Messier now
it's not really clear if Jack knew that his friend Harry eventually uh ended up romantically and sexually involved with
his wife but it's hard to believe that he had no idea M was being unfaithful before M and Harry had become involved M
was known to spend a lot of time at Le societ de Amore aka the Amore Club the Amore Club the The Love Club The Love
Club exactly The Love Club club The Love Club wow it was a local social club with
um a questionable reputation for love during prohibition the Amore Club was what was known back then as a key club
and that meant that patrons had to provide proof of membership and give a password before being allowed inside oh
damn to drink and dance and gamble it was a Speak Easy I think the original like Playboy clubs were like that too
it's like a key Club yeah they did for some reason I remember reading that somewhere that's the only time I've
heard it um that was also mentioned in secrets of Playboy I think they had like cards special cards um so yeah it like I
said it was like a Speak Easy but the club also gained a reputation as quote a secret nightclub for both married and
single adults a Haven for Unfaithful and unsavory husbands and wives looking for
a good time where there was a reasonable amount of confidentiality we have discretion here
in in high Supply so it's like a sexy nighttime gambling dancing drinking cheating on your wife in husband Club I
was just GNA say it's just like hey come cheat it's a sexy Club it's a sexy place
okay yeah with sexy people worry about it so F Keith Davis who wrote The Secret Life and brutal death of M Thurman
spoiler alert oh points out that since M was a new employee of the bank it would
have been Harry's job to train her and the relationship you know probably started as an innocent friendship he
wrote conceivably their first conversation on the job led to occasional dinner dates away from the
bank and then from there developed into very romantic Rendevous when Jack was on
duty yeah and at the time Jack and M were actually living in an apartment above the Robertson's garage Harry and
his wife are the Robertson so it was easier to carry out their relationship and more private than it might have been
otherwise what yeah they were renting an apartment from the Roberts and they lived above their
garage damn yeah damn mhm so that's not good and like and it like I said it made it easier than it
might have been otherwise for example their relationship might have petered out when M was laid off from her
position at the bank in the fall of 1931 but being in close proximity her and Harry continued to see each other so
it it did not Peter out cuz yeah it just kept going mhm so now we're going to fast forward a little bit to when
because like I said there's just not a ton known about her life like I gave you as much as I could yeah that was good
amount okay I'm glad yeah I think you know I feel like I I I know who she is yeah Dave did a really good job of
digging too and getting more but so let's flash forward to when Mimi is discovered it is very brutal I just want
to give you a heads up it's intense so at about 2 p.m. on June 22nd 1932 Garland Davis a young Berry picker he
was making making his way through the thickets around uh Trace mountain in Logan when he stumbled upon a body the
woman's face had been very very severely beaten to the point that she was almost
unrecognizable oh God so Garland immediately ran to get police who rushed to the scene and started combing the
site for evidence and eventually as we know the body would be identified as M Thurman she had last been seen 2 days
earlier on the evening of uh Tuesday June 21st when she ran into an acquaintance at a store in downtown
Logan but she'd been missing since then and upon first glance it was obvious to investigators even though a knife was
found in the area where the body was discovered it was obvious to them that M had been killed somewhere else and then
dumped in a ditch near the Brier patch oh okay one of the most obvious indications of her being killed
somewhere else was the lack of blood at the scene that was like immediately one of the things they noticed and they also
discovered M's hat about 30 feet from her body and they noted that a bullet hole had ripped through one side of her
hat wow yep about eight feet in the other direction one shoe was discovered and the match appeared to be missing
which they took as further evidence that quote she had been slain at another point and her body taken to the top of
the mountain to be hidden she lost the shoe somehow the way in the journey I don't think they ever found it now M's
purse was also located near her body and her cash and other belongings were still
inside so this wasn't robbery because she also had rings and other jewelry still on her body so they quickly ruled
that out as a motive uh investigators had discovered tire tracks as well at the scene indicating that somebody had
driven up to the dump site and turned around but other than that there was little evidence at the scene to point
toward a suspect or a motive huh so they're like what the hell is going on here yeah but whoever did this was a
[ __ ] monster and they had brutalized her according to court documents and this is where gets really intense if you
want to skip forward a little bit her neck had been broken her throat was cut from one end to the other and she'd been
shot in the head twice oh my god with what uh investigators believed was a 38 caliber revolver that seems like so much
Overkill it is absolutely those are three methods of killing someone in my opinion at least somebody was very very
angry with her and during the coroner's inquest the following day it was stated this is interesting it was stated that
the cause of death was the knife wound to the throat which had severed the trachea the coted artery and the jugular
vein and they thought Mimi had been shot twice to make sure she was definitely dead but this would later be amended
after uh review where they determined that the actual cause of death was the two bullet wounds in the head wow and
they said her death was instantaneous and the broken neck and wound to the throat occurred
postmortem my God I'm surprised they were even able especially back then to determine from the three of them cuz I
also wonder if this person was trying to confuse the cause of death I wonder cuz
those are three specific causes of death like right that's the thing those aren't
just injuries like slicing someone's throat is trying to kill them yeah shooting them in the head trying to kill
them bre their neck trying kill them yep that's the thing I think they maybe could have been trying to P them off
here and according to the medical examiner quote one bullet entered behind the left ear and ranging upward emerged
Ed an inch and a half above the right ear the other entering on the left side of the forehead made its exit at the
back of her head there were powder Burns over the face and in the wound at the rear of the left ear death resulted
instantly from the gunshot wounds before the throat was cut wow so intense that's
really intense it's insane what that what was done to her now despite the lack of evidence or other information to
inform the case police wasted no time in identifying Harry Robertson as their primary suspect and he was arrested in
his home in Logan at about 8:30 p.m. that very same night huh the arrest was almost based entirely on their rumored
relationship and when he was questioned he more or less confirmed that they did have an extra marital affair with each
other but he minimized the extent of it of course according to Harry he had quote quote he had several dates with
Miss Thurman but said that he had seen Miss Thurman only a few times within the last several months and he said the last
time he saw her was the previous Saturday June 18th okay later it will come out that that was a lie oh no now
Harry was not the only one arrested at the Robertson residence in connection with the murder Clarence Stevenson a
28-year-old black handyman had been living in the Robertson home for the last five months and based on his
statement given at the time of arrest investigators believed Stevenson quote was a go between for Robertson and Miss
Thurman in arranging details of meetings and then that was also corob operated by
Harry Robertson okay now Clarence wasn't technically employed by the Robertson but he lived at their house on and off
for the last two years and he'd do odd jobs he would take care of their hunting dogs in exchange for the accommodation
of you know room and board now according to Harry both he and Clarence were home
all evening the night that Mimi disappeared and Harry said he went to bed around 11: okay now rumor and
inuendo might have led the police to Harry Robertson's home but once they were there they knew they were in the
right place oh a preliminary search of the residents turned up evidence they say pointed to Harry Robertson and or
Clarence Stevenson as the killer oh damn during a search of Harry's car investigators found what they believed
to be blood stains under the floor coverings and in the basement of the home they found quote stains believed to
be caused by Blood and a depression in the brick wall of the basement that officer said might have been caused by a
bullet wow so this is just like yeah it's just like you're basically with a smok it is like
literally and based on the evidence collected Harry Robertson his wife and actually another border at the house
were taken into custody the three of them were held at the prosecutor's office and Clarence Stevenson was also
arrested but on the other hand he was quote secretly removed to a jail in Williamson as a prote a precaution
against mob violence because he's the only black man who was arrested out of these four people and they're
worried for obvious that time period especially in that time period and please remember where we are we're in
the South oh yes in Kentucky absolutely so really really bad things could have happened to him absolutely now not only
did the murder call attention to M's affair with Harry Robertson but it also shined a very unwelcome light on the
Amore Club where she was said to be a frequent flyer just days after the murder the Press started putting out
stories about the club referring to it as a rendevu where at least half a dozen prominent Logan men with their women
friends met occasionally oh excuse me their women friends their women friends and they're saying like these are the
prominent men in the city or in in the town so it's like you're pointing very specific fingers at people that you
don't want to [ __ ] with oh it's getting messy it's Messier and it's so sad that
this is like so messy and scandalous but on the back of like M's brutal [ __ ] murder yeah and in my opinion the the
right person does not get convicted for this interesting but we'll get there all
right now as far as anybody knew the club the more more Club there did not play a role in M's murder but
investigators still wanted to question as many patrons as possible and that's kind of why it got discovered and put
into the Press so much that makes sense now in the days after the murder detectives also questioned Mimi's
husband Jack who stated that he had been on night Duty Tuesday and Wednesday night and quote was seen frequently in
the streets until 5:30 p.m. or excuse me 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning okay so they
were like jack is not yeah not our guy we need to worry about no that basically accounted for his whereabouts during the
time that M was believed to have been murdered yeah now investigators also noted that he had no car and he also
didn't know how to drive so it would have been very difficult and close to impossible for him to have murdered his
wife and then transported her body up to the top of Trace mountain and then back
to be seen on the streets that'd be pretty tough he didn't do it yeah I'm not saying he didn't arrange it I don't
know oh I I don't know at all you're not saying he had like anything to do with it and you're not saying he had nothing
to do with it exactly cuz I don't know I wasn't there I wasn't there it was very
long time ago now on June 25th Harry Robertson and Clarence Stevenson appeared before a packed Lan courtroom
where they were arraigned for M Thurman's murder I believe his wife was eventually let go and the other border
was eventually let go and it was just Harry and Claren now that we're going to stand for this this feels very uh that
felt very burken hair yes like they how they bring everybody in and then they start spping off people yeah yep exactly
and I think it's basically to see like what they can get out of all see if they'll turn on each other see if
anything comes of it exactly now the session the arraignment took much longer than was expected because the case had
drawn such a large crowd it actually had to be moved to a larger Circuit Court both men pleaded not guilty to the
charges but only Clarence Stevenson was called To The Stand I'm GNA let you ponder that for a second huh now he was
guarded by half a dozen state troopers because again they were very concerned for his safety during out during this
entire thing and questioned under oath he shared what he knew of Harry Robertson's relationship with M he told
the court he had never heard Robertson make any threats toward M according to Stevenson Harry and M actually had plans
to meet the night she disappeared but he said those plans were broken the previous Sunday by Harry himself and
he'd actually been the one Stevenson to take a note to M to let her know that like they weren't going to be meeting up
anymore interesting for the most part Claren Stevens say's testimony corroborated actually most of what Harry
had told investigators in the days previous but there were some details either from Stevenson or Robertson that
contradicted previous testimony so they their stories lined up in some ways but then in other ways one would say
something where the other one was like no that's that's not what happened and vice versa so it gets to be like huh
like what really did happen and like what he who's covering for who yeah exactly who's lying here now for example
when he was initially asked about the blood stains discovered in the car Clarence told the detectives that they
had uh often transported the hunting dogs in that vehicle and occasionally their feet bled just from you know being
outside oh I know and like on rough terrain oh my goodness so sad that makes me sad I know but when he was asked the
same question by the prose computer during the arraignment he said quote the dogs were always carried in the back of
the car so he didn't know how the blood could have gotten under the floor coverings in the front oh okay so it was
like interesting said one thing but then was like actually I don't know now it was at this point that Clarence
Stevenson's demeaner changed dramatically and he became reluctant to answer really any of the prosecutor's
questions and he was visibly nervous so the judge was like hey what's going on what going on Budd and he told the judge
he quote had seen him man at the back of the courtroom twirling a pistol a man who could kill me he told the judge whoa
now the judge was like okay like identify this person trying to kill you we'll make sure that you're protected
Clarence was like absolutely no no like no I'm not going to point him out what but being a black man in a small
Kentucky Town I can't say that I don't understand his reluctance to point this person out ABS no that makes a lot of
sense so the only witness who gave testimony during the arraignment was a man named RB Harris he was the local
Undertaker Aker who performed the initial examination of the body and after the arraignment the prosecutor LP
Hager told reporters he intended to call both men ARB Harris and Claren Stevenson
as Witnesses along with several straight state troopers and anybody else marginally related to the case he was
going to call as many people as he could okay now the next day additional testimony again underminded Clarence
Stevens's story when mine worker Ed Dalton testified that he had seen St son out on state rout State Road number 22
near where M had been discovered just hours before she was found is when he said he saw Clarence okay now Dalton's
testimony was followed by Harry Robertson who was called not to testify on his own behalf but called to testify
against Clarence Stevenson the testimony was expected to be Sensational and take
up most of the day but instead it actually confirmed most of what Claren Stevenson had already told the court so
did it back it did a little bit now what was curious though was a letter said to
have been written by Clarence Stevenson to his sister that the prosecution's office intercepted in the middle of all
this huh the letter read please do all you can to help me and go to Mrs Robertson and tell her that they have
taken me to Williams to keep anyone from seeing me but I will not tell anything to hurt Mr Harry and tell her and do
stand up as we all know that it's going to be hard on me and miss Mr Harry they don't know anything to hurt us that's
why they've taken me away from Logan so tell Mr Harry that I will die before I lie on him or Mr Mrs Robinson please
help me okay now I don't really think there's anything incriminating in that letter
personally I all he was saying was like I'm not going to lie and I would never do anything to hurt them and even him
saying like they don't know anything to hurt me that's why they that I I guess people could probably look at that and
be like does that mean there is something and they just don't know it but I take it as like there's nothing
I'm confident in the fact that they don't have anything that's how I take it I can't otherwise how could he be so
confident that they don't have something right if he if he did it exactly yeah I
guess it could be taken the other way it's very interesting you could speculate I guess but there's no there's
no smoking gun or confession in there to me that's how I felt yeah and as far as
Robertson and Steven's uh excuse me Stevenson's attorneys were concerned the letter hinted at some sort of scheme or
conspiracy conspiracy to Railroad these two men for a crime they didn't commit and they doubted the validity of the
letter validity of the letter in the first place oh okay that's interesting they basically were like I think maybe
this got made up somehow and the prosecution is going to use this against them but I I don't even really know how
they're going to again messy messy now defense attorney CL uh Estep told the court the state's case should be built
on substantial foundation on a St a substantial Foundation you will not get Justice by accusing the wrong man with
with the crime and a few days later after the arraignment Harry Robertson posted $10,000 bail and was released
from jail but Clarence Stevenson was unable to post the bond so he was remanded to his cell in Williamson so
now Harry's out but Clarence is still in jail when realistically at the beginning
of all this he was believed to be the accomplice I was just going to say he was not the not the main guy main guy
they were even going after in the first place and now they're treating it like he is the only guy oh just wait I don't
know about this it's horrible so while the investigation had moved surprising excuse me surprisingly swiftly from the
start there was a brief Lull in the case during July when investigators had to wait for the blood test to be completed
okay when the test results finally came back in Late July they did confirm that the blood found in Harry Robertson's car
I repeat in Harry Robertson's car and on Clarence Stevenson's clothes was human oh blood was also discovered on a
straight razor that had been found in the basement but according to the chemist who conducted the study the
stains on the razor quote were too faint to test accurately oh but if you have found blood in the car and blood on one
of their clothes I'm willing to bet the blood on the razor was human yeah yeah I
don't there's nothing in me that believes that's not human blood I'm not saying it's her blood but I'm just
saying it's human it I feel like that's human blood so in early September of 1932 the case had stalled and despite
the offer of $1,000 reward for any information that could lead to a conviction no new leads were turned up
and all the while Clarence is just sitting in a prison cell and for such a brutal crime to have like no leads into
just be holding this guy yeah damn it's nuts so the prosecutor made the decision
to take the case to the grand jury based entirely on circumstantial evidence cuz
they really didn't have an option and like you said they're wasting all this time and so one person's sitting in jail
another's out on Bond and this isn't really going anywhere absolutely so he kind of like between a rock and a hard
place was like let's do this yeah now Harry admitted to having an affair with M and Clarence admitted to his role in
helping facilitate the infidelity but once again they both denied any involvement with this murder as they
were headed to trial and after two months of heavy press coverage and rumors almost everyone in the county had
formed had formed an opinion on the case of course some felt that Harry was guilty While others some other people
found it hard to believe that somebody as smart as Harry would quote leave such an obvious trail of blood from his
basement to his sedan from the house to the mountain side I'm like I wouldn't be yeah look at how brutally she was
killed yeah exactly he could have been very angry and anger distract yeah exactly makes them do stupid things mhm
and now others thought the whole case seemed suspicious from the start of everything and the evidence was too
convenient almost like somebody was trying to frame Harry for the murder okay and then there were even some
people who believed that Harry's wife Louise had taken matters into her own hands and killed m in order to end the
affair huh so we're really speculating here we oh and we continue to wildly while opinions on who killed Mimi were
divided among the residents of Logan a majority of people felt that Harry was somehow involved yeah and they figured
that Clarence Stevenson's participation was in disposing of the body after it had after the murder had been committed
okay and that's how he got blood on his clothes that's what people were speculating in assuming and I kind of am
of that mindset yeah that doesn't seem totally out of the realm of possibility so because he's got blood on his clothes
yeah how do you explain that but what motivation does he have to murder M well that that's where my problem lies it's
like like do I think he didn't have that he was like totally removed from it and
no no I really don't like it seems like he's involved in some way shape or form but that could be totally On The Fringe
of it like how like you said which is not good you know I mean but I I think we should be looking for the person who
actually did it exctly and I don't I just don't see it yet CU like you said I don't know what the motivation is
exactly to do the actual deed right to help afterwards I get it I get what his motivation would have been but
I can't connect it with the other part yeah I think you and I are on the same page here now the grand jury reviewed
the evidence for several days before returning with the shocking decision not to indict Harry Robertson on any of the
58 felony charges he faced how I don't know how excuse me I do he's white now like like that's wild yeah he's white
his father remember his father was the sheriff I that yeah and he's got a great reputation in the community other I mean
aside from being damn uh you know stepping out on his wife uh yeah that so yeah faced he had faced 58 felony
charges and was not going to be indicted on any of them wow while Clarence Stevenson was indicted on several
charges no including one for the murder of M Thurman I don't where the [ __ ] is
the evidence of that [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] I don't know about that prosecutor Lloyd Hager was outraged
actually by the grand jury's decision and believing that Harry Robertson was the main actor in this case he vowed he
would not end the prosecutor's investigation of Robertson I mean he was like we're going
to continue let's go like looking for anything that can connect him to this yeah cuz how are you just letting it go
well and it's like there is no Clarence involvement without Harry I'm sorry there's just not no there is that's how
I feel and it's like we're going to indict one person connected to this other person
that that doesn't make any sense I feel like the real like the real big bad guy here to me seems like Harry me too but
me too I mean there's blood in this car I don't know something went down here and I'm not excusing what Clarence did
if if he is the one that you know disposed of her body and helped along with that I'm not excusing that but I am
just saying it's it's wrong to punish one person and not both people yeah that's that's the problem that I'm
having it's like let's get everybody exactly like why are we not trying to cast a big net here and get everybody
that's involved and I think a lot of it had to do with connections because remember Harry's a prominent guy in town
he actually got Jack Thurman basically his police job that's true so he's got a lot of influence yeah now and the
prosecutor felt the same as us like I just said he was like we're not going to stop until we figure out something to
pin him this on him but regardless of the prosecutor's beliefs Harry Robertson was allowed to walk free and Clarence
Stevenson's trial was set for early October wow unbelievable wow so Clarence Stevenson's trial began in Logan County
Circuit Court on October 10th 1932 before judge non Jackson Lloyd Hagen and assistant prosecuting attorney EMT
Scaggs acted on behalf of the state while Stevenson was rep represented by cep and Chester Chambers the defense
attorneys who had also represented him during the arraignment and the indictment okay the opening day of the
trial attracted more than a thousand people to the court damn most of those people packed themselves into the
courtroom to witness what was at the time the biggest case in Logan County History wow and outside additional
people waited to get in while Street vendors sold water fruit snacks this that and the other thing wow that's like
a circus it's like y'all we're here because a woman was brutally murdered that's the thing I'm like Dam we were
really like scraping the bottom of the barrel back then I understand being interested in court proceedings I would
never say that I wasn't cuz we are now but like there's a certain street vendor sell there's a certain decorum yeah in a
court I would say yeah yeah exactly I don't think you should be like selling hot dogs at a court case for a murdered
woman no me either I think we can all agree on that I think we can I think that's one thing we can all Stand
Together on that'd be great look we found it look at that united we all stand I think here we are yeah now the
prosecutor's original Theory had been that Harry Robertson murdered m in order to cover up their Affair and her affairs
with other local prominent men and he had Enlisted the help of Claren Stevenson to dispose of the body on
Trace Mountain yeah but when the grand jury failed to indict Robertson they were left with only one suspect and
forced to prosecute what was like we were just saying seemingly a mo a motiveless crime that's the thing I got
to know what the hell is going on here so instead of offering a motive the prosecutors just stuck to the evidence
occasionally implying that Clarence Stevenson may have acted in a misguided attempt to protect his
boss Harry okay I don't see it I mean but they were grasping at straw I was just
going to say I I guess in terms of grasping at straws that's a decent attempt yeah because you're going to
convince people some people of that I think that's the only thing they could have done I think that's like one of
those things that I could see people believing that partially so now on the first day of the of witness testimony
The Undertaker RB Harris and Dr WS Rowan took the stand and they explained to the
jury how the body was discovered and transported back to the Undertaker's office as well as describing the extent
of M's injuries her husband Jack was also called that day to testify and he was to tell the jury of his whereabouts
at the time that M had been killed and he gave a detailed account of his life with M he told the jury we were quote we
were always on good terms and almost never fought and his demeanor on the stand was of that of a man who was
genuinely grieving the judge actually had to ask him to speak up multiple times because he tended to speak softly
whenever he spoke of my oh that like breaks my heart he really did love her it sounds and have like this
is so messy oh yeah and to have your to have like the man she was having an affair with like be all involved in this
and like she was brutally murdered and it could have been the guy who she was having an affair with and it's like and
it could have been the guy she was having an affair with trying to help out other men that she may have been having
it's like and this poor guy's like grieving his wife and then having to deal with everybody knowing the sorted
details of their like that's sad I feel really bad having your dirty laundry aired like that during while trying to
grieve while trying to grieve exactly like horrific yeah I can't imagine like I was just gonna say and I just the fact
that the judge had to be like sorry can you speak up cuz he just like always spoke softly when he talked about her
it's just sad but the Final witness called that day was Fanny Jones she was a local black woman who was known to be
friendly with both M and Claren Stevenson and the prosecutor suggested that it was Fanny who had provided a
private room to M where she could meet with many suitors but Fanny vehemently denied that allegation okay now other
Witnesses called to testify included Troopers and investigators and a number of local citizens who claimed that they
had seen Clarence Stevenson in M's Company days before the murder okay and there were also Witnesses who claimed
they saw Clarence driving in the area where M's body was discovered not long before she was found okay now the most
important testimony ended up coming from Harry Robertson himself and he can get [ __ ] oh no in a moment that everybody
seemed to be waiting for Harry provided all the lur details of his relationship with M including that contrary to what
he had initially told investigators they had been carrying on this affair of theirs for two years he told the judge
he had seen he had last seen m in his home around 8:00 p.m. on the evening she was killed so he lied to them originally
oh we that's fine he said he hadn't seen her for I believe two days but now he's
saying he saw her the very night she was killed in his home Jesus he said after he saw around 8:00 p.m. that night he
left the house to take his children to the swimming pool what a doing father I was just going to say doting family man
he said the last time I saw that was the last time I saw her Stephenson was in my
house at the time you [ __ ] [ __ ] damn to just turn on this guy like that damn when he very well may have written
a letter to his sister being like help them protect them I would never lie on them wow and now Harry went on to
explain that when he returned home he noticed that his sedan was missing and it appeared as though Claren Stevenson
had stepped out holy [ __ ] he turned on him big time to save his own ass yeah like what a dick absolutely now even
Louise Robertson his wife was called to the stand and she told the jury that actually she and M had been close
friends until she quote had reason to believe she and my husband were intimate oh man this is so messy it is she said I
that she didn't have any proof of their Affair and nothing in particular had tipped her off she said it was just her
women's intuition that led her to believe that they had been unfaithful usually right yep now even after all of
that though Louise stood by her husband she confirmed his Alibi of taking the kids swimming and she said yep Clarence
did go out immediately after my husband left the house and upon cross-examination Louise confirmed that
her husband did own a gun a 38 caliber revolver which is exactly the gun that made me
been sounds familiar but when she was asked to confirm that she quickly added that when investigator searched the
house she overheard one of the officers say the pistol hadn't been fired wow uh objection here say yeah the
[ __ ] like I I overheard it like maybe okay yeah maybe not though no and gee how how convenient is that now the only
thing Louise failed to mention on the stand was the fact that she knew M had been concocting a scheme to drive a
wedge between her and her husband according to Clarence being stuck in the middle of their love triangle eventually
became too much for him to Bear especially after M confided in him that she intended to break up the Robertson's
marriage oh Clarence then told Louise of this plan just months before M was killed oh damn yeah so he took the stand
on October 14th and did his best to defend himself and explain the inconsistencies in his stories but he
was a black man in West Virginia sorry I've been saying we were in Kentucky we started in Kentucky we ended up in West
Virginia sorry about that so he's a black man in West Virginia who was accused of murdering a white woman his
defense was an uphill battle he spent to say the very least the very least there
aren't even words I don't think he spent nearly the entire day on the witness stand first answering questions from his
own attorne attorney excuse me Then followed by cross-examination from the prosecutor and during this questions uh
questioning Clarence told the jury about various vague and Anonymous threats that
he'd gotten since being taken into custody including one incident that involved intimidation and police
brutality can you believe it can you geez wow like this far back yeah still according to to Clarence he was in the
back of a state troopers car traveling up toward the top of Trace mountain when they heard gunshots near the vehicle and
Clarence claimed the trooper turned to him and said the shots were from the mob that was waiting at the top of the
mountain for him unless he told them what he knew they he said the police officer would throw him out to the Mob
who would almost certainly kill him my God now when the prosecutor asked how he responded in that moment Claren said if
I was making my dying dying statement it would be I don't know any more than I've
told wow like if I was on my deathbed right now I would tell you I've told you everything yeah now on October 14th
after closing arguments had been made the jury retired to their Chambers for deliberation and after reviewing the
evidence and testimony for less than an hour they returned with a verdict of guilty but quote recommended Mercy
thereby making it mandatory that he be given a he'd be given life imprisonment versus the death penalty wow so even
this jury knew that he hadn't acted alone and they were like we can't put this man to death over this y when we're
not doing anything to the other man who is almost most certainly involved absolutely now defense attorney Chester
Chambers immediately moved that the verdict be set aside and the judge granted this motion and that deferred
Clarence Stevenson Clarence Stevenson's sentence until arguments could be heard in the Circuit Court okay now the
sentencing hearing began on October 21st and during it several notes were found at at the courthouse that appeared to be
written by a concerned citizen the writer claimed to have witnessed M's murder and indicated that Clarence
Stevenson had nothing to do with the crime but other than that they didn't give much information now presented with
the letters both the prosecution and the defense actually agreed that they were probably fabricated in order to divert
attention from Clarence okay so they didn't present them to the judge oh I don't know about that decision making
but that's confusing it is a little confusing but on October 25th having no additional
information the judge listened to the arguments from both sides and then senten Clarence
Stevenson to life imprisonment for the murder of M Thurman now he and his lawyers appealed the conviction in
November of 1933 claiming among other things that the jury Commissioners failed to include any black jurors
solely because of their race wow they had admitted improper evidence and refused to admit proper evidence and
then there was a whole Myriad of other things that they had done wrong but the justices on the Supreme Court of Appeals
listen to both arguments and then rejected The Plea and upheld the lower Court's
verdict wow in their uh in their summary judgment they rejected nearly every Point made that made by the defense
writing we would not be warranted in reversing the Judgment for insufficiency of evidence under the circumstances
presented by the proof so convincing of guilt it's like what convinced you of the guilt going to say can you is the
guilt in the room with us right now like can you can you point to it there's it's
what's convincing about anything thing that they said yeah I don't know about this one this one is that's that's a
little shady it's all shady and we all know what it's rooted in cuz like I said it can I see him being somebody who
helped after the fact definitely but I don't see the murder I don't see the murder I don't see it at all or at least
they haven't convinced me no that's for sure no definitely not me but on their ruling Clarence was returned to West
Virginia Penitentiary uh Penitentiary excuse me to continue serving his sentence uh in 1939 he was transferred
to huttonville Correctional Center due to overcrowding and then in late 1941 after complaining of stomach pains for
months and months and months he was diagnosed with stomach cancer holy [ __ ] and he ended up passing away several
months later on April 24th 1942 God so he spent he did spend the rest of his life in prison for this wow now to many
residents in Logan County Clarence Stevenson was a scapegoat a very easy Target on which the terrible crime could
be pinned and then shut away in prison yeah that's what it seems like because if you took Harry Robertson out of the
equation like we've been saying this entire time there wasn't much evidence to say Clarence and M even knew each
other very well yeah had it not been for Harry they might not have ever spoken yeah it's like and now we're supposed to
believe that he just killed her out of nowhere out of literally nowhere but when it came to the real killer there
were several theories and they have been talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years okay the most obvious and
popular of the theories was that Harry murdered M after finding out that she kept a list of her ilicit affairs with
several prominent men to prevent her he killed her to prevent her from exposing their infidelities and ruining their
reputations okay and similarly some people actually believed that Harry's wife Louise had killed m
either because she learned of M's plan to break up the marriage or because she simply wanted to end the affair yeah I'm
not sure about that yeah that one this one's hard it's hard I don't know about that though yeah I'm not sure
to me I really do think two people were here for this I kind of think that too but then I but I don't know I mean it
could have been one person it absolutely like it's very much two yeah my initial
thought was there was two people because the gunshots the sliced throat that's the thing it feels really brutal which
again one person could absolutely do this especially especially because it's like
she was they think she was shot first mhm and then the sliced throat and the broken neck was done afterwards so it's
like yeah I guess one person could do that cuz all they would technically have to do to incapacitate her was shoot her
and then afterwards it's just do the stuff afterwards but also it's like why this the throat slash with one
person to me that's say that's like a personal thing it feels like that's what I thought too it's cuz he had already
killed her so why do that besides to make it worse and just because you're angry and I guess yeah so you know what
the more I think about it I think it kind of is one person yeah and then the other person just came the other person
was to help get rid of the evidence yeah yeah yeah I don't think it was Louise though
no no no that one doesn't check for me but another popular theory was that M had been killed by an organized crime
group in order to prevent her from exposing their liquor operations in the area because remember prohibition okay
and throughout the I'm I'm not saying that I don't see this I could yeah personally I think Harry had something
to do with it though throughout the investigation and trial it became clear that M was a well organized
opportunistic woman who had been keeping notes and ga Gathering evidence that she
thought might be useful to her in the future and as a regular patron of the Amore Club it was likely that she had
been intimately familiar with men responsible for the illegal gambling the prostitution quote unquote and the
liquor coming in and out of Logan County okay so some believed that if she had been discovered to pose a threat to the
organized criminal operation behind those illicit activities she would have been killed in order to prevent her from
going to the police this one makes the most sense to me and as a support for this Theory some
Believers pointed to the execution style method of killing used in the murder that's that's what's striking to me is
the the methods used here feel strange to mehm this makes the most sense and you
were saying like I think earlier you were saying with all the different motives it seems like they were trying
or all the different umth methods excuse me they were trying to confuse the police yeah that seems like has
organized crime all over it it does and maybe I mean Harry's dad was a sheriff you know sometimes they can be crooked
and he was involved in all the same things that M was maybe he was connected to these people and had I mean the fact
that all the stuff was found in his car in his basement leads me to believe that
he had some involvement in this yeah and remember she lived above his she lived above his garage in an apartment true so
I could see this organized thing being part of it part of a puzzle but I still think Harry has a piece in that puzzle
because it's like the human blood well we can't tell that it's human blood on the straight razor technically
we don't have that confirmation but there is human blood in his car and there's human blood on clar St says
clothes clothes do we know that it's MES without any doubt no no cuz it was like the late
20s but we know it was human so whose blood is all over your clothes exactly and whose blood is all over your car mhm
because if it's not M then like who the [ __ ] is it who's is it right who else did you hurt yeah so yeah I feel like
they it had to be an involvement somehow I think so but the organized crime thing
really makes the most sense it does make a lot of sense logistically now other residents around Logan have their own
theories most having to do with M being killed in order to protect the reputation of Harry and the elite
citizens that moved in M Circle okay but regardless of who was responsible for her death these days the memories of M
Thurman Harry Robertson and Claren Stevenson have been all but forgotten by the residents of Logan count uh County
but there are some people who believe a part of M Still Remains oh according to local Legend if you drive out to Road 22
near the spot where M's body was left nearly a century ago you might catch a glimpse of her ghost wandering along the
roadway they say oh [ __ ] we have a ghost I know and there are also people who claim that if you leave your car in
neutral while you're sitting on this road you might even find an unseen presence pushing the vehicle uphill I
always love those and some people believe that is the evidence of the enduring Spirit of Mimi Thurman she's
just helping you out yeah good Mimi it's worth mentioning that uh writer Joyce Robertson actually wrote a screenplay
about the last few months of M's life oh wow and it was performed at the local high school but then it was performed
even after that and I'd be really interested to see it yeah that would be really interesting it sounds really good
like just knowing the cool chick that she was and like all the wild things she got up too exactly like she was a really
cool chick she was and I she was like so ahead of her time yeah she was just so sad that she died so young yeah and just
it's also really sad that one person went to prison for it and that it's the person you're like who ises of it the
least connected to it yeah and the fact that Harry Robertson just got to go about about the rest of his life yeah I
don't know about that I don't know about any of that but that is the tragic case
of M Thurman wow it makes me so mad that you don't we don't have like full answers I know that like cuz at the end
there really leaves it open to interpretation and it's like and the interpretation just leads to so many
more questions more questions that's the thing like you think you get it and then
you're like wait but this right cuz you thought we thought we had totally got it
and then we get to the organized crime part and you're like and you're like well [ __ ] that makes
no matter what it's just so tragic it is poor M it is and poor Jack yeah I don't
think he was involved in it in any way I don't think so either I was leading you
astray before yeah you were you're welcome thanks but as always we hope that you keep listening and we hope you
keep it weird but not so weird that not so weird that your fire alarm goes off at 3:00 a.m. yeah don't that
[Music] weird [Music]

On June 22, 1932, a boy picking blackberries in rural Logan, West Virginia made a hideous discovery when he happened upon the dead and brutalized body of local woman, Mamie Thurman. At first glance, Mamie’s murder resembled a gangland-style execution; she had been shot twice in the head and her throat had been slit from one side to the other, as though whoever killed her wanted to make sure she didn’t survive. The murder shocked the small town of Logan. Mamie was well-known around town as a devoted wife to her husband, Jack, a local police officer, and a good Christian who was actively involved in her church and community organizations. Yet as news of the murder spread, so too did rumors of Mamie’s infidelity and poor moral character. Ultimately, local Black handyman Charles Stephenson was arrested, tried, and convicted in a sensational trial that made national headlines. Yet many felt that conviction was obtained on questionable evidence and, in retrospect, largely the result of racial bias. Was Mamie Thurman really just an unfortunate victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was there a more personal element? Indeed, evidence suggests there was more going on in the case of Mamie’s death than a simple murder and that a number of powerful men conspired to cover up the true motive for Mamie’s death, allowing the true killer to walk free. Thank you to the wonderful David White, of the Bring Me the Axe pod, for research assistance

References Charleston Daily Mail. 1932. "Negro was at killing scene." Charleston Daily Mail, June 27: 1. —. 1932. "Pair guarded in Logan case." Charleston Daily Mail, June 26: 1. —. 1932. "Tests show blood in Logan official's car." Charleston Daily Mail, July 28: 1. —. 1932. "Two men accused of Logan murder." Charleston Daily Mail, June 23: 1. —. 1932. "Two more questioned in Logan murder case." Charleston Daily Mail, June 24: 1. Davis, F. Keith. 2021. Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman. Charleston, WV: Quarrier Press. Hinton Daily News. 1932. "Large crowd at hearing of Logan men." Hinton Daily News, June 25: 1. State of West Virginia vs. Clarence Stevenson. 1933. 172 S.E. 533; 7621 (Supreme Court of West Virginia, December 16).

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

M Thurman's vibrant life and brutal murder reveal a tangled web of affairs and societal pressures in 1930s West Virginia.

Key points

A Night of Chaos. Elena recounts a chaotic night when her smoke detectors went off repeatedly, causing panic among her family.
Mimi Thurman's Bold Life. Mimi Thurman, a woman ahead of her time, embraced fashion and the jazz culture of her era.
Mimi's Complex Relationships. Mimi's life was filled with contradictions, being both a devoted wife and involved in extramarital affairs.
The Amore Club's Secret Life. A local social club known for its questionable reputation during prohibition.
The Discovery of M's Body. Garland Davis finds a brutally beaten body in the woods, leading to a police investigation.
Clarence Stevenson Testifies. Clarence's testimony contradicts previous statements, raising suspicion.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Shout out to the Tooth Fairy!

Mentioning the Tooth Fairy's hard work amidst the chaos.

4:20WatchNov 21, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Morbid | Podcast

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.