The Murder Of Jack Wilson | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elina and this is morit [Music] honey this is morbit honey it's morbit
honey baby Sweetie po it's small bed honey and if you hear of I don't know if you will I don't think you will but I'm
just hedging my bets here I'm covering my bases I'm covering my butt if you hear a lawn mower in the background it's
not my lawn mower if you hear a lawn mower no you no you don't it's one of my neighbors is having their lawn done and
it's loud it's loud but we're trying we tried to wait till they were further away so yeah hopefully they don't come
back around these pots again yeah I don't feel like you're going to hear it but again just covering all my bases you
know I don't know if you're going to hear it I don't know your life I don't know your life I don't know how good
your hearing is okay I don't know oh my God we're like silly goofy cuz it's the end of the week and the end
we a little bit tired I feel very like is that a plane I think [ __ ] okay so now
my neighbors Mo their lawn and planes are flying in the sky planes are flying can we have a moment of peace and quiet
around never Jesus never that was a loud [ __ ] plane though that was loud he was like I was like going to stay in the
sky I don't like that you good in the sky you staying up there I recommend it all right well with all that silly
goofy out of the way I do have a case that is uh incredibly tragic cuz this is morbid yeah it's a wild one though it's
a distressing one it's a distressing one I saw an episode of Forensic Files and I
said doing it well there you go doing it and then good enough for Forensic Files
it's good enough for me I was raised on that program that's right literally um but then Dave really helped me get a lot
more information so Dave we beefed up this case we love a Dave moment we love Dave we love his podcast bring me the
axe yeah go check other podcast 99 cent rental yeah I mean look how good he is helping us out so he's got podcasts on
podcasts on podcasts he's so good he's a brilliant mind that man I don't really know I think I'm in a place of old timey
right now this is not super old you know that's that's where I live yeah you you
brought me into that neck of the woods I was just researching like a bunch of old
cases so I feel like I'm just talking like this now you're talking with a Transatlantic accent shouldn't we all
just go away I would love that I know I feel like that's where I live I hey I'm for it I'll never tell you to stop I'm
just hey baby that's it I don't know nailed it I don't know I'm literally so tired been a
long week it's it has but let's focus on this cuz this is a a gnarly very sad story T yeah and it all starts with a
woman named Betty Wilson so Betty Wilson was born in I believe it's called Gadson
Alabama on July 14th 1945 she was one of four girls born to Oscar and Nell Woods
uh Oscar was a police officer and Nell worked at a factory okay friends and family would later remember the woods
family as quote unquote poor but Betty described the family as typical lower middle class so okay just kind of
depends who you asked but they were in a family that had a ton and at a time when
most of the rural South was transitioning from wartime production causing massive layoffs Oscar's job as a
police officer actually kept the family afloat so w it was good that he had that
position and what also helped was like many police officers at the time Oscar supplemented his income by accepting
bribes from local Bootleggers Union Busters and gambling operations you know yeah just just things like not good
things but just side hustles kept food on the table you know it's hustle culture it is it's not the best but they
had four kids that's what he did yeah it's not honest money but it's money so in the early years the woods home life
was uh it was this is It's dysfunctional it's very sad oh no they had a disruptive and a pretty dysfunctional
life because in addition to Oscar's involvement in illegal activities he was also a heavy drinker and he also carried
on multiple extramarital affairs with other women saw that coming like multiple women yeah according to Author
Jim shz shs I believe during the day while he made his rounds Oscar drank he drank with his women he drank at the
illegal establishments he helped protect he drank in the police car by the time he came home at the end of the day his
condition was somewhere between fairly drunk and stinking ew yeah so he was just shitfaced at all times oh with four
Young children yeah like come on so while that obviously made for a quite a challenging home life Betty recalled
mother made up so completely for Daddy's absences and drunks that we never felt any lack of Love or attention oh man so
right yeah Nell was just out here making sure that just being both parents literally being both parents and making
sure that these girls didn't feel or any of these kids like felt any kind of wow
n like abandonment from their dad n's an MVP truly that's a parent right there that's a parent and a half yeah so while
her husband was off drinking cheating gambling any of that kind of thing Nell devoted all of her time and attention to
her children and by the time Betty and her twin sister Peggy came along the couple's other daughters I think it's
jidel is one of their names and Martha they were eight and 10 years old so they were kind of establishing their
independence like they could like get their food together get dressed on their own that kind of thing yeah so Nell
shifted did more of her Focus onto her twins Peggy and Betty She lavished them with all kinds of attention praise any
Penny she earned she spent on her youngest daughters oh Nell Wood's life had not been easy and it never would be
but by devoting all of her energy to shielding her children from their father's drunken abusive wrath she
managed to actually show them a life of comfort and love was possible even when the circumstances weren't ideal so she
really was like she went above and beyond and she was a pretty good role model to be like this could be your and
obviously it wasn't as easy to divorce back then and she wouldn't have likely she wouldn't have been able to support
four daughters on her own so she was like I have to stay with your dad but he's a [ __ ] [ __ ] so let me do my
best that I absolutely can so that you can have a better life exactly going forward exactly so by the time she
reached High School Betty had developed a strong and somewhat theatrical personality all her years performing in
the school plays and speaking in church had actually made her really comfortable
in front of an audience but she actually preferred to spend most of her time by herself she was a little bit of a
Wallflower in that regard a little bit of a loner yeah but Peggy her sister her twin sister was a lot more gregarious
and Peggy would drag Betty into social situations okay so Betty said like she probably in high school at least
wouldn't have had as many friends or time spent going to social outings had it not been for Peggy yeah so it's like
they credit each other yeah they do but while Betty was shy and bookish in most public settings she had considerably
fewer reservations when it came to boys she really liked boys she liked it to boys shuts wrote there was a devilish
streak in her that enabled her to do things Peggy would have never dreamed of doing skipping school coming home late
in Cars with Boys who had been drinking so so she was she was going for it and it's funny cuz it's like I think to
Peggy she's like oh wow like my sister Betty was so shy and I had to bring her out to introduce her to these people and
Betty's like yeah I'm shy but like if I'm hanging out with somebody I think is handsome let's [ __ ] go baby which
like it's cool for now oh yeah oh so because I don't know this story I almost said this show I don't know this I don't
know the show well you will so when she graduated from high school Betty married
her High School boyfriend and the couple had three boys in very quick succession
but it didn't take long before their marriage started to fall apart Betty said my husband was a good man but we
both knew we'd gotten married too young uh the truth was a little bit more complicated than that that sure that was
part of it like they were very s like a nice yeah that was that was really chocking it all up to like one thing
yeah by all accounts Betty's first husband was said to be a good man that's that's the truth but he also believed in
very specific gender roles and he wanted to be very much in charge of what his wife did what she wore and where she
went was his name uh what's what's that guy's name Harrison oh the kicker what's his last name yeah
the kicker the kicker was he the kicker yeah his word last name isn't even wor he's that guy reincarnated honestly it
kind of sounds like that and the thing was for somebody as spirited as Betty like we know she likes to go out and
have a good time yeah the idea of having somebody control every aspect of her life was just not something she was
going to drive with it was mean nobody should control any aspect of your life you control your life and it was also
the dawn of the 1970s so it went hand in hand with the woman's liberation movement and things were changing and
women were realizing like [ __ ] this I don't have to listen to this guy times they were a changeing and Betty wanted
to change with them so recognizing that things weren't working out they did end up getting divorced and Betty's husband
agreed to keep custody of the children until she got settled because she was moving to Huntsville Alabama okay so he
was like I'll keep the boys you get settled in Huntsville and then like Cody exactly um but now freed from the
responsibilities of a children and a h of a children of a Children of Children and a husband Betty wasted no time
establishing her new life in Huntsville initially her plan was to get settled find work and then send for her children
got it makes sense totally in some capacity y but instead she worked two or three low-wage jobs and spent all of her
money on clothes drugs and partying and essentially completely abandoned those children for quite some time wow what an
[ __ ] move yes during the day she worked at the local J C Penney department store and at night she worked
the desk at a local Health Club a job that not only helped her pay the bills but also provided opportunities to meet
other young single people she later said I've heard the stories and read the books about me that talked about the
wild partying the drugs and the heavy drinking that that went on there some of it was true and I make no apologies for
it I make no apologies for abandoning my children yeah to party okay got it totally got it girl
okay I understand like women's Liber ation 70s like yeah you don't want to sit around having your husband tell you
what to do but you two collectively made the decision to bring three lives into the world children and you both owe
those children equal love attention and Care AB it's not about you anymore it's just not when you have kids that's just
accept it that's the way it is it's not about you anymore like you're not the main the primary like you don't you
don't get to party anymore sorry yeah you gave that up exactly like you can be a full full human being while being a
parent absolutely but you you can't but you don't get to prioritize your self anymore exactly you don't get to
prioritize like frivolous [ __ ] like partying and not come like and especially just like straight up
abandoning your kids like yeah and just like doing drugs and drinking like obviously go get your haircut and have
some U time like that's necessary for like a healthy normal relationship with everyone in your life but like don't
just never see your [ __ ] kids again and be like I'm going to go to the bar yeah like that's that's crazy and I
think we're like we're obviously like overe explaining because like you know you know how it is you know how it is
but that's [ __ ] it just situation I'm not going to ere explain it it's [ __ ] in my opinion well it continues to get
more [ __ ] yeah so [ __ ] that [ __ ] so [ __ ] and Betty never did send for her
children instead she spent the first few years of the 1970s working she worked a
few jobs at a time she dated around and she just enjoyed the freedom that she felt she never had yeah she's childless
now so yeah exactly look at that now a few years after arriving in Huntsville a Woman Betty met at the health club
recommended that she apply for a job at the newly built um I think it's human Hospital the woman told her you're too
smart and pretty to spend your life doing this like working at the health club and she suggested Betty could use
her as a reference since her husband was one of the investors who funded the development of the hospital so the
reference worked and Betty did land a job at the hospital as a secretary a unit secretary she recalled from the
first from the very first day I loved it I could hardly wait to get to work every
morning which it's like cool it's wild that you can like dedicate yourself to a job but not three beings who lived
inside of you that you created like whoa that's cucko nuts that's interesting I think eventually and I it's not like the
main focus here I think eventually she does end up reconnecting with her children but okay she didn't raise them
it doesn't sound like that's their business exactly none of my business but just to throw that out there I they did
reconnect at some and and hey I'm glad and I think I hope it all worked out I think she was part of like her
grandchildren's life for a period of time okay which could be a good thing or a bad again I do not know the story at
all so I'm speaking from total ignorance here of what happens next oh you just wait so the more Betty became involved
with the patients the more it occurred to her that working in healthare and specifically like one-on-one with
patients was exactly what she wanted to do with her life so within the 3 years of starting as a secretary she had
completed the nursing program at the University of Alabama and soon she was hired as a dialysis nurse wow so I mean
that's a big accomplishment and it was through her work at the hospital that she came to meet Jack Wilson in
1976 he was a newly practicing and noticeably nervous optomologist or op is it opthamologist or op I always say
optomologist me too but then you you think of like aesthetic yes and it's like and you spelled athetic it's
aesthetic aesthetic and it's like oologist actually yeah it might be that now that I'm let's Google it so quack so
quack so quack we we'll Google it so quack so quack Opthomologist it feels like that makes sense yeah I agree but
I've always said optomologist but what I've learned especially through this podcast is that I've been saying things
wrong a lot for my life exactly exactly Opthomologist Opthomologist see oh my God it's opthamologist no it's not
opthamologist opthamologist no that I don't buy I won't I will not subscribe to that I'll
subscribe to opthamologist but I will not subscribe to opthamologist I won't do that sounds like a rap song literally
I won't sound opthalmologist opthalmologist I feel like my brain is breaking no I'll I'll accept
opthalmologist but I'm not I'll say I'll continue saying it wrong he was a doctor
who specialized in eye care and health boom there you go got around it opthalmologist there it is stop saying
it please op theologist never it's losing all meaning so she met she met Jack Wilson a a doctor specializing in
Eye Care uh and health and he was performing surgery this is when they met he was performing surgery on an elderly
patient and complications actually like arose in the middle of this surgery it was like a medication allergy that the
patient had so the patient had to be rushed to the dialysis Ward to be treated for renal failure oh wow now
Betty became increasingly frustrated as Jack nervously paced around the room worrying and repeatedly asking her if
the elderly woman was going to be okay cuz I this is his patient and he's a new doctor he's like I don't need a mouth
practice suit right off the bat yeah but so Betty was like Jesus Christ like can
you just let me work on this like you're pissing me off but despite her annoyance
she also couldn't help but find what she described as the small anxious man and somewhat endearing she later said he
reminded me of a little boy with an impish smile on his face all the time with an impish smile yeah adorable he
just sounds very like he sounds very unassuming yeah unassuming sweet non-threatening very
Nonet little nervous yeah little type very type you know we don't hate it yeah no we don't hate it at all we don't hate
that you know now let's talk about Jack let's talk about him okay well like Betty Jack had been raised under
different ult circumstances his circumstances are just as heartbreaking oh that's sad he was born in 1937 to a
single mother who lacked the means to raise her children so he ended up being raised by wera and Bill Wilson I don't
know if it was like a traditional adoption story or if it was like uh we know like his mom knew these people but
they ended up becoming his adoptive parents for all intents and purposes so he was raised by wera and Bill Wilson
okay now just as one of Betty's parents had been a pretty hard and cool person wera Wilson lacked the warmth and
affection that you know is stereotypically characteristic of mothers uh and she just constantly
reminded Jack that his mother had abandoned him his real mother W and this is awful but she would tell him she's a
[ __ ] she walks the streets of Los Angeles wow like a little boy oh and then like all the way throughout his
life she would just tell him like that's awful your mom's like a [ __ ] oh my God
can you imagine just looking out like boy a child that you took in yeah to like protect yeah however if Jack's I
don't even want to call her a maternal figure cuz she's not but what was supposed to be a maternal figure if she
was cold and mean which she was his father bill was the complete opposite Bill Wilson worked as a line cook in a
restaurant and spent all day on his feet often returning home completely exhausted burned out from a long day if
you've worked in a kitchen cook you know but no matter how tired he was he always
made time for Jack and was always over the moon excited to be with him Bill Bill Bill's a real bill bill bill bill
but just as Betty had longed to get out of her small town Jack spent his days dreaming of a life somewhere other than
where he lived and he was raised in Chicago fortunately he had always been very very like incredibly intelligent
which along with the determination and motivation instilled in him by his father Bill actually got him early
admission to Accidental college so during the day he worked just like a regular old job to help support his
family and at night he studied relentlessly for his classes now after they ended up getting married because
they do get married Jack told Betty he studied and worked hard and worked so hard then because he quote wanted to be
somebody because he wanted to make money because he wanted to be respected I mean
good for you man he just got Drive yeah and he went through it so he's like you know what what I wanted to become
someone exactly no matter where I came from right but he also studied because he was fascinated by the material and
the subjects he felt the idea that a person could suffer from a theoretically correctable vision problem he felt like
that was really frustrating so he became completely determined to find cures for
common Vision impairments that's badass he's just like a a good person who's completely driven and just like wants to
make a difference and he was in it for the right reasons like obviously everybody wants to like you know be
successful be respected like make money to support your family all that stuff and it's like but he's also in CU he's
like I want to help people yeah he's like I want to help people's Vision issues yeah like I'm frustrated that
people have to deal with this and if there's something I can do to help let me learn how to do it like yeah exactly
I just really like him he sounds like a really nice guy so that drive eventually
took Jack to Memphis where he studied for his Doctorate at the University of Tennessee and it was there that he met
his first wife Julia Jack and Julia's marriage was pretty normal they lived a quiet life they had two sons together
and they actually eventually adopted a third son so he as an adopted person was like I want to adopt a child yeah I want
to like pay it forward yeah however as like ordinary as their marriage was it was marked by periods of upset and Julia
became more and more frustrated by Jack's almost pathological commitment to his work and the ways in which it kept
him from his family so by 1976 The Strain on the relationship was just too much to bear and Julia ended end up
leaving Jack with a plan to work things out through a trial separation but she was like something's got to change
because we have this awesome family and like I do love you I know you love me you're a good dad but you're exactly
you're great when you're here but you're not here a lot so at first Jack was actually shocked when Julia left and I
think I wonder if he was just because like we know people like this that you are so dedicated to your work that you
don't even realize that things are falling apart around you exctly successful where you're focusing right
exactly so at first he was like what but the more he thought about it the more it
occurred to him that having never had a normal stable life he didn't really know
how to build one with another person he didn't know that like he didn't know what that looked like yeah of course he
wasn't taught that yeah but despite the challenges Jack spent over a year trying
to rebuild his relationship with Julia until he met Betty from the moment they met Jack was immediately drawn to Betty
unlike the more traditional southern women he was pretty much accustomed to at that point I mean we know but he was
very strong independent and she did not seem interested in deferring to men certainly not no their meeting also
helped Jack understand that his marriage to Julia really was truly over like there wasn't a lot of Hope there yeah
there was nothing that they could Salvage no it didn't seem like it so they divorced soon after but they
actually were lucky enough to remain friends with each other oh that's good yeah and I feel like that so speaks to
who they both were yeah that they clearly loved each other it just yeah exactly but to Betty and Jack Betty
recalled Looking Back Jack and I never really dated so it was more like they kind of just like met each other and
then just like it just happened it just kind of happened on its own yeah they became friendly enough through their
work at the hospital and on their second date Jack said if we're going to spend the rest of our lives together he may as
well move in with me I was like okay like all right then so about a year after Jack moved in because I think they
just kind of like moved in with each other very quick yeah Betty got offered a job with a
company in Atlanta which Jack encouraged her to take he was like go for it yeah the distance was hard but they were
determined to make their relationship work so they stayed in touch through long-distance phone calls and visits
whenever possible but that all came to an end in 1978 now at this point they've only been together like two years
because in 1978 Jack who had suffered from Crohn's disease his entire life he needed to get surgery to actually remove
part of his lower intestine that's tough yeah Betty said there was never any doubt as to what I would do I quit my
job gave up my apartment and moved back to Huntsville to be with Jack and I'm just like does he know that you have
three kids that you just abandoned yeah I don't know if at this point she like became I'm not entirely sure at which
point she became she became reconnected because like I said she does eventually and like she she talks about grandkids
so so I don't know who knows but I'm like inter interesting that you would like there was never any question there
as to what you would do but it's like but you were so quick to just kind of and I wonder if I feel like there there
is some kind of psychology to the relationship that she has with Jack because she herself said like she sees
him as like a not like a little boy but remember she said like she saw him very unassuming very like innocent almost
like wounded bird kind of thing you know so maybe it is like and she said she almost is mothering a little bit or
nurturing with him I should say you know and I wonder if she said like to herself
you know like I didn't go back when I should have and like is this life make up for it yeah like is this is this my
second chance to like be there for somebody maybe I don't know maybe but the surgery prompted Betty to take the
relationship more serious and a short time after Jack's recovery the two were married to the outside world their
marriage was the type that most couples aspire to they were wealthy successful they actually really seemed
to enjoy one another company and that's nice it is in a 1996 interview Betty said we were happy and satisfied with
each other he met every need that I or my children or my grandchildren had so there you go so at some point he became
involved in their lives too but despite what others saw in Betty in Jack's relationship or how Betty described it
after Jack's death the truth was that there had been tension involved in the marriage too for quite some time Betty
had been Charmed by Jack from the moment they met like I said but while she found
many things about him endearing the fact was that they were very different people
and that can either work like swimmingly yes or it can become the biggest issue exactly now Jack was incredibly and to
be frank almost obsessively dedicated to his work he was yeah that's what it sounds like very like work first and
often that came at the expense of other parts of his life as we see from his previous marriage un and I think it's
something he tried to work on like think it's something that he completely ignored or anything like that but I
think that might have just been who he was that was part of his personality but bety she was driven and she worked but
she also always made time for a social life yeah she sounds like she did yes and Jack also wasn't materialistic in
his professional or personal life and he really went out of his way to help others well he sounds so nice he really
does he sounds like a good guy but Betty was far more money and things oriented like she she was kind of materialistic
yeah which is not necessarily a bad thing but it does become a bad thing here and it can be a budding heads thing
yes and so those were all the kind of like smaller things that they were butting heads about but the greatest
point of contention in their relationship was their intimate life and I'm going to try to talk about it as
delicately as possible but it is a huge part of this case okay so since leaving her first husband and moving to
Huntsville so many years earlier Betty had fully Embrace that sexual Liberation that helped Define the 70s and ' 80s but
Jack on the other hand he was very very shy when it came to the subject he didn't like to openly talk about
intimacy okay if they were going to have a conversation that was even like remotely sexual in nature Betty would
have been the one to initiate that conversation so for Betty she felt like this this was almost an awkward
adolescent attitude toward toward intimacy and she found it very frustrating okay and things got worse
once Jack had that operation to treat his Crohn's because it resulted in him requiring an ostomy bag now for Jack who
was shy to begin with the ostomy bag made everything a lot more complicated oh that breaks my heart which you can
understand that breaks my heart I know I agree now the physical reality of the bag itself quote made him even more
painfully self-conscious than before which oh that like really breaks my heart he just seems like a good person
and it's such it's out of your control like you did completely controls it does and the subsequent surgeries and
medications caused various problems when it came to sexual functioning okay so it
was also just a it became a physical yeah of course reality reality exactly thank you now Betty too struggled to
adjust to the postsurgery lifestyle and confided to friends and this is just a [ __ ] thing to say I'm just going to put
that right out there it's a [ __ ] thing to say she convited to friends that she
found the ostomy bag to be repulsive that's [ __ ] [ __ ] up I'm sorry that's [ __ ] up to tell you talk
to your friends and say that because if you love somebody you get past it yeah you just yeah you figure out a way to
move past it because sorry but like I could never find any one part of my husband to be repulsive no I was just
thinking that I was like No And especially something that he be control for him and that like needed to happen
to make him his life better yeah painful physically but also painful emotionally
like he's having a hard time coming to grips with it your job as a wife and as a and
I'm not saying like I as a w a saying like as his wife and like his loved one is to support him yeah you guys are a
team like you build each other up it's supposed to be teamwork man teamwork isn't saying that the other one is gross
because of something completely out of their control I not teamor I don't get it personally yeah and that's just
really mean to say it is really mean to say to like gossip with your friends about your husband's saying like that
bag that has to have because he had part of his intestines removed because he's been in severe pain for years it's
repulsive also as a nurse to say that's the other thing I'm like I'm like well sh [ __ ] like Cool Betty we love a
supportive partner a supportive Queen but the thing was Betty had relied on her desirability to prop up her
self-esteem for most of her life so being romantically intimate was something that she pretty much required
in order to feel valuable mhm which that sure I understand that to a degree like
you want to be wanted but rather than adapt to their new circumstances or come up with any alternative way of
expressing desire for one another the problem festered yeah and each of them found unproductive and harmful ways of
dealing with stress and the emotional pain of the situation like they were going to go to therapy together and
figure out you know some like sex therapist and see if they can no you know make this work some other way still
the 70s yeah exactly so Jack retreated in to himself often getting lost in work which that's it seems like that's just
his Mo you know all he knows that's what he knows while Betty all she knew was heavily drinking and spending most of
her time away from her husband years later when Betty was on trial so it's fine that I called her a [ __ ] oh the
prosecutor would make a big deal of this dysfunction pointing to it as one of the
driving forces for murder oh but Betty always denied that she and Jack's intimate life was part of the problem
she said like all marriages ours had its problems but strangely enough none of them had to do with sex Jack and I were
both grown people who believed that what we did in our bedroom was our business as long as both of us agreed yes I had
affairs but I never cheated and neither did Jack but and here's the thing so Betty's like I never cheated I I had
affairs but I didn't cheat and it's like that's an oxymoron yeah like what like that doesn't make sense to most people
no if I mean I would assume assume that if you have an open relationship you wouldn't consider your other
relationships and Affairs yeah right maybe I'm wrong I don't know I don't know it's like I don't know how that
works I don't either and I don't think Jack knew how that worked either yeah so it doesn't sound that way yeah because
whether or not Jack was fully on board with their having an open relationship is very unclear but at the very least he
did know that Betty was having relationships with other men and typically just looked the other way and
his his acceptance of her extramarital Affairs just wasn't sufficient for Betty she still wanted him to want to be with
her even though he couldn't physically fulfill that desire it's not that he didn't want to be with her he was he was
like I can't in the way you want me to be this different like that we have a different reality exactly so even after
she joined AA and stopped drinking she and even after she managed to find satisfaction with other relationships
Betty continued to resent Jack for what she felt like was a complete desertion of his responsibilities as her husband
wow At first she kept those frustrations to herself but in time she couldn't contain it anymore and she would
complain about her marriage to literally any soul that was going to even remotely
listen like anybody so naturally those closest to her were like hey have you thought about a divorce cuz it doesn't
really sound like either of you are in this anymore yeah but Betty would always flatly reject the idea saying she wasn't
willing to give up her lifestyle I knew that was coming or her role as the wife of a successful doctor everything was
just smokeing mirrors at that point of course so at the end of the as the end of the 1990s dawned not only had Betty's
relationship all but Fallen apart other aspects of her life were crumbling as well after years of regular part
participation in AA a place where she actually had found solace in community several of the other members of the
group had become concerned about Betty's Presence at the meetings among other things in the meetings she had been
particularly vocal about her marital problems and kind of like flashed the fact that she was having affairs with
other men and a lot of other people in the group found that triggering or kind of viewed it as an indication of her
relapse in sobriety so whatever the reasons there was enough of a concern over Betty's
behavior that the majority felt it best that she find another AA group they were
like you can't sit like how often does that happen I wonder I don't know to be honest with you that's wild but I I
guess you can kind of understand why they would find that Behavior triggering absolutely cuz it seems a little
reckless it does I mean it's which I'm sure re would feel very like this is what I'm trying to get away from like
this kind of Reckless attitude and L Fair attitude to Reckless Behavior yes you know exactly and like that's
something that people who are in recovery can't really be around and don't need exactly so she got kicked out
of her AA group and around the same time several of her own friends were experiencing similar frustrations cuz it
would be strange yeah to have somebody be like flaunting that like I feel like it would it would make me a little
uncomfortable cuz I'd be like I can't relate to you like I don't know well not only that but it's just like you just
complain about your husband all the time and like everyone's giving you a like you don't want to be with this man so
don't be with this man yeah you can't just cite I want to be rich still because here's the thing like obviously
we cover cases where it's like I don't want to be with this man but it's dangerous to get away from man this is
not one of those cases she could have he would have been like okay this is just you don't want to give up the lifestyle
exactly for years she'd been relying on friends of hers and Friends of like hers
and Jacks to give cover stories to jack on nights that she would be out with other men and they were done with it
According to Jim schz they felt the behavior had become increasingly wrong morally and destructive yeah it kind of
seems that way it does so with her word world just falling apart around her and her strongest support systems abandoning
her Betty decided that she needed to take fastic action quickly or she was just going to lose everything she had
all that wealth all that privilege that she' grown accustomed to I just want to warn you this murder the murder part of
this is very brutal so a little before 5:00 p.m. on the evening of May 22nd 1992 Jack arrived home from the office
and pulled his car into the driveway just as he did every other afternoon a few minutes later neighbor saw him come
outside onto the front lawn where he used an aluminum baseball bat to drive a campaign sign for a local politician
into the ground and then he went inside okay that was the last activity anybody noticed at the Wilson house until Betty
arrived home from an AA meeting I think she found another one a little after 900
p.m. the same night Betty couldn't have been in the house more than a minute when she came running out of the front
door and started pounding on the door of a neighbor as far as the neighbor could
tell something had happened to Jack and Betty needed to call 911 so on the phone
with the dispatcher Betty explained that she just gotten back home and she went up stairs to found her husband's badly
beaten body lying on the floor in the hallway just outside their bedroom so officers arrived at the house a few
minutes later and secured the scene finding Jack just as Betty had described him he was on the floor in the hallway
in a lying in a large pool of blood somebody had murdered him that was very obvious but more than that they had
brutalized this man his skull had been crushed in several places presumably with the aluminum bath that was laying
beside him there were also crushing wounds to his hands his legs his arms and his collar bone oh in addition to
the crushing injuries he had been stabbed twice in the stomach holy [ __ ] and there was Heavy bruising around his
neck making it appear that somebody in addition to all of this had also tried to choke him what the [ __ ] Overkill to
the highest degree oh my God a few days later when the autopsy was completed the
pathologist would identify the cause of death as any one of the nine blunt force
injuries to Jack wow but if that hadn't done it he most likely would have bled to death from the stab wounds to his
stomach the second of which had been made with a sawing and twisting motion holy [ __ ] this like oh my God that's so
brutal it's so brutal now that was in and of itself just flabbergasting to investigators that this this was a home
invasion maybe and this is what happened to this man like they're like what something felt off about this scene Al
together from the moment they arrived it seemed like somebody had been poking around in the upstairs bedroom but the
house was far from ransacked and there was actually no sign of a forced entry and it didn't appear like anything had
been stolen all the valuable items like jewelry televisions VCRs everything was laid out in plain sight and it would
have been some of that would have been easy to grab like running out the door you know but
what was curious was that the phone line had been cut and there were also multiple cigarette butts at the scene
when neither Jack nor Betty were smokers oh mhm now those two facts along with the green ski mask found in the bedroom
suggested that the killer had been lying in weit and surprised Jack when he got home meaning this wasn't a robbery gone
wrong this was an intentional murder yeah so detective Mickey Brantley found Betty next store at the home of her
neighbor whose phone she had used to call 911 and he was like hey I got to sit down and talk to you for like at
least a couple minutes yeah so she explained that she returned home a little after 9:00 and she found Jack at
the top of the stairs but she couldn't be sure she said she actually thought it was possible that when she got home he
might have still been alive oh which I'm not positive but she also added that the
couple hardly ever locked the doors because both of them were constantly coming and going so often okay so that's
why're was no sign of forced entury and finally she provided the names and contact information for all the other
people workers friends their children who had access to the house but otherwise she had no information and she
was deemed quote unquote too distraught at the time to be questioned so they couldn't really go much further now from
the moment detective Brantley arrived at the scene he strongly suspected that Jack's murder was not robbery as others
had suggested but instead a crime of passion it felt too much to be right bery I me there's personal [ __ ] behind
that it seems like it it feels like it it feels like it and speaking with friends and family investigators quickly
learned that Jack and Betty's marriage seemed to have been in trouble for quite some time in an interview with their
housekeeper Shirley green they learned that the couple had been sleeping in a SE in separate bedrooms for a long time
and that Betty frequently made derogatory comments about Jack's ostomy bag which she almost always referred to
as his [ __ ] bag to be that crass what an [ __ ] you're what an [ __ ] Shirley green the
housekeeper also told detectives that Betty often entertained quote unquote male visitors at the house when Jack
wasn't home damn so on Saturday the day after the murder detective Brantley was running down some leads when he came
across a note about a call that had come into the precinct the day before Jack's
murder the call was from the sheriff in Huntsville who received a tip from one of their informants who claimed that she
overheard a conversation in a local bar about a quote unquote rich person possibly a doctor or a doctor's wife was
going to be killed my God now Brentley called the Shelby County Sheriff's Office where the tip had originated and
traced it back to a woman named Janine Russell who claimed she was a drinking buddy of the man who was making these
threats huh now unfortunately Janine didn't know any of the specifics other than the fact that the victim's wife had
a twin sister who was romantically involved with the supposed at Hitman if you remember Betty has a twin sister
named Peggy holy [ __ ] and now there's a Hitman involved and the twin sister is
dating the Hitman supposedly possibly according to possibly allegedly according to this tip so the Hitman in
question was 41-year-old James White he was a handyman whose children went to the school where Betty's twin sister
Peggy taught first grade oh shut the [ __ ] up in Vincent Alabama about she's a first grade teacher dating a Hitman
possibly allegedly possibly possibly y suggestively that's wild the above yep she was teaching in Vincent which is was
about two hours from Huntsville where Betty lived damn now among other things James White had a considerable criminal
record a long history of substance abuse and mental health issues and also a dishonorable discharge from the military
so this guy's got some stuff going on a lot on his record yeah he also had a spotty employment history he was fired
from jobs frequently for failure to show up or just never showed up to these jobs
at all during a 10-hour interrogation he confessed to the killing of Jack Wilson
Oh and claimed he had done so at the request of one Peggy low and her twin sister Betty Wilson what the [ __ ] yes
according to James White he met Peggy when his daughter was enrolled in her first grade class I cannot I can't like
what I can't and eventually she hired him to do some work in her home after the work was completed the two continued
talking on the phone regularly and at least on one occasion Peggy told white that she loved him and this is according
to him the relationship quote started with a few kisses here and there he said and soon they were talking on the phone
more and more regularly now it was in these conversations that Peggy first mentioned having a friend who was in a
quote bad marriage and whose husband mistreated her wrong incorrect eventually though
Peggy clarified that the friend she was referring to was actually her sister Betty between March and April of 1992
the conversation evolved into making a plan to help Betty get out of her marriage by having Jack murdered and
eventually James White agreed to commit the murder of Jack Wilson in exchange for
$5,000 $5,000 yeah to murder a whole last human that what $5,000 what it was down
on his luck I suppose what the [ __ ] kind of person do you have to be I mean what
the [ __ ] kind of person do you have to be for any amount of money but literally
5,000 and also if you look up a picture of Jack Wilson just adorable adorable like he just adorable just seemed like
the most mild mannered kind man I would not cross the street if I was walking past him I would say hello how's it
going hi there and he'd say good how are you yeah he just feels oh it just really
heartbreaking it really is and especially for his his children and his his first wife Julia yes it's like Julia
knows Julia knows how it is to not feel loved in the marriage anymore yeah cuz he's like heed lot but they stayed
friends they still stayed friends exactly they were able to still like care about each other just get out of a
marriage and you might be able to just just be friends yeah that's the thing you could still be friends he seems like
he's you know a good guy oh but no damn got to have status so although white James White had a criminal record in
Shelby County none of his arrests were for anything violent and there was certainly nothing to indicate that he
would commit a capital murder holy [ __ ] and one is brutal as this yeah so when
asked why he committed the murder he rambled on about his expenses and the troubles he'd been having with his
ex-wife over custody of their children but when pressed he admitted he had done it to prove his love for Peggy he told
investigators I was trying to win Miss Low's love and affection and she was putting me in a crack to prove myself to
her what according to White he said it started as a joke but she kept calling and pushing me to get something done to
help her sister now at first he said he was only going to take the money and find
somebody else to commit the murder using the 38 caliber pistol that Betty had given him Betty Jesus I know you're a
first grade teacher no Betty uh Peggy is the first grade teacher sorry I'm confusing it's it's hard jeez so Betty
eventually he meets Betty and she gives him a pistol and says like kill him but because he was desperately in need of
money he said he decided to do it himself in the days leading up to the murder he said he went back and forth
with himself over whether he should just call the whole thing off he you should have yeah of course you should have he
said I've been drinking the last three or four 4 days popping pills drinking smoking dope and all I knew was I wanted
to get away but ultimately he decided to go through with it oh that is a horrible
decision and just to know that he was like I hate to say on the fence like it feel like such a casual thing to trying
to come to a a human decision yeah so on the night of the murder Betty had met him at a park nearby drove him back to
the house and told him where to hide in the upstairs bedroom in the time that passed between being dropped off and
Jack's arriv James White just poked around the Wilson's home which is why it looked
like it had been poked through casually going through Betty and Jack's belongings including Jack's adventure
closet Adventure closet he had an adventure closet it was filled with helmets and wigs and capes and
swords shut up yeah just like you know this is the most wholesome like just wow I know I know a so he went through all
this [ __ ] humanized this man as much as he Poss possibly could yeah and then went through this yep that's [ __ ] up
oh yeah 100% [ __ ] up so he's go he's just going through all their [ __ ] like you said humanizing this man before he
brutally attacks him but James White became startled when the phone rang and he got frustrated when there was no
answering machine to pick it up so it just kept ringing and ringing and he was I don't know if he was high when all of
this happened but it kind of sounds like it the way he says it and the way he's like the way he's responding to certain
things he panicked and ended up cutting the phone cord to ensure that the phone wouldn't ring again cuz it was really
stressing him out he said later about Jack coming home I didn't hear him come in and we were face to face and he
grabbed me and I freaked out of course he grabbed you you're an intruder what the [ __ ] he then claimed he started
grabbing around him for something to defend himself with and eventually grabbed the bat that Jack had just used
to pound the lawn sign into the ground he said I kept reaching until I found something and I hit him until he turned
me loose and then I ran uh what [ __ ] also not that simple no you didn't you also strangled this man and
stabbed him stabbed him like with twisting sawing Motions like come on that's the thing to to hear James White
tell it the assault sounded like he was just fending off Jack until he could get
away No One Believes that [ __ ] no the truth was far more brutal he hit Jack in
the head with the bat a total of seven times crushing his skull and as sheets of blood poured out over Jack's face and
head white continued to hit him Landing heavy blows to his arms hands which were
raised to protect his face it's heartbreaking causing the bones to break and actually tear through the skin holy
[ __ ] like compound fractures after several more swings of the bat Jack had fallen into a crumpled Heap on the floor
at which point white began strangling him until he felt his hyoid bone snap what the [ __ ] is wrong with this [ __ ]
I can't even begin to tell you then to make sure that he completed his task ask which it's like I'm pretty sure you did
yeah white took out the folding knife that he carried with him and stabbed Jack first in the chest just below his
right nipple and then in the upper abdomen sawing through the stomach and pancreas and severing two major veins my
God he then fled down the stairs and out through the garage and his first story is that he headed for the woods behind
the house and eventually to his truck which he drove back to Vincent at some point he changes his getaway story
shocked I know so when investigators searched White's home in Vincent they discovered a shoe with what turned out
to be Jack's blood on the soul of it a copy of Sleeping Beauty in the firebird which was a book of poetry that had been
checked out of the Huntsville Public Library by Betty Wilson what the [ __ ] when they searched the abandoned house
next door they were also able to locate Betty's 38 caliber pistol and the blood soaked clothing that white was wearing
that night and the knife refused to kill Jack were later recovered when white directed police toward the location
under a rock where he had hidden them so they found his bloody clothes and the knife that was literally used to kill
Jack but because they were found so much later in the investigation and had been
pretty much like degraded by the elements at that point later on the prosecution couldn't use those two
things [ __ ] up I know but it's like obviously this man is involved he has Betty [ __ ] in his possession the
abandoned house next door to him has Betty [ __ ] Jack's blood is on his shoes like come on and he can bring you right
to multiple locations where multiple things were used in the murder let's be real like come on now given what
detectives had learned about Jack and Betty's crumbling marriage and what was discovered in the search of James
White's home the scenario he described seemed entirely plausible mhm but the part that they were having trouble
believing was to the the extent to which Peggy was involved in this conspiracy cuz it's like what and it gets Crazier
by all accounts she was a pillar of her community she was known as a devoted wife like I said a [ __ ] first grade
teacher she was a regular attendee of the First Baptist Church of Vincent where her husband Wayne was the minister
of Music crazy okay based on what they learned about Betty it was well within the realm of possibility that she would
conspire to kill her husband but to everybody else Peggy seemed like the last person on Earth who would get
caught up in that kind of scheme they're twins man F Ado yeah yet every other part of James
White's confession appeared to check out so investigators had no reason not to believe him when he implicated Peggy low
and district attorney Mo Brooks asked reporters what other reason would you have for a stranger to come to
Huntsville from Shelby County to murder Dr Wilson have complete access to his home and steal nothing except for the
explanation he's given yeah like it's true like what how can you explain that you can't so on May 28th 1992 Huntsville
police arrested Betty White and Peggy low much to the shock of everybody in Huntsville and Vincent Peggy actually
managed to post the $300,000 property bond thanks to generous church members Church bonds Run
Deep wow Betty was denied bail when asked for comment on the arrest Peggy's husband Wayne low told a reporter those
girls weren't raised that way all I know is when Betty saw it she could hardly talk she was in shock and she was just
in a days all through the funeral okay it's like yeah you can be through days in like in the funeral no matter what
it's [ __ ] up like it's all [ __ ] up whether you had a hand in it or not yeah exactly but Betty's lawyer agreed saying
his client quote would have no motive for wishing her husband harm the people who knew them said there was no strife
and I've seen no evidence that there was trouble between them are the people who
knew them in the room with us right now all of their friends literally everyone who knows them people at her AA meeting
were like we can't handle your hatred of him anymore her their friends were like
yeah we can't hear you talk about how much you hate Jack anymore and we can't keep lying to him and keeping him out of
the house while you're entertaining your other mans's exact like what are you talking about what do you like that's
not even real like come on like try for try better a little bit try better there
but of course in their investigation detectives had learned uh there was actually quite a bit of strife between
Betty and Jack going back several years at this point and as for motive the district attorney had had a fairly
compelling theory that Jack's murder was the result of greed and Status can you imagine you don't say in interviews with
Betty's friends and associates they learned that she had made several statements about not wanting to get a
divorce because she claimed I would lose everything I would lose my lifestyle oh
boo yeah instead Betty wished to become a widow which Not only would win her the
sympathy of her Social Circle and gain everybody back but in addition she would also retain full access to Jack's estate
which at that point in time was valued at nearly $3 million damn yeah now in order to avoid
the death penalty James White agreed to a plea bargain he would receive a sentence of life in prison with the
possibility of Parole in seven years which I feel like they were like I feel like they were like yeah no parole board
is ever going to Grant you parole so like we'll put it on the table sure damn but in the exchange he would have to
testify against both uh Betty and Peggy in early July both women were indicted by a grand jury for first degree murder
and conspiracy to commit murder with Betty's trial scheduled for February of 1993 and Peggy's trial to follow shortly
after okay now in the months following Betty and Peggy's appearance before a grand jury the Press ran absolutely wild
with coverage of Jack's murder page after page of newspapers across Alabama and especially in Huntsville provided
seemingly endless details about Betty's affairs with various men and the extent to which she'd publicly shown her
animosity toward her husband damn and while many of the salacious aspects of her and Jack's life were made public the
Press actually focused more heavily on Betty's primary love interest around the time of the murder a man named Errol
Fitzpatrick at the time of Betty's arrest he was working as a riskmanagement officer for the City of
Huntsville and with all the negative attention caused by all of this he actually had to resign from his position
wow so like that's how bad and like how intense things were getting Dam now while the Press picked Betty's life
apart Peggy's friends and family rallied around her to defend her character Reverend HL Martin told reporters those
of us who knew her or who know her have never seen any evidence of any action that would indicate any bad intent Peggy
is probably one of the strongest ministering people I've seen she's taken in people who have been thrown out of
their homes a little girl in the community got pregnant and her family threw her out so Peggy took her
in okay it's like yeah sounds like she's willing to do a lot for those she loves
yeah Peggy's friends took a similarly stunned and disbelieving position her family friend Louise mcra said even if
she told me she was involved in this I wouldn't believe her in order to be involved with this she would have to be
a jackal hide Personality yeah nobody's like that so that's good it's like yeah she would have to be imagine if she was
yeah imagine if that existed in the world yeah that'd be crazy nuts so crazy that people don't automatically show you
that they're a vicious uh murderer for higher person yeah now it's worth noting that while many people came to
the defense of Peggy low um very few people spoke out on Betty's behalf shocking I wonder why jury deliberation
in Betty's case began in early April with the prosecution being led by Jimmy fry from the County prosecutor's office
and Betty's defense being led by Bobby Lee Cook he was an Alabama defense attorney known for his courtroom
theatrics and flare for The Dramatics the best kind oh yeah Now by that point the extensive press
coverage had obviously affected what was going to be the trial so it had to be moved from Huntsville to Tuscaloosa
which is so fun to say but the defense hoped that they would find a less biased or otherwise influenced jury pool out in
Tuscaloosa yeah the biggest problem Betty Wilson's defense faced was James White's confession implicating her and
her sister but also her lifestyle you know like the heavy drinking the extramarital Affairs and so on that too
presented a considerable challenge in what was a relatively conservative region these people are going to look at
her and be like that's not going to be good so after questioning 96 potential jurors on everything from their faith in
the testimony of Law Enforcement Officers to their feelings about drinking and drug use and opinions on
Betty's guilt or innocence the pool was finally narrowed down and the trial was set to begin February 23rd
1993 in his opening statement County district attorney Jimmy fry laid out the states case that Betty Wilson had paid
James White $5,000 to murder her husband in order to protect what fry referred to
as her world of privilege wow which I mean it's kind of black and white yeah like if I was sitting there be like it
seems pretty straightforward makes sense to me he described Betty as a Vain and selfish woman consumed by material needs
explaining to the jury that she feared getting a divorce would mean that she'd be cut off from her lifestyle and she'd
grown accustomed to that and didn't want to lose it yeah he continued telling the
jury though it appeared she had everything she wanted more and not just more she wanted it all and she wanted it
now wow by arranging for Jack's murder fry concluded Betty stood to gain millions of dollars in a life insurance
payout as well as Jack's already substantial estate so his his estate was valued at $3 million but then there was
also life insurance on top of that that's just so sad that like these kind of things especially
when it's like for money or to keep a lifestyle like our species is a wild species like
just that this happens like so often and with people that are supposed to love each other not even strangers right that
it happened so often with people who literally took vows to commit to one another like you didn't have to do that
like that's just really wild yeah it never gets anything less than wild I know it's so true so obviously that's
that's a strong argument and to us it seems pretty black and white absolutely but the prosecution's biggest hurdle was
that that their case against Betty was largely circumstantial yeah I can see that they did have a large amount of
physical evidence including hairs found on the ski mask cigarette butts with DNA
hairs found in Jack's hand but all of that connected James White to the murder not Betty in fact aside from James
White's confession there was actually almost nothing to directly connect Betty Wilson to the murder of her husband I
can see that instead fry relied on a state statute that allowed corroboration to be shown through quote unquote
evidence of malice ill will or threats that the accused has made or demonstrated towards the victim
interesting so fry called one witness after another who testified to the animosity and open hostility that Betty
felt for her husband the most damning of whom was the couple's housekeeper I knew
Shirley was coming back Shirley came back I knew Shirley wasn't going to let this go mm she said [ __ ] this woman I
don't like her NP and she had heard like a lot of terrible [ __ ] yeah among other
things Shirley green testified that when Betty refused to go to Jack's mother's funeral I'll say that again for you
Betty refused to go to her mother-in-law's funeral what and Jack was like you know what I might as well
be dead like that's how defeated he was oh and that prompted Betty to retrieve her handgun from the bedroom then to
hand it to Jack and say why don't you do it for me this man is on his way to his
mother's funeral and Betty do not going to go and he's upset about it and he like okay
like why don't I just die then and she's like yeah go ahead wow go ahead and do it for me that's [ __ ] up like on
another level sorry if you can do something like that I don't I don't know where your bounds are you're pure evil
yeah according to the testimony from Betty and Jack's former friend Brenda S I believe she said Wilson meaning Betty
stated that she wanted to kill her husband and she asked Sarah if she would help her or if she knew how to do it so
she was also going around like looking for other say so we've got another like you go around and ask my friends you're
not going to find one of them that says I asked them if they could help me kill my husband you're just not going to find
one nope you find one it means I did and it's like that hello exactly if it walks
like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck it's a duck quack quack yeah two days into the trial the state called its
most important witness James White fry was upfront with the jury saying that even the prosecution found white to be a
quote wretch a pitiful human being he said but we're not depending on his credibility alone I mean he really
nailed that description a a wful human being the prosecution had produced multiple Witnesses and evidence that
corroborated James White's claims of having received money from Betty Wilson and in addition to that phone record
showed that James White and Betty Wilson had spoken many times in the weeks leading up to the murder and if you
remember Betty's Li liary B was found in his possession that proved that James White had been in Betty Wilson's company
on at least one occasion and again it's like if it smells like it it's it man like and absolutely I can agree that
before that it's pretty circumstantial totally but when you add this stuff in it's like there there's no coincidence
like this her book is found in his possession and his hair blood fingerprints DNA is found that he did
this to Jack Wilson he's adting that and then there phone records between them like all that like and she's walking
around asking people do you know anyone who will kill my husband I mean Hello that's going from A to B to C to D like
we're we're hitting all the points here yeah I know my calculus and you plus me equals us here okay look at that I loved
that so don't don't deny it don't deny it given the circumstantial quote unquote nature of the case the defensive
strategy was obviously to pull kohs and The credibility of the witnesses and to offer alternative explanations for the
claims that Betty had repeatedly made vague threats to Jack's life the core of their argument was pretty simple they
said James White had implicated Betty and her sister in the murder because it was the only way he could get a plea
deal to avoid the death penalty without his statements and confession they argued the state would actually have no
case against Betty Wilson I I always love when they're like allow me to explain away why Betty made vague death
threats against her husband I can do that I just want to see all the jury members just lean forward and put just
cradle their chin and just say please explain to me go for it go ahead give me that explanation why she made death
threats against her husband but didn't actually have a Parton his brutal murder For Hire go for it go right ahead please
I'm so I'm dying to know yeah in his opening statement Betty's defense attorney cook told the jury that James
White was a pathological liar with a significant criminal record that involved everything from drunk driving
to kidnapping under cross-examination cook shouted angrily at White saying you're a great big liar before starting
to pick aart of story no one's saying this guy is a good guy I mean look he's a [ __ ] brutal murderer we're a piece
of [ __ ] we're actually here to prove like yeah he is a piece of [ __ ] and he's
wrapped up with this other piece of [ __ ] exactly so cook pointed to the number of
times that white had changed key parts of his story remember I told you that was coming including his original
statement that he had been instructed to shoot Jack when later he stated that he
was supposed to use the bat and then his original claim that he had run from the
house to the truck which he later changed to say that Betty had driven him back to his truck that's a big
inconsistency I will I'll give him that that is that absolutely that's a damaging one it is to like involve her
in that part and also like that's like but also I think his memory may not have been the most
consistent M yeah he's a yeah there's no it's not like this guy has credibility like to spare here exactly but I'm just
saying that's in the defense I mean obviously they went for it they gifted him that they sure did or he short did
yeah now a few days into the trial the defense produced a surprise witness David Williamson he was a Salesman who
claimed he had gotten into an argument with James White at a Huntsville hotel at the time white claimed to be hiding
in the upstairs bedroom at the Wilson house according to Williamson the men got into a confrontation when white
confronted him demanding to know what the hell he was doing there when Williams had responded that he didn't
know what white was talking about James White supposedly said I'll make that [ __ ] pay for what she's doing to me
I'll show her what lonely is all about what the [ __ ] random according to Williamson James White had mistaken him
for someone else and then quote quickly calmed down apparently realizing he had the wrong person what now when he was
asked about the conf uh confrontation James White said he had literally never seen that man before and also that he
had never been to the rata Inn in Huntsville where this confrontation was supposed to have taken place the [ __ ] so
we have this one guy being like at the exact moment that he was supposed to be in this house where his DNA was found on
cigarette butts his fingerprints was found his hair was found he wasn't there where he admits that he was no no he was
at a hotel and we got in a weird argument look at this weird surprise witness we got I like how much money did
you get out of this situation like that's so what a move I don't know about that what a move so on the final day of
testimony Peggy low was called to testify Peggy stated that she never wanted to kill Jack and as far as she
knew neither did her sister Betty yeah it's crazy it's just wild that I know she she says it all the time but like
you know jokes crazy that Betty's only connection to this man is me his daughter's first grade teacher so wild I
don't know on this the day of my daughter's wedding you know now according to her the only money that
James White had ever received from either of the women was given in an act of Charity intended to help him get
through a a hard financial time and there you go she's like let me discover this real quick yeah yep I'm just so
charitable so I'm sure there's money that has passed between all of us but it's total charity charity just out of
the goodness of my heart she told the jury we were trying to help him he seemed like a pitiful little man and he
was making an honest effort seems like somebody who is yeah yeah she also explained that the phone calls between
the three accused were all related to their ATT to help James White find work and nothing more oh my God so selfless
it's weird how did he end up at your sister's house then so weird on March 3rd 1993 closing statements were made in
the case during which fry highlighted the evidence and testimony that corroborated James white White's claims
he told the jury it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to solve this case does you can feel what this woman was about
and what she was after yeah the defense on the other hand reminded the jury of the mostly circumstantial nature of the
case against Betty and that the they said the evidence of poor character was not the same as evidence of murder which
I agree we're not saying that it's just poor character that we're saying here yeah somebody can be a blazing [ __ ] and
not be a murderer I've met many of those people but it's like we're not there's other stuff exactly there's other stuff
here like we're not which I know it's the defenses it's their job they got to do what they got it's their job to be
like you're just picking on her for being a [ __ ] and that's not fair no it's just the fact that her husband died
just like this really mysterious from an outside perspective you're like I don't
care if it's your job I'm mad exactly but he he got real theatrical of course and he said cook told the jury this is
not a case of maids Mercedes clothes and jewelry she is not being tried for adultery she is being tried for murder
for murder it's like we know it's like no we know we're here like we know there's a whole man that was killed and
we got instructions human being that was killed here and it's like we know it's not about Mercedes clothes and jewelry
like that's not what we're here for we're here because a guy got murdered exactly for no [ __ ] reason exactly
the jury's like I wouldn't be here if it was about clothes Mercedes and that's not how that works I'm I'm actually here
to do something legit yeah so that jury deliberated for less than a day before delivering a verdict of guilty on both
charges against Betty Wilson bye Betty per an agreement made between the family and the prosecutor's office Betty was
spared the death penalty and instead received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parl damn
Jack's sister Jane said afterwards I don't think I would want to be the person to send anybody to the electric
chair she was guilty and I don't think 30 years in prison is a piece of cake either honestly Jane perfectly said
perfectly said she's like and I feel you I don't on my hands yeah she's like I'm
not a murderer I don't want that on my head she did what she did and she can she can pay for it in the way that they
offit what a what a like that that was a refreshing take on the whole thing I know good for you Jean now after the
verdict was read Bobby Lee Cook her Betty's defense attorney expressed his outrage to the reporters who had
gathered around him in the hall he told them anyone that would believe that Mrs low would be engaged in a sexual liaison
with Mr White would have to take leave of their senses I think she would have chosen someone more appealing considered
my senses left also that's not even the main point of this no one cares what they were doing I literally don't give a
[ __ ] they might have just known each other maybe they didn't barely knew each other who knows exactly I don't care
other enough that money was exchang exchanged acquaintances were made and a man ended up dead exactly that's what
everybody cares about I don't give a [ __ ] what she's doing exactly years later Charles Hooper and another member
of Betty Wilson's defense team speculated I think Miss Wilson was convicted on her personal conduct she
couldn't have been convicted on the evidence the physical evidence was not there to support it sometimes it's not
physical evidence either and there is phys physical evidence is physical it's not all all circumstantial like a large
portion of it is but absolutely but sometimes cases are made on circumstantial evidences sometimes
there's not even a body like often you know you don't need just physical evidence there is some in this case but
like the circumstantial evidence doesn't lie no it's evidence like that's why it
has the word evidence in it and not circumstantial [ __ ] that's like that would change things exactly
now the members of the jury never said why they did vote the way they did but there may have been a little bit of
Truth to Hooper's belief that Betty's conviction was due to her moral character just a few months later peggo
was tried for the same crimes using the same evidence and more or less the same testimony but this time the defense
argued that among other things Jack wasn't killed in the house and even that aat wasn't the murder weapon now
recalling the trial prosecutor Donald ala said it didn't make a damned how Dr Wilson got killed what matters was who
did it and James White admitted to doing it whether he stomped him beat him with
a bat beat him with a stick but that's the type of bull that experts try and sell to juries wow is he's kind of said
the quiet part loud pretty much now how the evidence was framed in Peggy's case wasn't the only difference the outcome
was also different after hearing the evidence and testimony a jury found Peggy not guilty on all charges wow W
and considering how the same evidence and essentially the same testimony could produce two very different outcomes it's
definitely worth considering the accused themselves yeah absolutely Betty just came across as a pretty much a greedy
social climber she had a long history of you know extramarital Affairs uh abandoning her children prioritizing
drugs and alcohol well and like Peggy it's like Betty had the the motive yes exactly the the very clear very direct
motive mhm exactly and you know in general one might say that she was of low moral character which honestly
probably made it easier for a jury to believe that not only did she want out of her marriage but that she was willing
to do anything she could have to hold on to the lifestyle that she yeah had grown
accustomed to on the other hand though Peggy L like we said by all accounts she was an upstanding member of her
community she had a long history of community involvement Charity she was a [ __ ] first grade teacher and she also
wasn't just a regular attendee at church like I said earlier she was even married
to the minister of music so you put all those things together and it's like I mean it doesn't mean Foo to me but you
can see why it would have influence on a jury yeah and I think and again I don't
even think it was I think they're looking at it to um kind of in a shallow way here where they're like oh they just
did it based on moral character and look like this is this is why and it's like no no Betty has the more direct motive
for this like exactly obviously it's seems like Peggy Peggy knows at the very least that something was going on who
knows you know allegedly allegedly I have no idea yeah either but all I know is that Betty was married to this man
and walked around saying how much she hated him had a ton of Affairs and actually asked people if they knew
people that could kill her husband exactly so it's like I think that was more the thing like the actual her
walking around telling people she wanted to kill her husband definitely and the fact that she was like clearly un be in
but saying I don't want to divorce him cuz I don't want to lose my money MH I feel like that is probably more it
unless def like shallow moral character kind of thing exactly and I think I think the shallow moral character did
play a role in both trials and I think like it makes sense in a way that Peggy got away with it because they didn't
really have anything bad to say about there's nothing to rely on there which is obviously not to suggest that the
jury's verdict was bias or like based entirely on morality of these two women but it's unreasonable to assume that it
didn't play at least some part in the trials which I'm sure it plays a part in a lot of these trials exactly now
following Peggy's acquit James White actually recanted his confession in a sworn affidavit he wrote I was never
propositioned by Mrs Peggy low to murder Dr Jack Wilson I made it all up huh but
then a short time after submitting his sworn affidavit he claimed that he had been coerced into signing that statement
and now maintained that his original statement was and is the true version of events so nothing makes sense and and
you can't trust what's going on exactly uh despite his being eligible for parole
after just seven years he remains in prison and his latest bid for parole which was made in March of 2021 was
denied by the parole board yes following her trial Betty Wilson began serving her
sentence at the Julia Tutwiler prison in wuma Alabama she had has always maintained her innocence and has filed
several appeals with the state courts all of which have been denied in May of 2006 she got remarried to Bill cample an
army contractor who actually saw her when a story about her appeared on the CBS show 48 hours in 2002 oh and after
learning the details of her story and her sentence he felt outraged about the Injustice and that's how they started
corresponding and I guess they fell in love wow yeah in 2022 independent filmmaker Jean Adam Jr announced his new
project finding Betty in which he takes a closer look at the case in order to prove that Betty was innocent and was
wrongfully convicted he told reporters I've made this film my life's Mission because it calls into question the
Integrity of the J justice system itself I won't give up until Justice is done as
of today though Betty Wilson remains in prison wow I think the biggest thing is that it's hard for people to understand
how one was sentenced and the other was not based on all of the same evidence essentially so I mean it's wow
interesting case very interesting case very tragic case yeah poor Jack Wilson he didn't deserve to die I mean nobody
deserves die got caught in the middle of this crap and it's exactly oh what an awful awful awful thing
yeah and with that being said we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it we weird but not so weird as any of
this because no [Music] [Music] [Music]

On the evening of May 22, 1992, Betty Wilson returned home from an AA meeting to find her husband, Dr. Jack Wilson, had been beaten and stabbed to death in what she assumed was a burglary gone wrong. Betty ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911, and police arrived at the Wilson’s house a short time later to secure the scene.

At first, investigators agreed with Betty’s theory that Jack had surprised a burglar and was then killed. The problem, however, was that nothing appeared to have been taken, nor did it appear that the house had been ransacked. A few days later, a tip led detectives to James White, who quickly confessed that he murdered Jack Wilson at the request of Betty and her twin sister, Peggy Lowe, with whom he was in love.

Betty Wilson and her sister, Peggy, were both arrested and went on to be tried for capital murder, while James White accepted a plea deal in exchange for testifying against both women. After a brief trial, a jury found Betty guilty, and she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Peggy Lowe, on the other hand, was tried for the same crime, but just a few months after her sister’s verdict was read, Peggy was found not guilty. How was it both women could face the same charges, under the same circumstances, and be tried with the same evidence, but receive opposite outcomes?

Thank you to David White, of Bring Me the Axe podcast, for research!

References

Associated Press. 1992. "Friends of accused express disbelief." Montgomery Advertiser, July 13: 13.

—. 1992. "Suspect's former lover quits post." Montgomery Advertiser, June 24: 18.

—. 1992. "Twin sisters suspects in man's murder." Selma Times-Journal, June 7: 7.

Betty Woods Wilson v. State of Alabama. 1995. 690 So. 2d 449 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, May 5).

Carey, Bob. 1998. "The Murder." Old Huntsville: History and Stories of the Tennessee Valley, 1.

Dunnavant, Robert. 1992. "Shelby man says he killed doctor to win twin's love." Birmingham Post-Herald, June 6: 1.

1996. Forensic Files. Produced by Paul Bourdett. Performed by Ed Freeman.

Marshall, Mike. 2006. "Serving time for murdering husband, Betty Wilson remarries in prison." Dothan Eagle, May 3: 3.

Newberry, Paul. 1993. "Surprise testimony in Wilson murder trial." Anniston Star, February 28: 1.

—. 1993. "Wilson defense mocks, picks apart testimony ." Birmingham Post-Herald, February 25: 1.

Reeves, Jay. 1993. "Betty Wilson silent as jury gets her case." Anniston Star, March 2: 2.

—. 1993. "Deliberation starts in case of woman accused of plotting husband's slaying." Montgomery Advertiser, March 3: 1.

Richardson, Sandee. 1993. "Wilson trial begins." Birmingham Post-Herald, February 24: 1.

Schutze, Jim. 2023. By Two and Two: The Scandalous Story of Twin Sisters Accused of a Shocking Crime of Passion. New York, NY: Open Road Media.

Sikora, Frank. 1993. "Mrs. Wilson's disgust toward husband detailed." Birmingham Post-Herald, February 27: 1.

Thornton, Donna. 2022. "Filmmaker contends doctor's wife wrongly convicted." Montgomery Advertiser, August 29: 1.

Wilson, Betty. 1998. "The Betty Wilson story." Old Huntsville: History and Stories of the Tennessee Valley, 1.

Witt, Elaine. 1993. "Mrs. Wilson guilty, gets life in prison." Birmingham Post-Herald, March 4: 1.

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Brief Summary

Betty Wilson's tumultuous life leads to her conviction for the brutal murder of her husband Jack, revealing deep personal and societal issues.

Key points

The Tragic Case of Betty Wilson. Betty Wilson's life was marked by dysfunction and tragedy, starting with her upbringing.
Betty's Wild Freedom. After her divorce, Betty embraced a life of partying and neglecting her children.
Jack Wilson's Heartwarming Background. Jack Wilson, raised by loving adoptive parents, sought respect and success in life.
Strain in Marriage. Jack's commitment to work strained his marriage with Julia, leading to their separation.
Betty's Reaction to Surgery. After Jack's surgery, Betty found the ostomy bag repulsive, straining their relationship further.
Brutal Murder Scene. Jack was found brutally murdered in his home, with signs of severe violence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

That's a parent and a half.

5:32WatchJun 3, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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