Mind Over Murder

I just finished watching the HBO documentary Mind Over Murder.  The documentary details the investigation and trial of six defendants who were convicted for the murder of Helen Wilson.  

Helen Wilson was a 68 year old grandmother who was brutally raped and murdered in her one bedroom apartment in Beatrice, Nebraska on the night of February 5, 1985.  A brutal crime such as this was all the talk in Beatrice -- a town with a population of roughly 12,000 people.  Everyone seemed to have an opinion as to what actually happened that night but no arrests were forthcoming.  After two years with no arrests, a retired detective from Beatrice (Burdette "Burt" Searcey) took it upon himself to conduct his own private investigation.  This did not sit well with the local police. 

Through interviews with various people who were involved with the case, the detective convinced the Gage County Sheriff's office to arrest six people -- three women and three men -- for the crime.  The Sheriff's office had an uneasy relationship with the Beatrice Police department.  Searcey was hired as a Gage County deputy sheriff shortly before the arrests were made in 1989.  The defendants became known as the Beatrice 6.  The primary defendant was Joseph Edgar White who was accused of the actual rape and murder of Mrs. Wilson.  The other primary defendant was Thomas Winslow who (allegedly) also took part in the rape.  

Joseph White was the AMG and Old Reliable model who was called Lone Wolf Bronson, or simply, Lonewolf.  His work for the studios occurred in 1983 and 1984.  How or why he found his way to Nebraska was not explained, but he was familiar with one of the female Beatrice 6 defendants whom he had met in Los Angeles.  She and the other co-defendants all called him "Lobo".  

From the start of the investigation, White proclaimed his innocence.  He told anyone who would listen he was never in that apartment.  Ever.  But three of his co-defendants all pointed to him as the actual perpetrator of the heinous crime.  The investigators were determined to pin this crime on someone. The defendants, two of whom often stated they experienced "memory lapses", were prodded by Searcey to point at White.  The deputy videotaped all of his interviews and some of them were shown in the HBO documentary.  It was obvious the deputy sheriff was practically spoon feeding at least two of the accused the "proper" responses to his questions.  Several times during the interviews, Searcey would stop the tape if the person gave testimony contrary to Searcey's theory.  For example: a witness said she saw three of the defendants In a car turn into the apartment building parking lot that night.  When asked to describe the apartment building, she said it was a one story, white building.  The building was actually a three story brick building.  Searcey stopped the tape.  Fifteen minutes later the tape was restarted and the witness said it was a tall, brick building.  

The Beatrice 6 trials took place in 1989, more than four years after the crime.  White was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.  The other five defendants received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 40 years for their involvement.  Throughout the 1990s numerous appeals by the Beatrice 6 were denied by the Nebraska courts.  White and his co defendant Mr. Winslow raised money from their families and friends to hire a private lawyer (Doug Stratton) to get their blood and DNA analysis compared to the specimens collected at the crime scene.  By the late 1990s DNA had become an established and commonly used method in criminal investigations.  The authorities in Gage county refused to allow the DNA tests.  The court sided with the authorities and refused to order the testing or the reopening of the case.  Attorney Stratton could not understand why the new DNA technology could not at least be utilized -- especially since White and Winslow had a different blood type than the samples from the crime scene.  

Justice moved slowly and in late 2007(!) White's appeal was finally heard by the Nebraska Supreme Court who reversed the lower court's decision and ordered testing of White's and Winslow's DNA.  The DNA from the blood and semen samples collected at the crime scene were compared to the samples taken from White and Winslow.  The results clearly exonerated both defendants who were immediately released after 18 years in prison.  The other members of the Beatrice 6 had already completed their shorter sentences.  

The results did implicate a suspect that was interviewed in the early days of the investigation and had voluntarily given the detectives a blood sample.  The Sheriff's lab in Lincoln originally stated his blood did not match the blood collected at the scene.  Several years later the head of this lab would be fired and criminally charged for numerous fraudulent blood sample results.  The original suspect, Bruce Allen Smith, died in 1992 of AIDS complications.  Fortunately, his original blood sample was preserved within the case files.  This evidence made Smith the primary suspect.  

In January, 2009 the state of Nebraska pardoned and completely cleared the records of all the members of the Beatrice 6.  They were the first people in Nebraska to have their sentences overturned due to DNA evidence.  White was awarded $500,000 dollars for his wrongful conviction and received an upfront cash payout of $25,000.  He returned to his home state of Alabama.  In 2011 White was killed while working in an Alabama coal plant.  He was 49 years old.  The balance of his award was paid to his estate. 

in 2012 attorney Doug Stratton led the effort to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gage county.  The case was dismissed in 2014 due to a hung jury.  The vote was 11 to 1 in favor of the defendants.  In 2016 the case went back to trial again and the jury awarded the defendants over $28 million in damages with White and Winslow each getting $7.3 million of the award.  White's share of the award was paid to his estate. 

The total exoneration of the Beatrice 6 was a shock to the Beatrice community.  Helen Wilson's family, along with the law enforcement community in Beatrice, thought they were betrayed and a great injustice had taken place.  In the documentary, Deputy Searcey (who retired years earlier) stated he still believed the Beatrice 6 were responsible for the death of Helen Wilson.  His theory (shared by others) is the six defendants left Mrs. Wilson dead in her apartment and Smith came by sometime later that night and sexually abused the dead body, thereby leaving his DNA.  Smith also had a history of serious mental illness and he was familiar with the apartment building.  One of his relatives had lived there in the 1980s.  

In interviews for the documentary, several of the Beatrice 6 gave credit to Joe White.  They said he never gave up and was determined to have the verdicts overturned.  Winslow said he personally owes a great debt to Joe for his persistence and determination.  

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I wrote this post while watching the final episode of the documentary.  Yeah, it had an impact on me, to say the least.  Here was a real-life, horrific crime where six (SIX!) people were charged and found guilty with absolutely no physical evidence any of them were actually in that apartment.  In fact, the only "evidence" was the testimony of three of the defendants who "remembered" the events of that night while being interrogated by Searcey.  Several of the Beatrice 6 had long-term, serious mental health issues and it certainly became apparent to me that Deputy Searcey's interviews interrogations were totally unprofessional.  They should have never been placed into evidence.  

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Individual booking photos of the Beatrice 6.  Joseph White is the man in the lower left corner.  Thomas Winslow is the man in the bottom right photo.  

Photos of each member of the Beatrice 6 shortly after their convictions were overturned and the state of Nebraska released Joseph White (top left) and Thomas Winslow (top center).  The remaining members had already completed their sentences.  

Lone Wolf Bronson (real name, Joseph Edgar White) on the box cover of Old Reliable 25.  The videotape was released in 1984.