Morbid - The Murder of Cheryl Perveler

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

When police were called to the scene of shooting at the Castillion Apartments in Los Angeles on April 20, 1968, they assumed the victim, twenty-two-year-old Cheryl Perveler, had been shot in a robbery gone wrong. However, when they began looking into her personal life, they soon realized Cheryl’s killer could have been much closer to home.In most cases of individual murders, detectives always look at the spouse first, and in this case, there was a lot to look at. Cheryl had recently married Paul Perveler, a former Los Angeles Police officer with a checkered past and an obvious obsession with wealth and power. Yet the more they investigated Paul Perveler, the more detectives began to suspect they didn’t have just one murder on their hands, and it was starting to look like Cheryl’s death was the culmination of a larger and far more shocking conspiracy than anyone had expected.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesBraxton, Greg. 1982. "Woman asks public to keep killer ex-husband jailed." Los Angeles Times, September 19: 529.Bugliosi, Vincent, and Ken Hurwitz. 2004. Till Death Do Us Part: A True Murder Mystery. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company.2017. A Crime to Remember. Performed by Christine Connor and Elise Graves.Eintoss, Ron. 1969. "Death penalty asked in insurance murders." Los Angeles Times, February 25: 26.—. 1969. "Jury asks death for Perveler, life in prison for girlfriend." Los Angeles Times, February 26: 29.El Sereno Star. 1966. "Gun victim found in house fire." El Sereno Star, December 15: 1.Farr, Bill. 1986. "Ex-officer in prison for killing fails in parole bid." Los Angeles Times, August 30: 2.Haynes, Roy, and Dial Torgerson. 1968. "Murder charges filed against pair in double indemnity case." Los Angeles Times, May 3: 3.Los Angeles Times. 1968. "Ex-officer, woman ask seperate trials." Los Angeles Times, November 15: 41.Newton, Tom, and Dial Torgerson. 1968. "Ex-policeman, woman accused of killing mates for insuarance." Los Angeles Times, May 2: 1.The Register. 1969. "First degree murder asked in mates case." The Register (Santa Ana, CA), February 5: 15.United Press International. 1969. "Dual murder case goes to jury soon." Stockton Evening and Sunday Record, February 12: 11.Valley Times. 1968. "Transcript says alleged killer told of slaying." Valley Times, May 21: Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash and this is morbid. And it's morbid in the morning. It sure is. So we might sound a little froggy, but we're going to get out of it. Don't worry. Just a little ribbit, ribbit. I'm coming out of my bronchitis turned walking pneumonia, you know, feeling good, taking the antibiotics that I have to take. You're a wild girl. I'm doing it. I feel much better. I don't sound as sultry, but you know. You still do. You still do. You still do. Thank you.

I appreciate that. You have a sultry natural voice, Lisa. I appreciate that. Get it. But I think we wanted to start this episode out. Just chatting really quick about like some pretty heavy shit. Yeah. We're not going to talk about it for too long just because like it's, it's like really just the saddest thing that we've all been living the last couple of weeks or a few weeks it should be.

I mean, for years, really. For a very long time. But like the last few weeks, I think, like, there's been a couple of things that have just been like, what the fuck? I mean, the first one that's been like on my mind for weeks. And I've just been like, holy shit was the Topps Grocery Shore store, like racist massacre in Buffalo. That was shocking. And unfortunately, it was one of those things where it's like, oh, another one. that's the thing with all of these lately i'm like oh yeah yeah oh we haven't learned anything yeah oh okay

okay but then like this one was like most it was like mostly elderly right just grocery shopping and it was just like most of them were just like just and they all of them were just at the fucking grocery store because that's the thing everywhere you go now you have to like think about that in the back of your head like 10 people killed just going to the grocery and killed by a racist piece of shit who literally had racial slurs written on his gun. And like now all this shit is coming out the like, you know, I always like, it's hard to like get into with like when people will say like, oh, he was radicalized online during the pandemic. And it's like, but you have to have something in you. Yeah, of course you do. You don't just get turned to that. Like, no, you're an evil person.

If you're able to be radicalized into that, into that. being that racist and evil of a human that you're just going to go kill a bunch of elderly black people who are shopping for fucking groceries. Like if you're capable of doing that, then something has always been wrong with you. Yeah. But and then it's like and also like this whole like during the pandemic he was bored like it's not the pandemic's fault. Yeah. It's like no. And you know what? You're a piece of shit. And you know what? Yeah. The internet is shit. It really is. And people are shit on the internet. It's true. Yeah. I think we're all seeing that. Like it's just like getting worse and worse.

And I mean, the only thing. And now this community has to struggle to figure out what they do with Topps grocery store. Right. And it's such an important place. It's important and people need it for food. It's a place like with a community like fought to get open to begin with. Right. And then it's like there's something called like a food desert that can happen when like these stores go away.

Right. And it's like people don't, won't have access to food. And it's like the things they need. And it's like, but now they're trying to figure out, do we reopen? When do we reopen? What happens here? And these people that like own this grocery store and work for this grocery store shouldn't have to be faced with that because of one racist piece of shit who just

ruined everything. Yeah. And it's like the whole like he wrote a manifesto. Get fucked with your manifestos. Like these stupid. And it's like, God, stop making it. The word manifesto makes it seem like so much more like dramatic and cool. You know what I mean?

Like he wrote in his journal about his hatred. It's not a fucking manifesto. He wrote just like he spewed hate. That's what he did. He just spewed hate vomit all over the place. And it's like it sounds like though the community is like a really great community. And it looks like they're trying to find a way to make this instead of like a place of sadness now and loss. Like turn it around.

That's hard. Of course. It is a place of sadness and lost right now. I mean somebody, I mean people lost their grandparents. Like one lady. 86 years old she had just left her husband at the nursing home and was stopping on her way home just a grocery shop that's heartbreaking like somebody else found out that their loved one had died by seeing them shot on social media like what the like when are we at what's happening where are we at

yeah we need a huge overhaul of so many things and that's like I can't even get into it but it looks like the community is trying to figure out you know do we open scholarships and their names like that would be so great and they're thinking about doing like murals of their faces on the walls to make it a place of like remembrance and like honoring them it's going to be so hard like it's going to be really hard but like i'm glad they're looking to do something like that because it's just such a necessary thing of course but like i can't stop thinking them and i can't stop thinking of all their families like their loved one just went to the grocery store like i can't get over it you live to be 87 or like how like how like how old and this is how your life ends. That's the thing. It's like you're 86 years old, you're however old and you've lived this long and some piece of shit takes you out all your grocery shopping. He claims that he got bored on the internet and it like comes in and takes you out. Like that's insane.

And then of course, the newest thing that has happened that made us want to like talk about all of this because it just was like these two things just really hit was the Euvaldi in elementary school shooting in Texas that happened. 21 kids and adults. I never thought we would see another elementary school shooting after Sandy Hook. Like I, like, what? But when nothing was done after Sandy Hook? Yeah.

What, I mean, it's, this one I can't even like, I feel like I'm just like at a loss with this one because it's like I have six-year-olds who are in kindergarten. You know what I mean? like I have a two and a half year old that's going to be entering school. I don't know how anybody sends their kid to school right now. I don't want to. I don't know how you do. And like parents shouldn't have to think about that. Well, and teachers shouldn't have to think about that.

This is my thing. Teachers took their jobs because they love children and they love teaching children. They do a job that no matter what, 99% of us can't do. No. And we all learned that during the pandemic when we had to do some homeschooling. Everybody figured out, holy shit, why the fuck aren't teachers being paid a billion dollars? Legit. Legit.

They have the fucking hardest job anyways. And then now they are expected to take the place of police and expected to be bulletproof vests for our children. Like these teachers are jumping on top of kids to take bullets for them, which I, It's like, I shouldn't, the teachers should not have to do that. That should not be expected of them. And they, and on top of that, they're paid shit. And they're, like, forced to, like, buy everything for their own classrooms, by their own security shit now. Because now they have to make sure that they have bats available and shit to, like, make sure that they can hide kids.

And on top of that, we're putting kids into such stressful situations with, like, immersive trauma, basically with these drills. Like, I understand that these drills. need to be done now they are because what's going on what of because of what is going on excuse me but what the fuck like where do we live everyone well that's the thing it's like okay so we're going to teach seven year olds to be reactive to an assault rifle instead of being proactive and making it that that doesn't need to be a instead of the adult speed we're relying on this on the on the on the kids here right like I remember we didn't start doing those kind of drills until high school because really there weren't that many school shootings at that point but then they started happening more and more.

And I think I started maybe like sophomore year. And I was as a 16, 17 year old terrified. Of course. Even during the drills, I can't imagine a fucking six year old, a five year old hiding under their desk. And like, how do you explain that to that? Well, that's the thing. And it's like, my kids are six.

They don't even know what a gun is really. No. They really don't. They don't have any kind of real conception of what it is. We literally don't even have like water guns. No, like we just don't. And it's like not like, you know. It's just been a thing that, like, I've never had to tell them what a gun is because we don't watch things.

Like, they don't watch things with people getting shot and stuff. So it's really not a thing that needed to be said. And now it's like they're going to go to school and come home one day and be like, mom, what is a gun and why is a bad guy going to come into my classroom and I have to hide from them? Like, they're going to be like, what the fuck? They're going to be scared to go to school. And then how are they going to learn? Like, all of these kids are going to have crazy anxiety all the time when they start realizing how often this is happening. Well, and also, I hate that I can't tell them that it won't happen.

No. I can't. How could you? And I can't, if I tell them this isn't going to happen, how can I be sure? I can't. And I don't lie to my kids. And if anything, all we've seen throughout the, like, history of all this is it's going to happen. And it's going to keep happening again and again and again because no one is doing anything to stop it.

We're all just saying, wow, that was really sad. And everybody gets up in arms for a week. And then we just let it go. and these nine, ten, and eleven-year-olds that all just got shot in their fourth grade classroom while watching Lilo and the Stitch are just going to be names that we talk about every once in a while, like later down the line, like, yeah, I remember that was really sad. Right. But it's like, and these teachers that sacrificed themselves and tried their damnedest to protect those kids

when the police in Texas sat outside for 40 plus minutes. And that is inexcusable. I don't know anybody who could ever defend that kind of shit. No. And actually I said, and I just said did nothing. I shouldn't say did nothing. They were arresting parents that were begging them to go in there and save their children. Yeah. And it's like the parents are willing to go in there. They did. And also it's one guy, everybody. You're an entire police force. Right. Go in there. I know that's what it is. Like we were talking, I was talking about it with John. And John was like, yeah, nobody wanted to be that one guy that went in there. Nobody wanted to be the first one when that's their job. And like, cool. Because they're scared because he has an assault rifle. Yeah, it's just like the

police don't even have those. The whole thing is infuriating, but and it's just like my like my brain starts to hurt thinking about it and I just want to scream about it all the time. Like I get so fucking angry about it. It's just it shouldn't be happening and like we really got a like we we got to do something in this country guys like about a lot of things like a lot of things. But that is top of the list. And it all kind of trickles down like, you know, this kid was being a fucking creep online and he was posting a bunch of threats and shit online and nothing got caught. There needs to be a big overhaul of a lot of things here in many different areas. But we're, but it's, okay. So very frustrating. Very, very, very frustrating. But again, nothing, like, I don't want to be,

I can't even say like my thoughts are. these families they are but like that doesn't matter it doesn't do anything it doesn't matter it doesn't bring i don't and i don't want to be the person sitting here saying thoughts and prayers no because i don't i i don't want to do that i want something to happen so that like these kids didn't die in vain no and it's like oh god it's like this is just it's really sucks it sucks and seeing like one of the fathers was on and like just breaking down being like i just want my my little girl back and like i couldn't protect her like i'm about to cry yeah of course because you're thinking about You can't protect them. You're not there.

No. Sorry. It's just like, I can't. Every day that I drop them up at school, I'm like, I can't be there to protect you. And it sucks. And it's like, we shouldn't be feeling this way. And you know what really fucking sucks is people will talk about this for a little bit. And then the next thing will happen and people will start talking about something else. Like this never happened.

And nothing will come of it. And I know it's hard. With the way things are going right now. I know it's hard because we're at the same place. I don't know what to do. I'm just, we feel like we're screaming into the void at this point. But like, something's got to be done. And if we, if something comes about that we can pass along to like spur some action, we'll do it.

But like, we're just all trying here. And I know there's some go fund me's and stuff. So we'll try to like wrangle those. Definitely. And throw them in the show notes. And we'll try to like let you guys know where you can because we're in the same boat. We're just trying to figure out where we can. help. We want to do something. How we can help. We're just trying to figure it out with you guys.

So, I mean, we'll all kind of do this together. Hopefully, we'll all figure it out together. Right. And we just, like, had to talk about it because we were like, how could we not? How could we sit here on a truth? Like, you know, how could we sit here and not say something about it? And it's like hard because it's like so many things happen in the world. Like, we can't touch upon everything that happens in true crime news because that would be the entire show. Of course. Seven days a week. Like, we'd be doing 12 hours a day. day of just being like, and this happened, and this happened. But there's some things that just like need to be at least mentioned here and talked about just so we can all go like, yeah, fuck. Like, what can we do? And these were two things that have been like weighing heavily on my

brain for weeks here. Of course. So yeah, with that, you know, we're all in this together, hopefully and we'll figure it out together. And hopefully something will come out of it. I really hope I hope so. After every school shooting that's happened, like, come on. And just like mass shooting. I was going to say mass shooting, exactly, because we were just talking about a grocery store shooting. All these, like, you know, there's all these hate-inspired shootings that are happening, and it's like getting worse and worse. But something's got to happen. Something's got to give here. So we'll share whatever we can share. If you guys have anything you want to share with us that you want us to share, we'll try to share too. like GoFundMe's and all that for the families.

But yeah, we just had to touch upon it. And we'll go into our episode now, but that was just something we just had to get off our chest, you guys. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life can be overwhelming, and many people are getting burned out without even knowing it. Symptoms can include lack of motivation, feeling helpless or trapped, detachment, fatigue, more. I get super stressed if I'm feeling like burned out and then I get really productive in areas of my life that don't matter and like unproductive in areas that do matter and then things just get worse because they're crumbling.

We associate burnout with work, but that's really not the only cause. Any of our rules in life can lead us to feel burned out. And better help online therapy wants to remind you to prioritize yourself. Talking with somebody can help you figure out what's causing stress in your life. A lot of times when I would go to therapy, I wouldn't even know what I was stressed out about. I would just be like feeling so stressed out and just like cuckoo. Like I'd be like, oh my God, my brain is just like attacking me. And then in talking about it with my therapist, I would actually find out the cause of that,

work on it and feel better. Better help is online customized therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat sessions with your therapist. So you don't have to see anybody on camera if you don't want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy and you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. Morbid listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash morbid. That's betterhelp.com slash morbid.

And unfortunately, there's no really good way to segue out of that. No. But it was necessary to talk about it. There's not. We're going to talk about another terrible thing today. And it is the murder of a man named Leith von Stein. And it is incredibly senseless as most pretty much all murders. are pretty much so leith von stein was born in queen's new york on march 16th 1946 his parents were

Howard and marie von stein and also I was literally just going to say you know how I feel about a vaughn last name of von stein a von stein von or van I'm into it now both howard and marie were from pretty well-off families so when Howard's brother richard started his own dry cleaning company it wasn't a shocker that the company automatically started doing great business so Richard ended up convincing his brother Howard to join forces, and he was like, come on, move on out to Winston-Salem to help me grow Camel City dry cleaners. Yeah. Why wouldn't you? Absolutely. So after talking it over, Howard and Marie agreed. They were like, I think this would be a good choice for our small family, our cute little fam here, and it would set them up for a good future. So with that,

they packed up their car, little baby leaf, and they headed out to North Carolina. And over the years, I'm sure they were very happy that they did so because the business did incredibly well. It ended up being one of the most successful dry cleaning businesses in America. Damn. Which like, oh, go. So there were multiple branches. There was close to 150 employees between all of them. And that meant that someday little Leith von Stein would inherit a good amount of money.

And with that comes not good things. Yes. Great responsibility. But before that. He had a lot to get through in life. He had a pretty typical high school experience. He played football, had a great group of friends. He was said to be super kind, somebody who was just easy to get along with, like, very talkative. Everyone thought he had a great sense of humor and that he was very quick-witted. So after he graduated high school, he tried out college, and he decided upon entering the school of engineering

at North Carolina State University, but it was all very overwhelming and he really wasn't doing so well. But this was right around the time of the Vietnam War. So instead of finishing up college, he actually ended up getting drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. Okay. So he was sent over to Germany, and luckily, he was mostly able to do administrative work until he was honorably discharged in 1970. Now, after that, he went back to college. This time he went to Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. And while he was there, he realized that he had a knack for computers.

So once he finished his degree, he got a job. at this insurance company called Intagone, and it was there that he met a fellow computer lover, Bonnie Bates Pritchard. I love it. A single mother of two. Now, Bonnie was also from North Carolina. She grew up in a town called Welcome. Like, how cute is that?

Welcome. Welcome. It's a very rural part of North Carolina. Rural jurors. Yes, exactly. Filled the rural jurors and a lot of farmland. Now, growing up, Bonnie really loved animals. She loved reading.

She loved computers. So she had been with Intagon for a while. She got hired two years after she finished high school, so pretty much right out of high school. She dove into adulthood really quickly after she graduated. She got married pretty young to a man named Steve Pritchard. He was actually still a senior when they decided to get married. Oh, damn. And less than a year and a half later, Bonnie was pregnant with their first child, a boy that they decided to name Christopher.

Now, about two years later, they had a daughter named Angela. But things were already headed downhill as far as the marriage was concerned at this point. And right around the time Chris turned four, Bonnie and Steve called it quits. And they were officially divorced around the time that he turned five. Okay. Now, it would be about three more years, give or take, before Bonnie would meet Leith and working together. But when they did, they hit it off right away. Like, they were constantly chatting with each other.

They kind of started with like a friendship, which is so important. Adorable. And then they started dating in October of 1976. and they were married by August of 79. So they've dated for a little while. I was going to say, that's like a perfect little, like, jump into that. Yeah, I thought so, too. Now, in the beginning of things, Leith took on a father role for Chris and Angela

because their biological father had pretty much fallen out of the picture after the divorce. But as the kids got older and they moved to their teenage years, they didn't really like their stepdad, even though he had been around to, like, pretty much forever. Both of them started drinking and smoking in high school. They were dabbling in other things, like psychedelics. And in Chris's case, he was doing cocaine, like right out of high school. Which obviously only led to further tension between them and their parents. Yeah.

Like, your parents aren't going to be stoked when you're 18, rip in lines of coke and dropping tabs of acid. No, I can safely say no. Same. And especially Leith. Like, he's the father role in this house. Yeah, and he's trying. And I'm sure as like a step parent, you're trying like to, like, have a handle on the whole situation. And you're like, man, this is not working out.

And it's hard, I'm sure, too, because it's like you want to have a handle on the situation and you have been around since they were a little. But technically, you're not their dad. So it's like a. And they have that in their back pocket to use. And you know they can pull it out whenever. Yeah. So Chris goes off to college at North Carolina State.

And he only dives way more into drinking and doing drugs with his friends. But he also finds a newfound love for the game Dungeons and Dragons. All right. He had played when he was younger. But when he got to college, he met other people. that would play and they just like loved it. That was that like, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to know. No, you're good.

But I was just going to say I was watching stranger things like the new season. Oh, and everybody is stoked. Yeah, it's really good so far. But Dungeons and Dragons is like a big part of it. Oh, is it really? It's a big portion of it. Yeah, it's like a very big part of it. I didn't know that.

And when you watch it, you're just like, damn, that is a very intricate game. I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. You know what's funny is my dad. I don't know if he still is, but he used to be a dungeons and dragon's head. That's, it's like very intense. It looks fun too. And it looks like you have to be like extraordinarily creative and like because you're making up your own world. Yeah. And like quick on your feet like like with your, you know, decision making and all that. It's just like watching it. I was like, wow, like this takes like a lot. Yeah. Like I feel like people who play Dungeons and Dragons

don't don't get that kind of like, you know, credit for like actually being like like that's a very intense thing to do. It's not just a board game. And a lot of people treat it that way and they treat it like, it's like, oh, that's so nerdy. And it's like, pretending to be like elves or something. It's like, no, you have to come up with like George R.R.R. Martin style backstories and histories. Like literally, like you're writing, you're basically like writing your own script in your head. You're writing like an epic fantasy novel every week for these things. It's just like wild. So if you play Dungeons and Dragons, like hats off to you, man. Yeah. That sounds rad. And it sounds like you're, a pretty intense person, like, in a good way. Shout out to you, Dad. Shout out to D&Ders out there. D&D heads everywhere. So, yeah, not these ones, though. Not these.

I mean, there's bad eggs and everything. Yeah, of course. But I just wanted to clarify, like, hats off, not to you guys. Not to these guys. So he and his friends, Chris and his friends, they would get baked. They'd drop some acid and they'd spend hours in their fantasy world, which also I'm like, wow, you would drop acid and then play this game. Yeah, that sounds intense.

I don't know. I don't know about that. I understand getting baked before playing. Yeah, that'd be a great. experience. I feel like I would get really freaked out if I dropped acid and played Dungeons on Dragons. I feel like that's a, that's a recipe for a bad trip. Yeah, like I'd be like, oh no, am I actually dead? Like, did you really kill my character? Was that actually a beast that's laid me? Right. Is that a beast over there? Yeah. Look, over there. Over there.

So scary. But they really loved it. Now, because he was so involved, though, in like, everything except his academic career, Chris's grades started to suffer. Yeah. And they got so bad within his first semester or first year at college that he ended up having to do summer school oh like your first year i'm like that's a bad hit yeah that's a bad beginning so bonnie and leith uh they were less than pleased yeah especially because they were not only paying for chris's entire tuition but they were also giving him 50 bucks a week for spending money oh come on man and i'm sorry when i got to college my was in fucking high school i wasn't getting spending money as soon as i had a job of my own it was like cool that's how you're You make your money.

Like, there you go. Yeah. But Chris, not so much. So when he got home on break, tension in the house was obviously at an all-time high. Bonnie and Leith wanted to talk to him about what the fuck he was doing at school. And at some point, their conversation escalated.

And things actually ended up getting so heated that Leith and Chris almost wound up getting physical with each other. Oh, damn. Like this was a big fight this night. Oh, that's not good. Now, luckily, Bonnie was able to step in before anything did get physical or escalate. But then later on at dinner, the fight broke out again. And actually, according to the court documents in state versus upchurch, and we'll get into who upchurch is, Leith quote unquote, challenged Chris to a fight, but he refused.

Stop it. And I was like, that's not great. That's not great. I'm not sure. I'm not sure who's testimony that's based on, but woof. That's not good. Yeah. Now, that weekend kind of wrapped itself up.

Chris was like, yeah, I'm going to go back to school quicker than I thought I was, because this house. sucks, but I understand why that house sucked because you've got to do good in school if I'm paying for it. But physical fights no-no. Yeah. So Bonnie and Leith, they agreed that she should be the one to handle any ongoing school issues with Chris. Yeah. She was like, you know, she's like, you know what? We give it a shot. Didn't work out. Yeah. Let's stop. Let's try something else. But that wasn't going to be the only trouble that Chris would run into during summer school. Because later on, around July 4th, his sister Angela went out to North Carolina State because so they had plans for her to visit for that weekend.

But when she got there, she couldn't find Chris anywhere, couldn't get into contact with him. None of his friends knew where he was or they just wouldn't tell her. Bonnie and Leith kept calling him over and over again, getting no answer. So they got so scared thinking something happened to him that they ended up filing a missing person's report. And Leith was the one to file it. Oh, wow. Only for Chris to just show back up with no explanation as to where he had been. Okay.

He was a guy. He was like, I'm fine. What? And they were like, where were you? And he was like, I don't know, just hanging out. I was just around. Okay. So it was at that point that Bonnie was like, if I'm going to continue to give you 50 bucks a week for spending money, I'm going to need a breakdown of every last thing you're spending that money on.

Yeah. Because I'm sending it to you to get things like groceries and maybe a coffee here or there. I'm not sending it to you so you can buy cocaine and drugs and, like, not do good at school. That's the thing. It's like you are not getting that spending money just to buy drugs. Right. And come on. And she obviously knew that he was like into something.

And she's like, I'm not going to be funding that. Exactly. So, you know, she's catching on to what he's doing. And she's like, yeah, it's not for me. And Chris was pissed about that, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. So validated.

Yes, exactly. So he's mad about this. He's mad at his family. He fucking hates Leith all the sudden. And sometime in his freshman year of college, he finds out that Leith's father has passed away, which meant that. that Leith was going to get a pretty large sum of money somewhere in the land of $2 million. Whoa.

Yeah. Okay. Because he also knew, Chris knew, that Leith had some kind of insurance policy in place in case of his own death. And Chris knew that he and Angela, his sister, were named as beneficiary somewhere in that whole policy. Oh, this is getting messy whenever there's a policy involved. And somebody knows that they're a beneficiary. I'm not telling anyone who's the beneficiary of my life insurance. just kill me and you'll find out.

Yeah, there you go. And guess what? If you kill me, it's probably not you. Probably for nothing. And you won't get it because the Slayer rule. Remember when we went over that? Yeah, we did. Yeah.

But anyways, what Chris didn't realize was that Leith's $700,000 life insurance policy came with some contingencies, which literally all life insurance policies come with some kind of contingency that people always forget about. They're always like, oh, I thought it was just free and clear they would handmaid check as soon as you died. Right. And the other thing is, I think people always think that they're going to get like, like, they're just going to get a check for $700,000. And like, in most cases, you're going to get like a portion of that. Like, you're not going to get the whole thing right away.

Of course not. And that was not the case here. Because first, Bonnie would get access to the spousal trust. I'm also like, did you just not think your mom was going to get anything? Like what? They always forget the mom, too. I'm like, yeah, there's a marriage there. I'm like, yeah, you know she married that.

Yeah. That's the only reason why you're even a fucking beneficiary in the first place. So Bonnie would get a spousal trust. And then when she died, $600,000 from his policy would go into a trust for the kids. But they wouldn't even get access to that money until Angela turned 35. And Chris was older. So I was like, you're not actually getting anything. Yeah.

But not knowing about these contingencies about his trust fund money and pissed that his stepfather didn't seem to be interested in spending any of the inheritance money on him and pissed in general about his stepdad. Chris started thinking about Leith's death and what he would do with all the money that he would be left with him if Leith were to die. Oh my God. Where does it come to this? Where do these people come from? It's always wild to me when people are like, yeah, you know what? I think I'll just murder someone for this money. And it's like, when does that ever, first of all, when does that ever work out? Never. And two, what the fuck is wrong with you? Like what? Jesus.

I'm like, your dad abandoned you and this man stepped into it. that role and like took care of you for a little while and this is what you're going to do and it's just like nothing's worth that man like oh even if he did suck like yeah and it's like he was not like like this viciously abusive man or something at least i couldn't find anything that said that even then it's like dude you can't murder someone like that's just like it's a no no you just can't but since he pretty much hated school chris started to fantasize about what it would be like to have all that money not have to finish college, not have to get a job. And he became obsessed. So most of the time that he was playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, he would bring up how angry he was with his stepdad. He would get into

how he had a right to this money and what he would do with it if he had it. And then things just took a dark turn where Chris actually decided to act out his frustrations. Oh boy. Mm-hmm. So he and two of his close friends, Neil Henderson and James Bart Up Church, they were sitting. around, getting high, talking about who other than Leith and Chris's hatred toward the guy. And then the topic came up about actually killing him. Oh my God. And then when more people get involved, it's even worse. I'm like three people are sitting together talking about killing a man for his money. Like three college students that usually just like hang out together.

That's just wild to me. Like none of my friends even did the thing. Like you'll hear something where like a case where somebody's like, oh, well, you know how teenagers will just say like, I wish they would die. I'm like, I'd never said that. I'm being honest with you, none of my friends ever said to me that they wished their parents would die. That just never happened. Maybe I just happened to have a friend group that didn't have apparently these parents that people wished would die. But like, I never wished my parents would die.

I never said it out loud. My friends didn't. That would concern me. So the fact that like these grown ass people are sitting around being like, and like that they feel comfortable enough with each other to just bring that up as like a possibility. just being like, you know what? Like, what if he just, what if we killed him? What if he just murdered him? And that they don't think that the other person's going to be like, what the fuck?

I'm going to call the police. Like, don't say that to me. That's even scarier. Right. I also just can't imagine being there for a conversation where people were like, yeah, let's just kill him. I'd be like, I have to get out of here immediately. Yeah, I'd be like, please swallow me up, Earth.

Please. Now, as the conversation progressed, it was more than Leith who was going to have to die, but also Bonnie and Angela if she was home. My God. Yeah. When James brought up Angela, Chris just said, well, if she's there, then I guess her too. But if she's not, that's fine, too. Wow. Like, that is his sister. It's the indifference for me. That is his whole ass sister. Wow. If she's there, like, yeah, she can be collateral damage. If not, that works too. If not, don't really care. Like, that human who is my literal sister.

That's zero feeling. Insane. That's not even a feel. That's zero, like just I literally, no. No fucks given. No fucks. Now, I'm sure that he knew to some degree that obviously some of his inheritance would be shared among the three of them, but he wanted all of it to himself, but to share with his friends. Because as the three of them sat there coming up with different ways to kill his entire fucking family, Chris told his things about, excuse me, Chris told his friends about all the things that he would say things. Yeah, seriously, right? I was like, you know what? You had it right the first time. That was actually a Freudian slip. But he was telling them all about like what he would do for them with the money. and he promised James Upturch that he would open a restaurant with him and buy a nice house in Raleigh. Also, how much do you think this? How much money do you think you're getting, bro? That's the other thing. I'm like, you're going to, oh, and we're at the beginning.

Please just wait. James Uptchurch was also promised $50,000 and a Porsche. Oh, and a Porsche. Get out of here. Get fuck. And Neil Henderson was going to get the same amount, only he would actually be more keen about getting a Ferrari out of the deal, if possible, please. Yes, I see. And Chris was like, oh, my God, dude, yeah, no problem. He's like, I'm about class. Yeah, let's go. Wow. Unreal. So talking about

the different possibilities and what methods of murder they thought would be best Chris and James decided that it would be a good idea to start some kind of fire within the home, but have everybody drugged beforehand so that they would sleep through it and obviously not be able to escape. He sat there with his friend and said, yeah, let me sedate my mom who brought me into the world, my sister who I've known my entire life and my stepdad who's been around since I was a kid. Let's sedate all of them and then leave them to die in a house fire so that you and me together can have nice cars and not finish school. What? Wow. Are you fucking kidding me? I have no words. I really have no words. When these things, I can't. I can't. I didn't understand killing Leith. I especially don't understand

killing Lethe your mom and your sister. Like, whoa, this escalated so quickly. None of it makes sense. And when it's like a kid doing this to their parents, it's just like a 19-year-old kid. Whoa. Like, what the fuck? Like, what the fuck happened here? That's your mom, dude.

Man. Crazy. But that was the plan that they settled on. Wow. So Friday, July 22nd, Chris left school to make it seem like he was coming home for the weekend to get in some good family quality time. Jesus. And after that, he spent.

And after he spent the night with them on Friday, he said on Saturday he was going to be hanging out with some friends for most of the day, that he would come back and see them and then he was going to head back to school. So he wasn't just hanging out with friends that day or anything like that. Instead, he was making his way back to campus so that he could scoop James up church and the two of them could get going on their plan. So Friday night, he spends the night at home, and then Saturday he drives back to school, gets James, and then drives back to the family's house. So he spends time with his family. Yes. The night before. Like hung out with his family on Friday night, knowing full well that his plan the next day was for all of them to die in a house of fire after being sedated. Which is also like one of the most gruesome ways to die. That's the other thing. Like that is torture.

There's no good way, but that's what you go with? So somehow James had gotten his hands on some sleeping pills. And when Chris pulled up at school, James just got in the car, hands them over. They make their way back to Washington, Washington, North Carolina. And before he went home to dose his entire family, Chris just dropped James off somewhere and was like, wait here until I get back. Oh, okay. So this kid's just going to like hang out somewhere. Just waiting for him to kill his family.

Yeah, totally. So with that, Chris goes home and he says, oh, you guys want to have like a little cookout tonight? You guys want to do a little barbecue? You want to do a little barbecue? You want to do a little barbecue? I'd love to make you guys some hamburgers, hot dogs maybe. I don't know about the hot dogs, but he definitely made hamburgers. He is about to kill them in a house.

fire. And he said, do you want to do some barbecue tonight? You want to do a little barbecue tonight? Like, I don't know if he said that word for word, but he was like, you want to have some hamburgers tonight. But he offered like, let's cook out tonight. Yeah, because he got to work making hamburgers for his entire family, but he laced the hamburgers with the sleeping pills. And then once he was done grilling them up, he handed them out to his family members, knowing full well that he was sedating them for a fucking house fire. Wow. Now, over dinner, he explained, you know, I'm actually going to head back to school tonight instead of tomorrow. I got a lot of stuff to do. So everybody finishes up dinner. Chris says his goodbyes. And then he goes to pick James Upchurch back up. Now we can assume that Bonnie,

Leith, and Angela went to bed pretty quickly after he left. And as they were sleeping, Chris and James went back to the house and tried to crush a fuse in the fuse box so as to start a fire. Now, by some grace, they were not able to get the fuse crushed. So they decided to give up on this plan. They were like, that's not going to work. Wow. So like not the overall plan of murder. They weren't, they were not giving up on that. Oh, absolutely not. Just this specific means of carrying out multiple murders. Of course. Now, James actually said, Chris, I have a better idea. Why don't we head to the Army surplus store? I'll get a machete and we can cut their heads off. Your whole family.

Wow. First of all. And second of all, you went from like a very hand. off approach. To a fully hands-on. To the most hands-on approach. And, like, I'm glad you're this stupid, but how are you going to make three beheadings look like an accidental death? Wow. How are you going to do that?

The escalation that just occurred there is mind-numbing. Now, luckily, they were deterred from this plan, but only because the Army surplus store wasn't open. Wow. Thank goodness. Fortunate. So they'd have to come up with plan numero trace. You'd think at some point they'd take something as a sign like this is not supposed to happen.

Thank you. You're two plans in here and it's not happening. I feel like this happens so often too. Like we've definitely talked about this happening in the past where like the first couple of plans did at work and you're like, why didn't you just listen to that? Nobody listened to that inner voice that said like, hello, maybe this is happening for a reason. But I feel like they don't have that. No, they don't.

It's called a conscious. I was going to say because it's a conscience. Conscience, right? Yeah, because consciousness is like being conscious. Yeah. But conscience. I know it's hard to like... It's so close.

It's so close, man. It's like specific and specific. It's hard. It's hard. I admit it, I don't make the best food choices. A lot of times I'm really just in a place of takeout and I want cassidias and burritos and pasta. Wow, now I'm hungry.

The CDC says that I should eat up to six cups of fruits and vegetables a day, but let me tell you, there's like zero. chance that I'm eating six cups of fruits and vegetables a day. It's a lot. Here's what I want. I want a simple nutrition with results so powerful that when I take my next physical, my doctor compares my old lab work to my new lab work and says, keep doing what you're doing girlfriend. So that's why I take Field of Greens daily. Field of Greens is powered with a full spectrum of essential vegetables and fruits plus science-backed herbs and prebiotics. This is what I need to stay healthy. Field of Greens works fast and if you're like me, you're going to have more energy, you're going to feel

healthier, your skin will be glowing with a capital G. Actually, a lot of you have commented that I'm glowing lately and I think it's because I've been taking my Field of Greens and it can help you lose weight. So join me and take Field of Greens too. And to help you get started, I got you 15% off your first order and another 10% off when you subscribe for recurring orders just like me. Visit fields of greens.com and use promo code morbid. That's fieldofgreens.com promo code morbid. Field of Greens, promo code morbid. So as they laid out this next plan, they decided that Chris had been home recently. So he should stay back at school so as not to raise any eyebrows. Now the very next day after the poisoning gone wrong, James and Chris went to Kmart and bought a huge hunting night. And it was now decided that James was going to be the one to kill both Leith, excuse me, Leith and Bonnie.

And if Angela was home, then maybe her too. Of course. Remember that part. Yeah, totally. They planned to make the murders look like they were just the result of a robbery gone wrong. So we've gone from house fire, accidental house fire, quote unquote, to cutting their heads off with machetes to now killing them with a knife and making it look like a robbery gone wrong. This is a lot. Mm-hmm.

This is a lot. Now, the problem with James going out there by himself, though, was that he didn't have a license. That's a problem. Yeah, no license. Yeah. If he were to drive somebody else's car and get pulled over, that would obviously deter the entire plan because he would get in trouble for driving without a license, and it wouldn't be the first time that he'd gotten in trouble for that.

So, like, he'd be fucked. Yeah. So they were like, okay, that's where Neil comes in. Remember Neil Henderson? Yeah, let's not take this as a sign. Another sign. No, no, no. No. Neil can drive Chris's Mustang and drop James off at the scene. Apparently, none of them thought

about the possibility that Chris's car might get spotted in his own fucking neighborhood and raise some eyebrows. And you know what? For kids who play Dungeons and Dragons, which requires a lot of planning, like we were just saying in very, like, complex problem solving skills, at least I feel that way about Dungeons and Dragons people. Same. I feel like you must have that. They don't have any of that. No. There's none of that happening here. I think it's the drugs. Yeah, I think it's that they're just idiots. The drugs of it all. And like the drugs and the idiot. Yeah. And the psychopathy of it all. Yeah. So with the plan laid out, Chris would put together a map of his own neighborhood, like draw a map of his neighborhood, putting an X where his house was. And he told James where Bonnie's purse would be so that he could. And also he told James where they kept extra cash in the house so that he could take that cash. make it look like a robbery that way.

Yeah. And then just like sent his friends off and was like, hey, let me know when my family's dead. Let me know when you've massacred my family. Yeah. Just hit me up. Yeah. So that Sunday night, July 24th, 1988, Chris stayed back at school while Neil Henderson drove James Upchurch from North Carolina State to Chris's family home in Washington.

So North Carolina State is in Raleigh, and it's about a two-hour drive, give or take. Okay. So they had two hours to drive there and decide that this was not a good plan. And I wonder if one of them ever had the idea that they are setting, the way this is all set up makes it very likely that if Christopher decides he does not want to be part of this anymore, that all he has to do is start crying and say my friends went crazy and they killed my entire family. Like no one thought of that. Yeah.

That like you are now the sole perpetrators here and he can step back and say, I had no idea they were really going to do that. And Neil's probably not going to get much. He's just driving. Yeah. But he's still going to get that. He's going to get that at least. But like, no one thought of that. No, that was never an idea.

I'm sure. I'm sure one person thought of that. Oh, of course. Christopher. Yeah. Honestly, maybe that's why he came up with this whole plan the way that he did because he wasn't too keen on sharing his money with his sister and his mother. He's removing himself completely from this situation. Maybe that was like the one ounce of like smartness that he had.

Of like problem solving skills, I suppose. Yeah, it is. So they got to the von Stubborn. Stein's neighborhood around two in the morning, technically now on July 25th, following the map that Chris had laid out for them. They were like, oh, there's the house. But they either felt that it was too early to go in or they were like nervous, so they ended up driving around for a little bit before returning. More time in which you would think that they would have decided this entire thing was insane, but no. They get back to the neighborhood. Neil parks the car away from the

house, so there's no suspicion raised. And James creeps into the house, carrying a baseball bat and his hunting knife, wearing dark clothing, Reebok shoes, and a ski mask. Wow. Like, going for it. Terrifying. So scary. So he immediately went upstairs to Leith in Bonnie's bedroom and just started attacking Leith. Bonnie woke up to the sound of Leith screaming next to her in bed, but she couldn't see what was going on because she didn't have her glasses on. Oh my God. That's horrifying. Exactly. And before she could figure out what to do, like, because she had a phone next to her, but she couldn't get it in time because the figure came over to her side of the bed and started attacking her, too. She was hit over the head multiple times until she slipped into unconsciousness. And then when she finally regained consciousness, she heard the door of the bedroom close. And the intruder obviously had thought that he finished the job in that room. But then Bonnie heard noises outside of the door, and she was terrified that her daughter Angela was now being attacked. Oh, my God. But before she could do anything about it, she slipped back unconscious. Now, when she came to again, she immediately calls the police department.

And she explains that what's gone on, that they've been attacked. And she knew that she was beaten brutally, but she thought maybe she heard Leith still breathing. So she was like, please come as quickly as you can. And she's like, I don't even know where my daughter is. Like, because she couldn't get up. She had been attacked brutally. So unfortunately, when the police arrived on scene, it was clear that Leith was not going to make it. He was like basically dead on arrival.

Bonnie had been stabbed in the chest as well as beaten over the head. Holy shit. And when they walked into the room, she still had the phone grasped in her hand. And they said that when they walked into this room, it was like blood stained every single wall. There was blood on the ceiling. Oh my God. On the walls. There was huge pools of blood on the carpeting around them. Like it was a gnarly scene. Just in bed. Just in bed. Just sleeping. Yeah. Both of them were just sleeping next to each other. So luckily, Bonnie survived the attack and so did her daughter, Angela. So the police talked with Angela.

They were like, did you hear anything? Because she was home when this happened. She said she had slept through the entire thing. Her room was about 10 to 12 feet from her parents. Hmm. Not very far. It was interesting that she didn't hear a peep of anything. Yeah.

But she did have a fan going, so they were like, I guess. Maybe. Yeah. But they were like, they were like, like, this whole thing just feels weird. Like talking to Angela felt weird because not only did she noddy or hear anything, but they said that she seemed incredibly unemotional, giving that her mom was being rushed to the hospital with serious injuries,

like life-threatening injuries. They didn't know at first if Bonnie was going to make it. Wow. And a man who had played a fatherly role in her life since she'd been a child was just stabbed and bludgeoned to death in his own bed 10 feet away from hers. Yeah. A little scary. You'd think there'd be some emotion.

Some. I mean, we always say we can't judge how people react to things, but it's hard, you know, your natural instinct is to be like, ah, I don't know what's going on there. Yeah, exactly. So Angela calls Chris right away that morning. She tells him what happens and she's like, you have to come home right away. So Chris, knowing full well where his keys are, started ransacking his room, causing a scene trying to find his keys. But obviously, we know where his keys are. Neil has them.

Obviously. So he wasn't going to find them. So he ran to one of those emergency call boxes on campus to see if there was some way the police could get him home because he just has to get home. Of course. So the police came to the call box where he had called from and they, I guess they found him in there like hysterically crying. Now, I don't know if maybe the weight of what he had planned this whole time was finally hitting him or if this was an act. It could be either. It could be either because once he got into the cop car, he fell asleep for the entire ride back to Little Washington.

Yeah. Two-hour ride. You've just been told that your whole family has been attacked and your mom literally might not make it and you're snoozing. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know about that. I know grief can cause like, I'm not saying him because he's playing this entire thing. Of course. But like I know grief can like obviously cause like crazy exhaustion and yeah. Screaming, crying can do that. Your body will just like shut down just to survival mode. But I don't believe that with him. Not even a little bit. I see. I see just boredom. I see just callousness. Literally.

Just like, I don't care. No, didn't care at all. So the officers working the crime scene, they were pretty suspicious. They definitely wanted to talk to Chris, especially. They were like, I feel like he might know more than he's saying. Because the entire crime scene looked staged. Things were overturned and, like, seemed to have been ransacked. But there was pretty much nothing missing.

There was $20 still sitting on the dresser in the mess. master bedroom where Bonnie and Leith had been attacked. Yeah. Whenever it's a botched, like a fake robbery, yeah, like set up. They never do, it never looks like a real robbery. No. It's what you see on TV. Exactly. That's what people do. Yeah, $20 still sitting on the counter on the, on the, on the dresser. There's multiple handbags on the counter in the kitchen, I guess. Leith's wallet was left seemingly untouched. There was like nothing missing. And there was a ton of jewelry that Bonnie had in her jewelry box in her bedroom that definitely would have been stolen if this were a robbery. And they also found like a backpack knapsack. They called it a knapsack. A knapsack. Because isn't it one of those like drawstring bags usually? I think so.

I don't know what the difference is, but I've heard it called both. Yeah, I think it's like interchangible. And that was left near one of the garbage cans outside. Okay. So one of the officers processing the scene was like, that feels like it's out of place. Like what the fuck is that? Like what the fuck. It would later be identified as James Upchurch's bag. He literally left it behind. What the fuck? And didn't even bother to put it in the garbage can. Like, I mean, I guess I understand. That would still be dumb. But you just put it next to it to just be identified. Wow. Boom. Wow. And then another note about the clearly staged scene was that, so the front door was locked. So they were like, what? Like how'd they get in? But the back door leading to the back porch, it was left wide open. And there was a,

window next to that door that had been broken and there was like glass laying all about. But it didn't make any sense that the window would have been broken because like the robbers wouldn't have been able to gain entry that way. Like they wouldn't have been able to climb through the window. Yeah. And if they were trying to make it look like they broke the window and then reached in to unlock the door, that also made no sense because they wouldn't have been able to get to the handle that way. And if that was like their plan in the first place, they would have just broken one of the glass panes on the actual door. Yeah, if that's how you were in and unlocked it. If that's how you were trying to make it look. Because really, we'll find out later that James had a key. He got him with a key.

Yeah, of course. And so he was just trying to make it look some type of way, but it's like, why would you not, and I'm happy that you didn't because you're fucking idiot. Yeah, because you're an idiot. Why wouldn't you just punch out the glass on the door? Because I think they were probably trying to make it look like they broke the window, climbed through, did what they did. And then on their way out, they used the door. Right. But it's like, if they weren't able to climb through that window, then all is lost. Like, if you didn't, you couldn't fit through there, then it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.

No. And it was just beyond clear to everybody that the real motivation here was murder, especially because of how they were killed. Yeah. A robber's not going to sit there and, like, bludgeon somebody and stab them and come around to another side of the bed and bludgeon another person. And then go, like, find, like, the daughter and, like, it's like. And not take anything.

Well, that's the thing. And it's like, and for the motive of just taking, like, literally nothing. Right. It doesn't make any sense. Clearly, then the motivation would simply be murder, which it was. And luckily, they were trained enough to realize that. Yeah. But before they could talk to Chris about the scene, he was like, can I go see my mom at the hospital? And technically they had no reason not to let him. So they were like, okay. So Bonnie had some serious injuries, but she was expected to recover from them, luckily. So this little fuckface, who had actually expected his mother to be dead too, sat next to her in the ICU, holding her hand while. she recounted this entire series of events to him that happened earlier that morning. And he is sitting there probably picturing it and picturing the person who carried out these acts because he is the one who set them up to do it in the first place. Like he planned this entire thing, sat there and

waited for it to happen. Yeah. And then listen to his ailing mother. Yeah. Who's beyond a life talking about it. It's like, what the fuck. And he's sitting there with her in the ICU holding her hand as she goes through all of this and he's crying. Like he's not the one who fucking set up the entire plan in the first place. No, he was crying because he knew that he was about to get caught. One like, he was one hundred. He was like, this is going to fall apart and this was a botched plan. Botched as fuck. Yeah. We all have different values and morals that we let us guide us through our lives. Maybe you make it a point to shop at certain stores because you know that their values align with yours. Because when you stick by what's important to your very core, it's going to show in every single

thing that you do. Everlane, one of my absolute favorite, favorite clothing places, is committed to doing the right thing from start to finish. That means partnering with ethical factories to ensure that every piece of clothing not only looks and feels great for years to come, but just is great. The thing that most impresses me about Everlane is not just the quality of their pieces, because obviously it's incredible, but for me it's the fact that they actually take the time to find ethical factories that only use the highest quality materials. Everlane researches and audits factories to find producers championing worker environment and improving environmental impact. The Everlane team visits each factory often and builds strong relationships with their owners. So say goodbye to unsustainable

fast fashion. Everlane designs timeless closet staples that you can wear over and over again. Each garment is made from the finest materials like gray day cashmere, Italian level, their Peruvian Pima cotton. Oh my gosh. Everlane just strives to use the most sustainable materials from farm to factory. So they prioritize natural fibers and use recycled synthetics for performance and durability. And with Everlane, you get designer quality without the designer markup. I absolutely love all of my Everlane pieces. I have tons of their cashmere sweaters. I have their polos that are super duper cute. Pretty much all of my jeans at this point are from Everlane because when you throw them in the wash, they don't shrink.

I don't know why they have unshrinkable denim, but they do. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. And they all make my butt look so good. So if you want your butt to look good and you want sustainable fashion, go to everlane.com slash morbid and sign up for 10% off your first order. That's 10% off your first order when you go to everlane.com slash morbid and sign up. Everlane, ethically made, sustainably sourced. Little spoon.

It's a one-stop shop for healthy, easy meal time and snack time for you, baby. your toddler, your big kid, and even you if you eat off their plate because, wow, this food is good and it's delivered right to your door. Little spoon makes healthy meal time easy at every single stage. It saves you actual hours in your week and all at a reasonable price. They are also the most flexible company. You can pause, modify, cancel, or skip your shipment at any time. And here's the thing, guys. Most of the baby and kid food at the grocery store is heavily processed and often on the shelf way longer than your little one has even been in this world. Not cool and not the quality nutrition that our kids deserve. They deserve Little Spoon because

Little Spoon makes everything fresh and they use literally absolutely nothing artificial. It's just like homemade and it's all delivered to your door and it's ready. It's prepared in seconds. You literally pop your meals in the fridge or the freezer and then just pop them out when you're ready. It's that easy. Little Spoon makes 100% organic, cold-pressed baby food for every eating stage, has a toddler and kid's food line that takes you through the weaning stage and into the big kid years, and they just launched a line of on-the-go smoothies that like sometimes I do want to steal from Elena's refrigerator, they're for the children, but they're so good that I want to eat them. Literally all of their recipes taste

delicious and they're nutritionally balanced and free of junk, helping to set your little one up for a lifetime of health. I'm not going to lie to you, I've tried pretty much everything that she's given to one of the kids and it all tastes good. Like, the kids are eating better than I am, but am I eating pretty good too at this point? Because, you know, I'm eating it. The tot, and just like, you know, you want to get a little glimpse into what they're serving. The toddler and kids food plates has kids classics like mac and cheese, but it's got hidden butternut squash and carrots, so veggies for the kids.

And there's more adventurous meals like cheesy papousas or chicken pot stickers. The chicken pot stickers are better than the ones that I order for takeout. And it's also just stuff that you would never make up. home like it's difficult to make but you can get it and your kids are going to love it and it's packed with nutrients the best part the price is right with kids meals under five dollars and baby food and smoothie snacks under three dollars it makes trying a little spoon easy get 50% off your first order with the code morbid 50 at checkout again that is 50% off your first order with code morbid 50 at check out so now is all that was going on like

literally as this is happening. Neil Henderson and James Upchurch are making their way back to campus in Chris's car, mind you. Cool. But not before making a few stops along the way. So when James ran back into the car, he apparently looked at Neil and said excitedly, I did it. I can't believe I did it. I never want to see that much blood again for the rest of my life. Let's get out of here. Okay. I did it. I can't believe I did it. I can't believe. I don't want to see that again. It's like that maybe you shouldn't murder people. Right. It's really easy not to see that much blood. And like, I can't believe I really did it. Like, you didn't just, like, beat level 1,000 in Best Fiends.

Like, I couldn't believe I did that either. You just slaughtered an entire family. That's nothing to be proud of. Wow. Like, we all know that. But that's so callous, though. It's unreal. So they got onto the highway and they pulled over at some point so that James could change

his clothes. And then they pulled over again and drove into the woods so that he could dispose of those clothes. And the way they decided to do that was he wrangled up all his blood. clothes, the map that Chris had drawn, and the knife that he had literally used to murder leaf, and they set all of that on fire in the woods. I feel like this is going to end really smoothly. Did you think that the knife was going to burn in the fire?

I need to know if you thought that was going to happen. For sure. So then they stopped another time because they had to wash the mud from the previous stop off of the car and have to get gas, obviously. And they paid for that gas using the 60 to 80 bucks that James had taken. from the house. My God. Didn't take anything else, took 60 to 80 bucks to make it look like a robbery.

Yeah. Okay. Just put gas in the car. Okay, dokey. So luckily for the police, a pig farmer in the area contacted them to let them know that around the time these murders took place, he had seen a fire in the woods. Yeah. And he said, I wonder if those two instances could be related.

Hmm. They were. Yeah. So the police follow up on the tip. They go out to the woods where he said he had seen the smoke. And they were able to track down the area. sure enough, there was an entire heap of evidence to collect. My God.

They found clothing, what was left of the map that Chris had drawn up for his friends, a rubber sole belonging to a Reebok shoe, imagine. Why did you leave the soul of your shoe there? I was just going to say what the fuck. And a hunting knife sitting in a pile of ash. Wow. So through more detective work, they also found out that Leith and his two stepkids were not necessarily on the best of terms.

And they also found out that Leith had just found out. that Leith had just fallen into a pretty large sum of money. So it was like pretty easy for them to establish a motive here for this crime. It's lining up like dominoes. And luckily, like a lot of this stuff is kind of just falling right into their lap, which is great. So Bonnie, Angela and Chris were all asked to take polygraph tests because at first they wondered, like, because Bonnie and Angela were like alive still, they were like, were they in on this? Yeah, you have to at least, you know. Yeah.

So luckily they were quickly ruled out Bonnie, obviously. obviously. And they both agreed to take a polygraph test, but Chris wouldn't take one. I wonder why. Yeah, it's crazy. So that obviously only made the police want to look further into him. And in doing so, they heard from a lot of people that Chris had just been talking about getting rid of his stepfather so that he could acquire his inheritance for like months. They always do. They've been talking about it for months. They always talk to everyone they know about the fact that they're going to murder someone. It's like always. This is a campus. Everyone, and then like, like, Stacey's going to tell Sally. Sally's going to tell Joe. Joe's going to tell Schmo and we're all going to fucking know. It's the tea. It's the tea. It's the disgusting, horrible, horrific tea. They're probably all sharing it being like, this guy's like a weird. He's a weird. He's a nut. What is he doing? I bet he's not going to do that. He's talking about killing his stepdad. Like, this guy's weird. It's also like, guys, if anybody tells you that they're going to kill somebody, just take it seriously and tell someone. It's better to be overreactive than underreactive. Just no one's going to make funny. if it being too much. No. We're going to be like, you're a shitty person if you're like not enough.

Exactly. Just go overboard. Exactly. So, of course, Neil Henderson and James Upchurch's names were the ones that were most brought up in these talks because they were two of Chris's best friends. And they had always been around when Chris was talking about killing Leith. So the other kids that sometimes played D&D, they were with Chris and James and Neil. They said that they had heard the three friends talking about what would happen when Leith died, but not specifically anything about murdering him, just what they would do with the money and everything. I'm like, so you knew that they were going to fight him. Yeah, it's like, come on. So the police get James and Neal's names, and they're like, let's pay them a visit. So first they talked to Neal, which was great, because he

cracked right away. I knew it. Yeah, Neil, bitch boy. Well, like, I'm glad he cracked, but you're a bitch boy. I had Neil's number from the beginning. I was like, it's Neil. Yeah, it's going to be the one that's like, I did it. Yeah, 100%. He tells the investigators, everything he knows. And in exchange, he gets a deal. Of course. Duh. So then they decided, okay, we're going to have to make Chris a similar deal

in which he would plead guilty to a lesser charge of aiding and abetting. Because they're not going to be able to get him really on much else. He didn't take his hands and do it. Right. So they were like, let's give him a deal, convict him, or hopefully convict him with aiding and abetting, and then we'll

get Neil on like something, but we'll give him a deal so that we can get to the big guy here, James Upchurch, who had literally used his two hands to bludgeon and stab leave to death and try to do the same for Bonnie. They were like, let's get him on first-degree murder. Yeah. So when the medical examiner was able to put together an autopsy report on 42-year-old Leith von Stein, 42 years old, it showed that they're, and this is horrible, this is pretty graphic, just so you know if you want to skip ahead. There were five lacerations to his scalp that had been caused from blunt force trauma.

My God. There were seven stab wounds to his back, and there was one that went through the left side of his chest that stabbed directly through his heart. Oh. So the only good, like, for lack of a better word, thing that happened, was that luckily he died quickly because he would have been, like, he would have just bled out with a couple minutes. Horrible.

And it showed that his body had put quite a fight up. He was covered in bruises and scrapes as defensive wounds. Now, the knife that was found in the fire that was reported by the pig farmer. According to the prosecution, most definitely could have caused the injuries, not only found on Mr. Vonstein, but also found on Mrs. Vonstein, Bonnie. Yeah. She was stabbed once in the chest. Wow. She, and that stab actually had caused her lung to collapse and caused internal bleeding.

My God. It's like insane that she managed through this. She, too, had multiple cuts all over her head. And I don't know why this freaked me. out as much as it did, but she fractured her thumb in the beginning of the attack when she reached over for her husband because what was most likely a baseball bat came crashing down on her thumb. Oh, my God. This was brutal.

It's like savagery. It's insane. So James's trial starts in January of 1990, and both Neil and Chris had taken their plea deals, which meant that they were going to be the ones to testify against James Upchurch. So Chris testified that he was the one behind the entire plan that he said he had drawn up the map of the neighborhood for James. He had also given him a spare key to the home. He testifies all of this. He's like, yep, did it?

He's like, because he has to because he got his deal. Neil testified that his only role in the murder was to be the getaway driver and the lookout. And it seemed like most of the people in James Upchurch's life were shocked that he was wrapped up at a murder trial. And even more so that he was the one to like carry out the actual murder. one of his teachers from high school was called to testify, and she just testified that he had been a really great student. She actually used the word gifted, like he was in gifted classes, and she named a bunch of clubs that he was a part of. Wow. And he was a part of like all these great clubs at school.

I don't see that coming. But a psychologist who evaluated James testified that they found he had an absence of violent tendencies, which I was like, that's a weird finding. I'm like, I don't think so. What now? But that his primary mode of dealing with things that happened to him through. his life was to deny any of his thoughts or feelings about the situation and just to like detach okay so you can kind of see especially when he came back in and he said like I can't believe I did that right I did it and then was like I don't want to see that again exactly let's move on like that's total detachment right

it's just like I don't know how you can detach from something like that but his the psychologist was like yeah he can crazy this guy can do it now his own mother said that he was raised on a farm and that he came from a good family who all went to church on Sundays. It's like picturing this like little farmhand boy going to church with his family and this is what he does. Yeah. And she said the only thing that she could really point to that may have disrupted him was when his parents divorced when he was 18. Now, to be fair, though, he did have a bit of a past when it came to the law. Like all these people are very surprised and obviously you're going to be surprised when somebody you know it turns out to be a murderer. That's a surprising thing. But it's also like he was doing a lot of drugs.

Yeah. Seems like he wasn't like, you know, the super polished student that was not doing anything wrong here. No. And by the way, he did have a past. After he graduated high school, and this is like insane. He and some of his friends went back to the school, back to the high school in the winter of 86 and broke in to steal a computer. And they didn't end their break in there. They actually broke into a home. What? And that's the thing. Like if you can break into a home, like you've always said, home invaders are the craziest fucking people. One of my criminal justice teachers, who was a detective, always told us home invasions, those people are the scariest fucking people in the world. Anybody that can walk into a house in the middle of the night not knowing what the fuck they're walking into, you don't want a tango with them. No, you do not. You do not. So he and his friends literally did that.

Yeah. And they stole alcohol, a TV, some clocks, and a set of binoculars. Okay. So they got caught. And James obviously found out that he could probably be convicted of these charges. And the charges that he faced could spend up to 20 years in prison just from this robbery. Now, he was scared about that part of it. But his parents did notice that he actually didn't seem to care or really feel sorry about the crime itself.

He was just more worried about going to jail for a long time. But he didn't show any regret or remorse for doing it. None. Wow. Now, I guess that psychologist was on to do. something when they said that he denied thoughts and feelings. I was going to say detachment. Yeah. So eventually his charges for the break-ins were actually merged, and he only had to pay restitution and do community service. That's wild. He didn't get around to doing either of those things,

though. And he actually ended up getting arrested a couple more times for things like reckless driving. And like I mentioned in the beginning, driving without a license. Wow. So like, he was getting into trouble left and right. What do you mean? Like, I know, I know you could never see something like this coming, but like, don't act like crazy shocked. Well, nobody's being like, yeah, you know what? After high school, it seems like he just started going down a bad path. Right. Like couldn't see this coming.

Of course. Bad path. Right. Some wouldn't say there was a bad path. Don't be like, yeah, he's just a farm boy. He's just a gifted student. He was a part of a lot of clubs. I'm like, and a home invader.

Yeah. It's like that he's a pretty bad kid. Yeah. Now, in this case, James Upchurch would not plead guilty to murder. And he denied any involvement in the crime whatsoever. he said he wasn't even there. His defense did argue that there was not one piece of physical evidence that belonged to him to tie him to that scene because that knapsack was only identified to him through Neil and Chris. So they were like, we don't know that it's his. I mean, that's defense team.

Yeah. And they said, actually, he couldn't have been the one to carry out the murders. Really? Because the medical examiner had testified that whoever had wielded this bat was most likely right-handed because of the logistics of how everything lines up. What is that called? The trajectory. Trajectory. Thank you. Yes, yes. But James, so he says this has to have been a right-handed person, most likely. James is left-handed.

I'm like, he could, like, people bat both sides all the time, you know, switch hitter. Yeah. So the defense, though, they were like, maybe, I think it was Neil who did this, and James was actually just the getaway driver. They were like, Neil must have swung and killed Leith and attacked Bonnie. Now, obviously Neil denied this. And when he was shown a picture of Leith after the attack, he started crying on the stand, like, sobbing. And he told the courtroom that he simply could have never done that to another person. Wow.

I was like, yeah, you could just drive the person who was going to do it there. That's the thing. It's like, you're not innocent, man. You're not a good person. You knew what was happening in there and you agreed to do it. He just sat there and, like, stew mockered it. He was like peer pressure and the need to fit in. I'm very sensitive.

He literally said that. He was like, I just needed to fit in. And, like, they pressured be into it. I'm like, I wanted to fit into. but like I would never want to fit in with two people that were planning a murder. Yeah, I never went to murder for it. Never. So ultimately, it was James Uptchurch who was found guilty of first degree murder, assault

with a deadly weapon, with intent to kill or seriously injure, conspiracy to commit murder, and burglary in the first degree. Because though he hadn't taken that $20 off the dresser, he had taken money from Bonnie's purse to make it look like a robbery. So he was at first sentenced to death. Whoa. But two years later in October, his death sentence was taken away and commuted to life in prison. Okay.

Because of like constitutional stuff. Yeah. Now, you know, that's the official thing. You know, the constitution and shit. Yeah. So originally when he was sentenced, he told the court and the judge that he was shocked and appalled by the verdict. Oh, of course. And that the jury, like, the jury would have believed two confessed murderers over him.

What? I'm like, okay, you're all just a bunch of idiots anyway. Losers. So when it was announced that they had voted for the death. penalty and that James was going to face that. He told the judge and the courtroom, I intend to take my own life by fasting. I want to die with as much honor and dignity as I can scrape together. Hun, you're going to have to do a lot of scraping. That much scraping. A lot of scraping. Much scraping. Because there's nothing. Yeah, you have no dignity. Like, I love that you think you have dignity. That's an honor. That's a farce. Yeah, that truly is. I love that word. So he didn't, obviously, because the death penalty ended up getting converted, but he will be up for parole this year.

Stop. 2022. I couldn't find anything about like when his parole date is or anything like that, but he is up for parole this year. Hate that. Hate that. So Neil Henderson was convicted of second-degree murder for aiding and abetting and also aiding and abetting assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or seriously injure. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the four. for the former charge and six for the latter, so 46 years total.

Damn. But he was paroled in December of 2000, only having served eight years. I was going to say, I know he's not serving all of that. No, of course not. For 50 years, American Home Shield has protected household budgets from the unexpected, like a dryer that won't dry or an AC that's lost at school. That's a funny pun. In fact, they help cover the cost to repair or replace parts of over 20 home systems and

appliances when they wear out, no matter how old they are. Service fees limitations and exclusions do apply, so see your plan for details. But if American Home Shield can't repair the covered item, they will replace it. And again, those service fees limitations and exclusions do apply, so, you know, see your plan for details. But I am obsessed with American Home Shield because American Home Shield members get more, more coverage options and fewer exclusions. From HVAC systems and plumbing to kitchen appliances, their plans help protect parts of up to 23 essential home systems and appliances. The electronics coverage is available too for an unlimited number of eligible items like smart watches, flat screen TVs, and more. Other options include roof leak repair and pool and spa coverage.

These are all like super important parts of your home. Like our AC condenser went recently and unfortunately we didn't have American Home Shield at the time and I was like, can you imagine if we had that? That would have been so much money that we didn't. have to spend like that set us back my friend but guess what if you have american home shield the coverage is available no matter how old your systems and appliances are and guess what we have an exclusive $50 off for listeners of the show honestly this is something that you're going to want to get for your home because things go wrong all the time like and it always happens when you fixed one thing you're like okay cool like we spent the money we fixed that we're going to be good for a while and then something

super expensive will go and you're like oh my gosh crap i we got to have to have you're like we got to have American Home Shield. So get it. Keep your home up and running and your budget on track with American Home Shield. Right now, morbid listeners can take $50 off their most comprehensive plans ever. Go to aHS.com slash morbid now to save $50. That's aHS.com slash morbid for $50 off any plan. Service fees, limitations and exclusions do apply, so see your plan for details. But American Home Shield, be sure with the shield. I love Pots. Chris Pritchard was convicted of the aiding and abetting charge, more specifically, aiding and abetting in second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years

for the assault on Bonnie. Whoa. Mm-hmm. So during his trial, he testified that it was all about getting the money and that his plan, if it had gone off without a hitch, was to buy a house, continue to do drugs, and just play dungeons and dragons all day. Yeah. Yeah.

While he just thought about the fact that he killed his whole family. That's all I want. So his mother would visit him in prison as much as she could after she recovered from all her injuries. Once she was healthy enough, she visited him every single weekend in prison. That's some mom shit. And ended up forgiving him. That is some mom shit. She later said, I visited with Chris for a long, long time in prison.

I've watched him grow. I've watched him change. You know what? She's a mom. I can't even like when it comes to your kids. Like I would never deign to say how I would react. act in that situation. That's the thing. It's your kids. All I can say is like, ooh, that's a mom. That's a big person. That is a big person. Now, when he first got to prison, Chris was really on his

fuck shit. At first, he said, you know, I found God and like, I'm a Christian now. But really, he was only using that for the purpose of keeping him safe in prison while he was there. Most of them do. Yeah. And then once he learned that the other inmates were actually terrified of him, he jumped right off that religious wagon and actually just started using drugs in prison and like getting into fights with people and being on his fuck shit. Cool. Yeah. But at some point, he started reading more and more about philosophy and atheism and just

like a bunch of different religions and stuff like that. And the more and more he read, the more that religion actually did resonate with him. So one day, he said he woke up and he just had this feeling that he had to get clean from the drugs he was doing in prison. So he actually joined a 12-step program in prison. Okay. And while he was finishing the program, he actually did become actually truthfully religious and he said that he realized God had been with him all along. I don't know if God was with you

when you were playing the murder of your entire family, but who am I to say? Yeah, I don't know about that. I wasn't there, but like, yeah, I didn't see God there. So he did get parole in June of 2007, and since then he's become a born again Christian and like does speeches and stuff to other kids. Okay. He says, don't murder your whole family. Now, he said in his dispatch speech that his mom was the one who pushed him forward along with God. And he knows that he is one of the worst sinners, but that he was put on this earth to teach other people how to be a good person. Call me cuckoo nuts crazy, but I don't know if the reason he was put on earth was to be involved in an innocent man's murder and then teach people not to do that. I kind of feel like

most people know not to do that anyway. Oh, yikes. Either way, that's a lot. He's teaching church classes these days. Okay. Well, you know what? I hope. hope he is truly turned around. I also hope that. I hope he is truly believing what he is saying. Yeah, me too. I hope that people are hearing it. Yeah. When they hear him and they choose not to murder people. I do hope that. I hope all of that. Totally. I hope Bonnie is doing great. I know. I hope so too. And I hope she. And I hope Angela is doing great. I hope they were able to move forward. Yeah. As people. and you know what they're big people for being able to choose forgiveness and to move forward. That's really impressive. Agreed.

But wow. Wow. Yikes. Wow. That's a lot. Yeah. It was so much. In fact, it was so much that it inspired two books, cruel doubt by Joe McGuinness.

I haven't read either. That book was adapted into a mini-series in 1992. And another book was written that same year. It's called Blood Game. by Jerry Bloodsoe. And that one also got adapted this time into a TV movie called Honor Thy Mother. I was just seeing that. Were you? Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't read either of them because I heard that they kind of like, they were, they became more theatrical. They take some artistic license. Yes. Thank you. So I didn't want to get something that maybe like, you know, was a little,

a little much. Yeah, you don't want to take any TV movie for real facts. No. And then I did, uh, I didn't read either of the books because I heard the same thing. And apparently both of the books were like very different. Like they had like very different telling. So I didn't want to confuse myself either. But I might read them now that I'm finished. Yeah. So yeah. Also a lot of apparently both of these like movies and the TV show lean really heavily into the fact that Dungeons and Dragons like had something to do with this. Oh, I hate that shit. But I think that's really stupid because the game is not the person that's responsible here because it's not a person. It's a game and the people playing the game are actually the ones responsible. And Dungeons and the

Dragons isn't teaching you to murder people for money. No. That's not what that game is about. I'm sure of that. I've never heard that. That I'm sure. And there was like this whole like debate over it and like I think people get very into it. But I didn't want to because I'm not even going to like.

No. And people bring in like the whole like satanic panic kind of thing with it. It's just how people are like, you know, like this band caused this horrible massacre. And it's like no, they didn't. And it's like any fantasy or magic thing, they always turn into like Satan. And it's just ridiculous. It's stupid. Yeah. It's just people making bad decisions.

That's the thing. Stop taking the blame from the people who do it. We are human beings. We make our own decisions. Exactly. We don't need to blame games and movies and shows and music. No. But that is the murder of Leith von Stein. Incredibly senseless. And just like, I can't imagine what Bonnie went through losing her husband and then having to go through the process of forgiving her child. Like she's an amazing woman for being able to do that. has been through it. Seriously. That is a lot and good for her for turning it around to a positive place. Like, damn. Yeah. Wow. That is a, I just, that, poor leaf. Like, I'm just like, that's really sad. I know. It sounds like there was absolutely no justification here, not that there ever is, but it sounds like there was nothing you could point to to be like, even point to that kind of rage. Exactly. It was just money, money motivated. That's so sad. I feel like so many of my cases lately are like inheritance. Yeah, you've had a lot of life insurance and inheritance. And I'm not doing it on purpose. No, it's not a theme I look for. They're just drawn to you. That's terrifying. I know. So with that, we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird. But not to worry that you go off to college and you start doing a bunch of drugs and you throw your whole future away and you and you're friends decide to kill your entire family, but you don't go along and then you think, oh wow, I'm going to get away with this because I didn't go along. But guess what? You're not going to get away with it. You can never kill people or be involved in the process of killing people and get away with it. Don't. You can't. Bye. Bye. You know,