211: Evil or Innocent Twins: Betty, Peggy & The Murder of Dr Jack Wilson

On May 22 1992, Betty Wilson frantically called 911 from her Huntsville, Alabama home. She found her husband, the esteemed Dr. Jack Wilson, in a pool of blood. Someone had bludgeoned and stabbed him to death. Initially, police had no suspects. Until an anonymous tip led them to a man named James White. James confessed to killing Dr. Wilson to prove his love for Betty’s twin sister, Peggy. According to James, Peggy had insisted that he murder her sister’s husband. But, according to Peggy and Betty, James was nothing but a deranged liar.

Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley 
Researched and written by Andrea Marshbank and Erica Kelley
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner 
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio 
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley 

Sources: https://southernfriedtruecrime.com/jack-wilson

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Southern If our true crime covers casesthat are not suitable for young listeners,
and there may also be some explicitlanguage used, listener discretion is advised.
The bond between sisters can be astrong one, but the bond between twin
sisters, it's hard for me toimagine. From the very moment twin sisters

(00:25):
exit their mother's womb, those littlegirls are together. So many life changing
milestones are experienced in near lockstep,your first steps, your first Easter dress,
your first day of school, Andfor each milestone that is not experienced
at the same time, well,it becomes a point of comparison. One

(00:50):
twin's life is always in stark reliefnext to the other. You can't help
but compare and contrast yourself to them. Having a twin sister, identical or
fraternal, must feel like seeing adifferent version of yourself, like witnessing an
alternate universe before your very eyes,one where you made different choices, and

(01:15):
that could be very difficult some days. Just staring in the mirror as hard
enough. Imagine if that mirror wasan entire person who, in a way
reflected your own choices, both goodand bad, back at you. In
today's case, we have twin sisterswho, though they were very close,

(01:37):
were incredibly different people. They weretwo unique individuals. They each had their
own hopes, dreams, and goals. But in May of nineteen ninety two,
they became unified in one mission,and that mission was either to mastermind
the murder of one twin's husband,doctor Jack Wilson, or to prove that

(02:01):
they were innocent. Welcome to Episodetwo eleven, Evil or Innocent Twins Betty
Peggy and the Murder of Jack Wilson. Jack Ray Wilson was born in May
of nineteen thirty seven to parents Wordaand William in Chicago, Illinois. Jack's

(02:24):
father's side of the family was originallyfrom England. His grandfather was nationalized in
eighteen seventy three when he was sixyears old. By the age of thirty
three, Jack's father had landed inChicago. He soon met the woman who
would become Jack's mother, Worda Wardaand her family were primarily from Arkansas,

(02:51):
though she herself had been born inLouisiana. William and Worda were wed in
Chicago in March of nine, eighteenthirty three. Four years later, they
welcomed Jack his little sister was bornin nineteen forty three. By that time,
Jack and his family were living inOklahoma City. His father was working

(03:15):
in a restaurant called Jake's Cowshed.Jack's father, William, then served in
World War II, mercifully making ithome to his family when so many other
young men didn't. William passed awayin February of nineteen sixty three, when
he was sixty six years old andJack was only twenty six. That is

(03:38):
still a very young age to loseyour dad, and it had to be
hard. Despite or perhaps because of, whatever hardships and grief he had known,
Jack had grown up to be aclever, charming, and kind young
man, and he put all ofthat to good youth in his choice of

(04:00):
a career as a doctor. Theyear before, in nineteen sixty two,
Jack had earned his Doctor of Medicinedegree from the University of Tennessee College of
Medicine. He had been in thetop ten percent of his class. I'm
so glad mister Wilson lived long enoughto see his son become a doctor.

(04:23):
Around this same time, Jack marriedhis first wife. Her name was Julia.
In August nineteen sixty two. Theytied the Knot in Memphis and had
several children together. Though they eventuallydivorced, friends said the divorce was amicable
with shared custody of the kids.Jack adored his children and spent as much

(04:46):
time with them as he could.Growing in his career, Jack, who
was probably more well known as DoctorWilson, specialized his medical practice and became
an optimallogist, which is different froman optometrist. An optometrist is your primary

(05:06):
eye care doctor, while an ophthalmologistis a specialist who treats more complex medical
issues related to the eyes. Earlyon and for the rest of his career,
doctor Wilson was revered as a kindand generous man who would often waive

(05:27):
expensive bills for patients who could notafford them. By the late nineteen seventies,
forty something meter Jack met a prettynurse named Betty at work. She
was in her early thirties with brownhair and brown eyes. Betty later wrote
an Old Huntsfull magazine that Jack flirtedso much he called her brown eyes in

(05:50):
front of patients. Jack and Bettyhead it off right away. It was
love at first sight. According toBetty. They only went on two dates
before deciding to live together. Bettyhad also already gone through a divorce and
had children of her own. Sheworked several different kinds of jobs to pay

(06:11):
the bills before being encouraged to attendnursing school. Once she did, she
found her calling, at least untilshe became a doctor's wife and quit her
job. I'm going to pause nowfor a short commercial break. Betty Gay

(06:33):
Woods and her fraternal sister, PeggyJoy Woods, were born in July of
nineteen forty five to parents Lloyd andNell and Gadsden, Alabama. Betty and
Peggy were the youngest of four daughtersin the Woods family. By the time
Betty and Peggy were five years oldin nineteen fifty, their father was a

(06:56):
city patrolman on the Gadsden Police Force. Betty said their mother worked in a
factory and described them as a typicallower middle class family. In nineteen sixty
four, Betty and Peggy graduated fromGadsden High School. At the time of
their commencement, the eighteen year oldswere both smart, well liked, and

(07:18):
accomplished young women, though it's cleartheir interests were different. Betty had been
on the student council, She hadparticipated in the Drama Club, Future Business
Leaders of America, the Red Cross, the Powderpuff football team, and more.
Peggy participated in many of the sameclubs as Betty, including FBLA,

(07:42):
but Peggy had also been heavily involvedin the school choirs, and Peggy had
been recognized as the school's homecoming Queentwo years in a row. She had
also won two beauty pageants. Accordingto Steve Means, a more classmate of
the Woods Sisters who spoke with snaptPeggy was perceived as the debutante. She

(08:07):
excelled. She was the homecoming queen. Betty was more average, but they
always appeared to get along just fine. As the years went on, Peggy
graduated from Auburn University in Montgomery,Alabama, and she became an elementary school
teacher for the Shelby County School District, which is still south of Birmingham.

(08:30):
By nineteen eighty five, Peggy hadalso married and divorced, then remarried to
a man named Wayne Lowe. Waynewas the minister of music for the first
Baptist Church in Vincent, Alabama,and Peggy taught Bible classes at that same
church and was lead singer in thechoir. Wayne adopted her two kids from

(08:52):
her first marriage, and they hadtwo more together in all, three daughters
and a son. Meanwhile, well, Betty had married her childhood sweetheart,
had a couple of children and quicklydivorced, explaining they both knew they were
just too young. She later describesher first apartment on her own and partying

(09:13):
a lot, mainly because later booksabout her life would go into her past.
It all changed when Betty became anurse and met doctor Jack Wilson.
As I said, they moved intogether after a couple of dates and married
just nine months after Jack's first divorce. In nineteen seventy eight, everything changed

(09:39):
again very gravely when Jack had tohave a serious surgery. He had long
suffered with Crohn's disease. It's atype of inflammatory bowel disease that causes swelling
in your digestive tract. It's avery painful disease, sometimes requiring surgery.

(10:00):
It did for Jack. Jack hada colostomy. It's a procedure that alters
the path of food waste as itmoves through your body. Essentially, they
put a hole in your large intestineand re route your fecal matter to exite
your body through a plastic bag,which is known as a colostomy bag.

(10:22):
A short time after Jack had thissurgery, on July sixth, nineteen seventy
eight, forty one year old Jackand thirty three year old Betty married.
Their nuptials took place in Huntsville,Alabama. At first, their relationship appeared
idyllic. A former friend of Betty's, Robbie Smith, told snapped, I

(10:43):
thought she had a wonderful life andthe man she was married to was a
wonderful man. She always seemed tobe really happy. Plus, as the
years went by, they were rich. Jack earned a high income as a
doctor, Betty was able to quither job. They drove Mercedes and BMW

(11:05):
vehicles. They lived in an extremelynice, four bedroom, three and a
half bathroom home on a near acreof land, and this home was located
in a fancy neighborhood called Boulder Circle. Boulder Circle was where many of the
local Huntsville doctors and other highly paidpeople lived. Newspapers often listed Jack and

(11:28):
Betty as being from Boulder Circle ratherthan Huntsville, as if suggesting living in
Boulder Circle meant something entirely different thanliving elsewhere. In Huntsville, and I
guess it kind of was. Jackshowered his wife with lavish gifts, but
was more of a simple eccentric manhimself. Jack's son, Steve, and

(11:54):
some family friends talked to People magazineabout how funny and quirky he was wearing
Christmas ties in the summer, andhe loved to eat peanut butter out of
the jar, which his son claimedirritated Betty. Despite what Steve said,
outwardly, they seemed to have awonderful life together. But of course money

(12:16):
doesn't mean your life is perfect,and Betty and Jack weren't without their problems.
Betty struggled with alcoholism. She latersaid she drank a lot because she
felt inferior and nervous in their wealthysocial circles Bloody Mary brunches and Martini lunches,
as she put it, and shewas also careful to explain that when

(12:41):
drinking, she said many things whichwere out of character for her. Quote,
when I was drunk, I wouldsay horrible and nasty things, often
attacking the people who loved me themost. In nineteen eighty six, eight
years into their marriage, Betty quitdrinking and joined Alcoholics anonymous. She said

(13:03):
it was the best thing that everhappened to her. She became well known
in AA as a role model andwas very kind to others. That's not
just from her viewpoint, others saidit as well. But around the same
time, rumors began whispering around Huntsvillethat Betty was having extramarital affairs, and

(13:26):
Betty fully admitted the rumors were true. Later, Betty would insist that she
and Jack were basically in an openmarriage. She claimed that Jack had urged
her to pursue other men romantically,as his one true love was his job.

(13:46):
But it's not one hundred percent clearif this was true or if Betty
was altering history after the fact.She wrote quote, like all marriages,
ours had its problems, but strangely, Ann, none of them had to
do with sex. Jack and Iwere both grown people who believed that what
we did in our bedroom was ourown business as long as both of us

(14:09):
agreed. Yes, I had affairs, but I never cheated, and neither
did Jack. That sounds strange,like an oxymoron. You had affairs,
but you didn't cheat. I thinkwhat she means is what in modern culture
we now call emotional cheating. Affairswere just sex, but she never emotionally

(14:35):
cheated on her husband. A fewsources indicated that Jack approved of Betty's affairs,
but none of these sources that Icould find are from Jack himself or
those close to Jack. However,whether or not he explicitly consented, it's
likely Jack was aware that Betty wasseeing other men. Betty would later write

(15:00):
an essay for Old Huntsville magazine,and she seemed to be creatively tailoring her
story. I was careful about quotes. I drew from it because it's hard
to know what is the truth,and of course Jack isn't around to explain
his side. In nineteen eighty six, one of Betty's friends, Brenda,

(15:20):
experienced a tragedy. Brenda's husband,who was also a close friend of Jack's
and a doctor, had died bysuicide. Not long after it happened,
Betty approached Brenda. She asked Brendaif she had killed her husband. The
question shocked and hurt Brenda. Shelater testified that she replied, no,

(15:45):
Betty, you know he had suicidaltendencies, and besides, I was in
love with him. But Betty keptasking Brenda if she killed her husband.
According to Brenda, Betty repeatedly said, you know, you can tell me.
Finally, Brenda broke down and beganto cry. It was then that

(16:07):
Betty said, I want to killJack. Can you help me? In
response, Brenda suggested that Betty divorcedJack, but according to Brenda, Betty
refused. She knew that a divorcemeant she would lose her wealth and lavish
lifestyle. Betty told Brenda that sheenvied how Brenda had inherited her husband's estate,

(16:30):
and Betty said she would rather bea widow than a divorcee. Later
in court, Brenda would admit thatBetty was drunk during this conversation and Brenda
hadn't taken the conversation seriously, whichis probably why she didn't contact the police.

(16:51):
But following this conversation, Brenda diddistance herself from Betty. I'm going
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By the year nineteen ninety two,onlookers could tell that the Wilson's once
perfect marriage had turned sour. Theyslept in separate bedrooms, which is more
common than most people think, butit was still a black mark against Betty

(19:48):
because of the rumors about her affairs. But even worse, Betty spoke poorly
about Jack to others and often Onceshe asked Jack's bookkeeper to give him a
message, and then she made quotea rude hand gesture at the bookkeeper.
I can imagine what that was.A different woman who worked at Jack's office

(20:10):
also heard Betty say she would ratherbe a well respected widow than a divorcee,
just like Betty had previously told Brenda. Also, Betty would refer to
Jack's colostomy bag as his ship bag. Steve Wilson, Jack's son, told
People magazine that she also called hisfather shitbag. He said Betty was sick

(20:33):
of her husband and didn't want togo anywhere with him, and she was
not subtle about her extramarital affairs.The Wilson's housekeeper testified that Betty sometimes brought
these men to her home and it'snot like Betty couldn't afford a hotel room.
Toward the end of May of nineteenninety two, Jack and Betty were

(20:55):
preparing to take a vacation to SantaFe, New Mexico. They planned to
leave on Monday, May twenty fourth, but on Friday May twenty first,
the unthinkable happened. At about ninethirty pm, Betty arrived home from an
AA meeting, and she discovered herfifty five year old husband, doctor Jack

(21:15):
Wilson, lying in a large poolof blood at the top of their stairwell.
He appeared lifeless. Betty dropped everythingshe was holding and ran to a
neighbor's house and called nine one one. She explained that it looked like Jack
had been attacked. There was apolice officer who had just finished responding to

(21:37):
a different call about six blocks away. He arrived at Betty and Jack's home
within minutes and secured the crime scene. When more investigators arrived, they confirmed
what was now obvious, Jack Wilsonwas dead. As the officers looked over
the crime scene, they noted thatJack was positioned on his back. He

(22:00):
had been severely beaten and stabbed multipletimes in his torso he had been bludgeoned
to death. Both of his armswere broken as he had tried to defend
himself. There was blood all aroundhim and splattered on a wall, and
a bloody aluminum bat lay about fivefeet away from his body. According to

(22:22):
forensic pathologist doctor Joseph Embry, Jackdied from a mix of the gruesome head
injuries and the stab wounds. Therewas no sign of forced entry, but
that doesn't mean the same thing hereas it might in a different case.
Jack was widely known for being verytrusting. Neighbors reported that he often left

(22:45):
his doors unlocked, which isn't asoutlandish as it sounds. Boulder Circle was
an incredibly safe neighborhood. It wasn'tuncommon for residents there to leave their doors
unlocked. But for the record,there wasn't any kind of major CSI type
investigation of the Wilson house like we'reused to hearing about and seeing on TV.

(23:07):
That will become more clear later.Police interviewed Betty. She said that
evening she had been out shopping.She had purchased a new pair of sneakers
from a department store at the ParkwayCity Mall. These sneakers had a distinct
floral pattern. Afterward, she hadgone to her AA meeting. Betty was

(23:30):
candid with police about the state ofher marriage. She said it was not
always a happy one. She impliedthat Jack's struggle with Crone's disease, his
surgery and colostomy bag had made itchallenging for them to have a fulfilling sex
life. Still, the detectives didnot suspect Betty, at least not for

(23:51):
a few days, until they receiveda notification about an anonymous tip. According
to The Aniston's, a Shelby Countyman named James had been bragging about killing
a man and Huntsville. Upon hearingthis, the Huntsville Police Department contacted Shelby
County law enforcement. They found James, and he confessed. James Denison White

(24:18):
was born in nineteen forty one,and according to his own testimony, he
only had an eighth grade education.When James was approaching thirty years old in
the late nineteen sixties, he hadserved in the army during the Vietnam War,
but he was dishonorably discharged after heattacked his own troops. Later,
his attorney would call that incident amental collapse. Afterward, James would go

(24:45):
on to abuse drugs and alcohol formore than twenty years. He would be
in and out of mental hospitals asmany as seven times, and he had
been incarcerated for auto theft and drugrelated charges. On one occasion, he
had escaped from a work release program. By the time he was fifty one
in the year nineteen ninety two,he had been married and divorced four times,

(25:10):
and he had four children. Atsome point, he had suffered some
injuries during a workplace incident, soby this time he was inconsistently employed.
When he did work, it wasprimarily as a handyman or construction worker.
That's actually how James first became involvedin all of this. He was doing

(25:32):
some carpentry work for his daughter's schoolin Vincent, Alabama, and that's how
James crossed paths with Betty's twin sister, the first grade teacher, missus Peggy
Lowe. James was building shelves atPeggy's school, and he and Peggy developed
a friendship. The nature of Jamesand Peggy's friendship is highly debated. According

(25:56):
to James, he and Peggy developedromantic feeling for each other, they spoke
on the phone a great deal.During those calls, Peggy confided in James
that she was unhappy in her marriage. On one occasion, she proclaimed her
love for James. As James tellsit, he and Peggy kissed multiple times

(26:17):
and had sex once, But accordingto interviews and court testimony, Peggy has
always steadfastly denied this alleged romantic relationship. However, she could not deny some
of the phone calls, as therewere phone company records. But Peggy claimed
it was mostly about his carpentry workand she was just friendly with him listening

(26:42):
to his troubles. She had noidea that James was infatuated with her,
and she certainly did not return hisaffection. Sure, Peggy and her husband
had hired James to build cabinets fortheir home, but that was because they
knew James needed the cash, notbecause Peggy was interested in a relationship with

(27:03):
him. This is the beginning ofan ongoing theme for today's case. James
White says this happened, while PeggyLowe and Betty Wilson say, no,
this happened, and never the twainshall meet. To start, we'll go
through James side of the story,then we'll cover Peggy and Betty's. According

(27:26):
to James, Peggy told him insecret that she had a quote friend who
was in a bad relationship. Peggyexplained that this friend had a sick and
abusive husband, and Peggy wanted Jamesto quote resolve the problem by putting him
away. They're sure were a lotof euphemisms thrown around a hallmark of Southern

(27:49):
ladies, for sure, But Jamesread between the lines. He said he
knew that Peggy wanted someone killed.Though for a while he thought Peggy's friend
was merely another euphemism referring to herself, James figured she wanted Wayne Low dead.
It wasn't until March of nineteen ninetytwo that he realized Peggy's friend was

(28:12):
her twin sister Betty, and thatthe husband was none other than doctor Jack
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Code SFTC. In James's recorded confessionwith the police, he said about Peggy
quote, I was trying to winher love and affection. She was putting
me in a crack to prove myselfto her. It started as a joke,
but she kept calling and pushing meto get something done to help her

(31:26):
sister. Eventually, James told Peggythat he had connections and could arrange for
Jack's murder. But James was lyingabout his so called connections as he would
be the one to do the deed. From late March to early April of
nineteen ninety two, James and Peggyorchestrated the details of Jack's death. After

(31:51):
some negotiation, Peggy offered James fivethousand dollars for the job. That's nearly
eleven thousand in today's money. It'sstill a low amount for a hitman for
a doctor worth millions, But ofcourse, James is always described as drug
addicted, alcoholic, destitute, unhoused, and always desperate for quick cash.

(32:16):
In April, Peggy called James.She informed him that Betty had given her
half of the money as a downpayment. Peggy gave this twenty five hundred
to James. James, who wasin deep financial straits, used the money
to pay some past due bills.Next, he deposited five hundred in his

(32:37):
bank account, which had been overdrawnby four hundred up until that moment.
Then he spent the rest of themoney on his four children. By the
end of April, James had spentevery last penny of that twenty five hundred.
Approximately two weeks later, on Friday, May fifteenth, nineteen ninety two,

(33:00):
James and Peggy met in person.Peggy had stayed home from school that
day, and according to James,they had sex. Afterward. Peggy pressured
James to kill Jack. She saidthat if he didn't finish the job,
someone would have to repay Betty's twentyfive hundred dollars. But James told Peggy

(33:21):
he couldn't kill Jack without more money. Traveling from Vincent to Huntsville was more
than he could afford, and ofcourse he had spent all of that down
payment of twenty five hundred. NowPeggy and Betty had to figure out a
way to get James more money,So Peggy instructed James to go to Lake

(33:42):
Guntersville State Park, which is aboutan hour from Huntsville. Betty had an
AA meeting and a building there,so her black BMW would be parked near
the entrance of the park. Jameswas to open the back door of the
BMW, which would be left unlocked, and on the back seat would be
a book. The book would haveenough money hidden in its pages to finance

(34:06):
his trip to Huntsville. Then Jamescould kill Jack. On Saturday, May
sixteenth, James tried to do justthat, but a security guard for the
state park would not let him enter. I guess the guard could tell that
the unkempt James was up to nogood. James explained to the security guard

(34:29):
that he needed to get a bookfrom Betty's car. He told the guard
that he had traveled a long wayto get there. Still, the guard
refused to let him enter. Theguard said that James could call Betty on
a payphone at a service station locatedseveral miles from the park's entrance. James
went to the payphone, but hedidn't call Betty. She was in that

(34:52):
AA meeting and he didn't have thenumber. It's nineteen ninety two, we
weren't in that everyone as a cellphone age quite yet. Instead, James
called Peggy, and Peggy told Jamesto call the front desk to try to
reach Betty. James did and wasable to leave Betty a message. Then

(35:14):
he returned to the Lake Guntersville StatePark and waited by the entrance. Betty
retrieved the book entitled The Sleeping Beautyand the Firebird from her back seat and
she gave it to a security guard. Then the guard brought the book to
James. James now had the bookand the one hundred dollars bill inside of
it, so he went to Huntsville. He drove past Jack and Betty's home

(35:39):
and Boulder Circle. Then James returnedto his own home in Vincent. No
more than two days later, Bettycalled James. She asked him, as
reported by court documents, what thefuck was going on. Betty was angry
that James had not yet killed Jack. At this time. It was around

(36:00):
Monday, May eighteenth, and Bettywanted Jack out of her way by the
next Monday. That's when they weresupposed to go on vacation in New Mexico,
and Betty did not want to go. James told Betty that he couldn't
kill Jack because he couldn't get cartridgesfor his gun. So on Wednesday,

(36:21):
May twentieth, Peggy called James.She said she had quote the tool and
the equipment to do the job.It was at this point that James,
Betty, and Peggy met together atthe Logan Martin Dam. Betty and Peggy
arrived in Betty's black BMW. Peggygot out of the car with a sweater

(36:42):
in her hand. Hidden in thesweater was a thirty eight caliber Revolver.
Peggy opened the door to James's truckand put the gun in his back seat.
Then James returned to his home inVincent. He wrapped the gun in
a brown towel and stashed it undersome boards in an abandoned house next door
to his mobile home. At thispoint, the sisters told James they would

(37:07):
call him. Then early on themorning of Thursday, May twenty first,
Betty called James it was time tokill Jack, who was at his office.
James was supposed to bring the gun, shoot Jack and be done with
it, but when James went toJack's office, he decided he couldn't kill
him there there were too many peoplearound, so James went to a payphone

(37:30):
and called Peggy's number, but Bettypicked up. She was staying at Peggy's
house. James explained the situation andhe said he needed more money so he
could spend the night in Huntsville,presumably to kill Jack. The next day,
Betty told James to meet her atthe Parkway City Mall at noon.

(37:52):
They would rendezvous at the mall's Chickfil A, and Betty would give James
more money. James did it,he was told. He ordered a sandwich
from a young woman named Christina andthen went and sat on a bench outside
to eat it. Betty arrived,ordered food and then went outside to James's

(38:12):
bench. She handed him a bagwith another one hundred dollars bill inside of
it. Then James went to akmart to purchase a few travel items.
He bought a travel kit and underwear. Then he checked into the Ramata Inn.
James decided to drive by Betty andJack's house once more to check the

(38:34):
layout of the property. To dothis, James pretended to be a jogger
and ran by the house, buthe was wearing jeans. He stuck out
like a sore thumb, so peoplenoticed him. After this, James returned
to the Ramada Inn and called Peggy. The next morning, Betty called James,

(38:55):
I have to wonder if she askedthe same question, what the fuck
was going on, because it reallyseemed like James was dragging his feet.
James told Betty that he needed herto drive him to the house so that
no one would see him. SoBetty and James met again at the Parkway

(39:15):
City Mall. It was about threepm on Friday, and James got into
Betty's BMW. As he did,he noticed Betty wore flowery tennis shoes.
Then he crouched down onto the floorof her BMW and Betty drove him to
her house. Betty pulled into hergarage, handed James forty dollars and told

(39:37):
him where Jack's bedroom was on thesecond floor. Jack wasn't at home,
so the plan was for James tolie in wait. He would ambush Jack
when he got home, take somevaluables to make it look like a burglary,
and then leave and call Betty tocome and get him. James had
not brought the gun that Peggy andBetty gave him. He said he thought

(39:59):
it would a racket. Also,he said he was gun shy after his
stint in Vietnam. Instead, Jamesremembered having a rope. After this,
he waited on the second floor ofthe Wilson's home for several hours. Either
before he got to the Wilson's homeor while he was there, James drank

(40:20):
a case of beer and took fifteencaffeine pills. This was in addition to
his normally prescribed medication, one ofwhich was lithium. When Jack and James
crossed paths, both men were surprised. James hadn't heard Jack arrive home,
which isn't shocking if you consider hisstate of mind. Jack had probably been

(40:43):
at home for at least a fewminutes. He had gotten a bat from
the garage and used it to pounda sign in his front yard for a
political campaign. Jack was still holdingthe bat as he walked up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs outsidehis own bedroom, Jack ran into
James. When retelling the event,James said, I didn't hear him come

(41:07):
in, and we were face toface and he grabbed me, and I
freaked out. I kept reaching untilI found something, and I hit him
until he turned me loose, andthen I ran. James later testified that
he blanked out for much of themurder itself. He couldn't be sure if
he had or had not stabbed Jackwith a knife. He wasn't even sure

(41:30):
if he had brought a knife.The next thing James recalled was being in
the woods behind Betty and Jack's home. Then he changed his clothes, buried
the bag of bloody clothes in thewoods, and returned to the house.
He called Betty, who came andgot him and drove him back to his
truck, which was still at theParkway City Mall. After all of this,

(41:55):
James was supposed to receive the remainingtwenty five hundred dollars on The money
was supposed to be in Peggy's garage, but when James got to Peggy's garage,
the money was not there. Andthis is where James's story ended.
I'm going to pause now for ashort commercial break. James was arrested after

(42:23):
his confession. He was booked intothe Huntsville City Jail on Wednesday, May
twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two,five days after doctor Wilson was murdered.
At the time of James's arrest,the police were keeping his confession under wraps.
Meanwhile, Betty and Peggy were stayingwith her older sister and her husband.

(42:45):
When Betty and Peggy learned that Jameswas arrested. Their brother in law
testified later that the sisters did notshow a reaction. On Tuesday May twenty
sixth, there was a memorial servicefor the beloved doctor Jack Ray Wilson.
His body was cremated and the asheswere distributed to his friends and family.

(43:07):
That same evening, Hunts Full detectiveswent and picked up his widow, Betty
Wilson for a formal talk at thestation. Her twin sister, Peggy,
was also brought in and questioned ina separate room. They were allowed to
leave that night and spent the nighttogether again, which I gotta say is

(43:27):
again some crackerjack police work, allowingtwo supposed co conspirators to spend the night
together to get their story straight.On Thursday May twenty eighth, the forty
six year old twins Betty Wilson andPeggy Lowe were arrested, and according to
Madison County District Attorney Moe Brooks,the women tried to avoid the police for

(43:49):
at least twenty minutes before allowing themselvesto be taken into custody. Betty later
wrote in her essay for Old HuntsFull magazine it was because they had spent
the night at their sisters again,and then she spent some time with a
friend running errands. Then she andPeggy were washing their clothes at his house.
This was because Peggy's home and freshclothes were one hundred and ten miles

(44:14):
away in Vincent, Alabama, andBetty's clothes were at the crime scene.
Betty is pictured wearing a man's pajamashirt, which she said only added to
her cheating fem fatale persona and thepress rich bitch who had affairs arrested for
murder, she called the photos,which seemed to be in every paper.

(44:35):
Peggy is pictured as well, butshe managed to get her dress back on
and her arrest photo wasn't splashed everywhereas much as Betty's. The women were
then held in the Madison County Jail. They immediately and vehemently denied everything.
If convicted, Betty, Peggy,and James White all faced either death by

(44:58):
electric chair or life in prison withoutparole. This was considered a capital offense
for both Betty and Peggy because itwas a contract for higher murder, and
it was doubly a capital offense forJames, he had both participated in the
conspiracy and killed Jack. On Thursday, June fourth, Peggy was granted a

(45:20):
bond of one hundred and fifty thousanddollars. Her church and community raised the
money, and she walked out ofjail that same day. It was pretty
straightforward. Betty's bond hearing, whichcame after Peggy's, was not so simple.
She was denied bond because as awealthy woman, she had the means
to flee, but the attorney's teethwere already bared looking for blood. In

(45:45):
this first hearing, DA Mobrooks pointedto James White's confession as a clear indicator
of Betty's guilt. He said,what other reason would you have for a
stranger to come to Huntsville from ShelbyCounty and murdered doctor Wilson? Have complete
access to his home and still nothingexcept for the explanation he's given. Betty's

(46:08):
lawyers claimed she was innocent. Theythought she should be allowed to post her
bill and leave. To prove this, they pointed to inconsistencies in James's story,
and there were quite a few inconsistencies. By the time everything was said
and done, it was determined thatJames actually had fifty eight inconsistencies in his

(46:30):
initial taped confession, some of whichwere outright lies. There isn't any one
document that details each one of theseinconsistencies and lies, but some are simple
and some are even published early inthe papers, like how James had lied
about how he received his first paymentof twenty five hundred dollars from Peggy.

(46:53):
Initially he said that it was onthe side of the road, then he
claimed it was delivered in a differentmanner. I omitted that detail earlier,
just for clarity. When James testifiedin court with the version of events I
provided to you, he swore thatit was the truth, but his credibility
was damaged. The arrests of James, Betty, and Peggy obviously had not

(47:20):
led to clear answers, so thepolice continued their investigation into Jack's death.
The first and foremost important part wasmotive. Jack Wilson had been worth six
point three million dollars that's thirteen pointseven million reasons today. When Jack died,
most of his estate was set tobe inherited by his wife, Betty.

(47:45):
In two months before Jack was killed, he had taken out an additional
one million dollar life insurance policy.This was in addition to the six other
insurance policies that would have paid Bettyapproximately one hundred and thirty five thousand.
Add to all of this the generalperception that Betty didn't especially like or love

(48:06):
her husband and well, the caseagainst Betty seemed like a slam dunk to
most. Plus In the days followingJack's death, before Betty was arrested,
she had withdrawn sixty thousand dollars fromher and Jack's joint bank accounts. Most
of that money was deposited into herpersonal checking account. Shortly after, Jack's

(48:29):
children sued defrees his assets, andthe courts complied, including his joint accounts
with Betty. The authorities wondered ifmissus Peggy Lowe was also motivated by money.
She was a public school teacher,her husband was the musical director of
a church. They definitely were notwealthy people. If Betty shared some of

(48:52):
her inheritance from Jack's estate with Peggy, it could have been life changing,
and there there are some shows andstories that suggest Peggy often spent time with
her wealthy sister and dreamed of thatlife too. As a whole, law
enforcement officers tended to believe James's versionof what happened, and that's because the

(49:15):
police had found the gun registered toBetty Wilson. It was hidden under the
floorboards of the abandoned house next toJames's mobile home, just where he said
it would be, and James hadcorrectly identified that Betty was wearing floral sneakers
on the day Jack was killed.Betty had already used the sneakers and the

(49:36):
receipt for them as part of heralibi on the day Jack was murdered.
James said he saw the sneakers whenhe hid in the floorboard of her car
as she drove him to the houseto kill her husband. Sneakers that Betty
had purchased only hours before the murderhappened. Remember, witnesses from the AA

(49:58):
meeting Betty had attended also noticed thefloral sneakers, mainly because Betty was known
to dress up and she was dressedvery casual on this evening. In the
year leading up to the court proceedings, Huntsville, Alabama was on fire with
this case. The press went wild. Rumor had it the DA's office and

(50:20):
police were leaking lots of information tothe media. Everyone and their mama had
an opinion on it. Had adrunk, drug addled hitman killed the beloved
doctor Jack Wilson at the behest ofhis cheating wife. Or was James just
a fool who was in love withPeggy Low, a respected lady who appeared
to be happily married and was veryreligious. And if James had fabricated all

(50:45):
of this, why on earth hadhe decided to kill Peggy's sister's husband.
Was it a robbery gone wrong?If so, why hadn't he taken anything
of value from the house. Thepolice know that Jack's wallet was next to
his shoes on the floor. Thecash was gone, but the credit cards

(51:06):
were still there. Two guns andVCRs were left in plain sight in the
Wilson home, and a ski maskwas found on Jack's bed. There was
one gun case that was empty andleft open, though along with some ammunition.
Could it be the case for thegun James claimed the sisters brought to

(51:27):
him. Or had James himself stolenthe gun during the robbery gone wrong theory?
At this point, no one knewBetty or Peggy's side of the story
other than they maintained their innocence,But the confusions surrounding this case added more
fuel to the fire. It wassalacious with the perfect ingredients of sex and

(51:50):
money. Producers and writers came outof the woodwork preparing to create TV shows,
films, and books about this spectacularcase. Eddy's attorney said she turned
down up to twenty offers to sellher story, but it's likely she didn't
do that for moral reasons. Alocal bank had sued Betty. They accused
her of killing doctor Jack Wilson toinherit his estate and if she received any

(52:15):
royalties from a movie or book dealinvolving Jack's murder, this lawsuit meant that
she would have to pay south TrustBank twenty million dollars. But Jack's family
did not face these same concerns,and The Anniston Star reported that Jack's sons
from a previous marriage had agreed toa six figure deal for working with an

(52:39):
unnamed Beverly Hills production company. Theywere going to make a made for TV
movie entitled Black Widows The Alabama TwinsMurder. There isn't a TV movie by
that name, but there is onecalled Separated by Murder, starring Sharon Gless
as both twins. The names werechanged to Lily May and Holly Fay.

(53:04):
It's on the free app Crackle.If you're a TV movie junkie like me.
But if you're Southern, be forewarnedabout the fake accents. They're sugary
enough to give you a toothache.Anyway, While all of this is happening,
Peggy Low was living her life normally. She had been removed from the
classroom by the Shelby County School Board, but they still allowed her to do

(53:29):
administrative tasks as a special Assignments teacherin the central Office. She went to
church, She ate breakfast with herkids. She cooked her family dinner at
night. Meanwhile, Betty remained injail. Betty's attorneys alleged that the authorities
kept her in solitary confinement and thatthey denied her access to her watch and

(53:52):
writing materials. James was also injail, but he, unlike Betty,
did not use his attorneys to lodgepublic complaints. And if you hadn't had
your fill of drama yet, therewas more. This was an election year
for Huntsville's Madison County District Attorney.The sitting DA was Moe Brooks and his

(54:16):
competitor was Tim Morgan. Tim justhappened to be a very close friend of
doctor Jack Wilson, and Moe hadmade untoward comments that Betty had been campaigning
for Tim on the day that Jackwas killed. I'm not certain what the
exact comment Mo made was, thoughI think I get the meaning, and

(54:39):
by August twenty fourth, nineteen ninetytwo, Mo had to issue a public
apology. That November, Moe Brookslost his DA seat to Tim Morgan in
a bitter election, and then Timcould not prosecute any cases relating to Jack's
murder. His close relationship to doctorWilson was a conflict of interest. As

(55:05):
a result, the courts called uponthe nearby Limestone County DA Jimmy Fry for
Betty Wilson's trial. She was tobe the first of the three trials.
Jimmy Fry told the Hunts full Timesquote, someone asked me, how are
you going to prepare for this case? And I started to tell them I'd
take up bungee jumping. I'm goingto pause now for a short commercial break.

(55:37):
Betty Wilson's trial began in February ofnineteen ninety three. They held it
in Tuscaloosa County rather than Huntsville's MadisonCounty. Due to extensive pre trial publicity.
The prosecution subpoened nearly seventy witnesses,and Betty's four defense attorneys had prepared
one hundred witnesses of their own.The state's case was easy to follow.

(56:02):
Betty didn't like her husband Jack,but she did like his money, so
she planned and facilitated his murder toinherit the bulk of his fortune. The
prosecution painted Betty as a vain,unfaithful wife who believed she deserved her husband's
fortune. Limestone County's DA Jimmy Frysaid in court, though it appeared she

(56:25):
had everything, she wanted more andnot just more, she wanted at all,
and she wanted it now. Thestate brought many of Betty's own friends
to testify. These friends claimed thatBetty was known for saying hateful things too
and about Jack. These are thecomments she would later write about an old

(56:46):
Huntsville magazine that she attributed to herdrinking problem. Some of Betty's lovers testified,
confirming that she had relationships with menoutside of her marriage, which Betty
never denied. She claimed Jack knewand approved, and James White also took
the stand, he regaled the jurywith the rendition of events I told you

(57:10):
earlier, and then the state broughtout numerous witnesses that corroborated James's story.
Bank workers verified that James had indeedreceived an influx of cash in April of
nineteen ninety two. They confirmed thathe had paid off some bills and deposited
five hundred dollars. The teller evenremembered that she had seen James with a

(57:34):
wad of about one thousand dollars incash that he didn't deposit with her,
indicating that James might have spent thatsum on his children later, just as
he had said. Two security guardsfrom the late Gunnersville State Park testified that
yes, James had come to thestate park on that day. One guard
said he was the one to turnJames away, and the other guard had

(57:58):
been given the book from Betty andthen delivered it to James. The front
desk clerk also confirmed that a manhad called and left a message for Betty,
who was at her AA meeting.Additionally, telephone records from the paythone
at the nearby service station showed thatsomeone had called Peggy's home the corroborations just

(58:21):
kept coming and coming. The bookthat James said Betty had given him,
which was found in his home,was checked out in Betty's name at the
library. There was, as Imentioned, Betty's gun that was hidden near
James's home. His bloody shoes werealso found there. On the same day
and at the same time that Jamesalleged he Betty and Peggy met at the

(58:45):
Logan martin Dam to hand off thegun. Peggy and Betty said they had
left their friend's house to get icecream and rent videos together, but they
didn't have any proof of this trip. The manager of the Chick fil A
at Parkway City Mall where James andBetty had met, confirmed that a woman
named Christina did work on that particularday, and that's the same name of

(59:07):
the woman that James told authorities gavehim his sandwich. A km art employee
testified that after midnight on May twentyfirst, a man came in and bought
a travel kit, underwear, anda few more items. That man paid
for these purchases with one hundred dollarbill, just like the one James alleged

(59:28):
Betty had given him. Following theirChick fil A handoff. A Ramata Inn
manager confirmed that James had spent thenight there and made several telephone calls from
his rooms. Phone records confirmed thesecalls were to Peggy's house. A neighbor
of Betty and Jack's testified that hehad seen a man wearing jeans jogging by

(59:50):
their Boulder Circle home. The unknownjeans wearing man stopped in front of the
Wilson's home in One of Peggy's neighborstestified that two days after Jack's murder,
she had seen James in Peggy's garage, which lined up with what he said
that he had been there to retrievethe other half of the five thousand dollars,

(01:00:13):
but it wasn't there. A malldepartment store manager also testified on the
day Jack was murdered, May twentysecond, at two eleven PM, Betty
had bought a pair of floral patterntennis shoes, the same shoes Jack saw
as he crouched down on her BMWand A neighbor of Betty's testified that she

(01:00:34):
saw James limping in the direction ofthe Wilson home at five PM on the
day Jack was killed. She rememberedhim especially well because she was driving her
daughter and her daughter's friends to theirsoftball game, and the young girls in
the car were joking about how strangethis man looked. If you're thinking,
okay, okay, we get it, seems like James White's story holds up,

(01:00:58):
I understand do. But some peopledon't think James White's story holds up.
And here's why. Because Betty's defenseteam and later on Peggy's defense team
too, asserted that while some ofthe details of James's story could be true,
none of this was a conspiracy tokill Jack Wilson. They argued that

(01:01:22):
James had done this all on hisown. These numerous meetups and circumstances that
perfectly aligned with James's story were allan effort for Peggy and Betty to get
James more handyman work. They feltsorry for him and were just trying to
help him out. They were talkingabout cabinets or bookshelves or something, not

(01:01:45):
murder, and James had misinterpreted whatwas supposed to be an actual job as
a hit job. It's just allinnocent coincidences, y'all. As bad as
it looks, this argument does holdsome weight in a court of law because
it's not illegal for Betty to giveJames a book through a weird exchange of

(01:02:06):
hands at her AA meeting. It'snot illegal for James to call Peggy.
It's not illegal for him to buythings at Kmart and stay at the Ramada
Inn. None of these checkpoints inJames's stories that aligned with the people who
would have interacted with him were illegalat all. The question was this was

(01:02:28):
James White's version of events entirely trueor was he telling just enough of the
truth to get Peggy and Betty introuble while changing the key details. Was
this man with an eighth grade education, no steady work, with a self
admitted substance abuse problem truly that clever. The defense just needed there to be

(01:02:51):
reasonable out to get Betty off thehook, and at the end of the
day, there was no physical evidencethat Betty and Peggy had conspired to cat
kill Jack. Betty being mean toJack just wasn't enough. Hell, maybe
James had stolen Betty's gun and herlibrary book, after all, he had

(01:03:12):
been in the Wilson home. I'mnot sure how this would explain how James
could describe Betty's floral shoes, though, But our floral shoes enough to send
someone to prison. Betty's defense counselalso argued that James had changed his confession
after the fact. They suggested thathe had fixed those inconsistencies we discussed before.

(01:03:37):
His dates had been slightly shifted,his times altered. Additionally, Betty's
defense team portrayed James White as anunreliable source. They attributed his behavior to
mental health issues, dismal military history, and recorded criminal activity. Betty's defense
team also brought a surprise witness.His name was David Williamson, and David

(01:04:01):
was a salesman selling sports photos.Her David's testimony, he was at the
Ramata Inn on the afternoon of Maytwenty second, nineteen ninety two. David
claimed he witnessed James there at aboutfour pm, and James had been rambling
about making quote that bitch pay forwhat she's done to me. According to

(01:04:25):
David, James said, I'll showher what lonely is all about. Apparently
James was shaking and this behavior frightenedDavid. This was important because it put
a kink in James's timeline. Atfour pm on Friday afternoon, James said
he was waiting in the Wilsons home. In rebuttal, the prosecution suggested that

(01:04:48):
David Williamson was providing false testimony forpayment. They were suspicious as to why
David had not come forward earlier,but David said that he only came forward
out of chance. Apparently Betty's attorneyhad just happened to contact him trying to
buy sports photographs, and that's whenDavid explained the interaction with James. Other

(01:05:14):
witnesses brought by the defense poked holesin James's timeline. To this, the
prosecution pretty much shrugged James had beendrunk and high. He wasn't wearing a
watch. The state explained to thejury that it would be impossible to nail
down the times with exact precision.Betty Wilson did not take the stand in

(01:05:38):
her own defense, but Peggy tookthe stand at her sister's trial. Peggy
insisted that she and Betty only wantedto hire James for handyman work, not
murder. She was unflappably sincere andpoised. After six days of testimony,
the jury began deliberating on Tuesday,March second, nineteen ninety three. On

(01:06:01):
Wednesday, after deliberating for about tenhours, the jury found forty seven year
old Betty gay Woods Wilson guilty.One jury member told the AP News that
while James's testimony was shaky at times, the evidence could not be denied.
The juror said, there was somuch of it time after time, we

(01:06:24):
really couldn't come to any other verdict. Betty was sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole. DA. Jimmy Fry had not sought the
death penalty. He believed that quote, only the most heinous and obscene cases
should have the death penalty imposed comparedwith other cases, this was not the

(01:06:45):
most atrocious case I was aware of. Jack Wilson's kids might have disagreed.
In total, the trial costs taxpayersmore than twenty thousand dollars, reported by
the Birmingham Post Harold, Betty herselfspent four hundred thousand dollars on her defense.
That's about eight hundred and fifty thousandtoday. After all, she had

(01:07:10):
four defense attorneys on her team,an infamous dream team, and she still
lost. I'm going to pause nowfor a final commercial break. Next came
Peggy Lowe's trial Limestone County, DA. Jimmy Fry did not prosecute her case

(01:07:33):
due to his intense workload. Instead, Assistant Alabama Attorney General Don Veleska prosecuted
he, unlike Jimmy, was seekingthe death penalty. Peggy's trial was also
moved for publicity reasons, and itbegan on September thirteenth in Montgomery County,

(01:07:54):
Alabama. Peggy's trial was just ashigh profile as Betty's. Her defense attorney
argued that TV cameras should not beallowed in the courtroom. He thought it
would pressure the jury, and aspecial ticketing process was created for seating.
That way, they could control thepeople trying to pack themselves into the courtroom.

(01:08:16):
Peggy's trial was nearly identical to Betty's. Only a few new items were
brought to light. One was thatthe defense provided a new document. It
was a letter from Jack dated Januarythird, nineteen ninety two. He had
been setting up a marital trust forBetty to receive. The interest from the

(01:08:38):
trust was worth six hundred thousand dollars. The defense claimed that this showed Betty
was fine financially. She hadn't conspiredwith her sister to kill Jack for his
money. She had no reason to. But the prosecution argued that this document
was actually the catalyst for Jack's murder. Receive the interest of a six hundred

(01:09:00):
thousand dollars investment is a far cryfrom the six point three million plus insurance
payouts that Betty would receive upon Jack'sdeath. They claimed that upon hearing about
Jack's half hearted attempt to support her, Betty lost it. The next difference
was Debbie Brannan, a witness forthe defense. She operated a convenience store

(01:09:25):
near Huntsville. Debbie testified that Jamesand another man came in looking for work.
James said he was doing some workfor doctor Jack Wilson and that he
could reseal her parking lot. Thisprovided more substance to the idea that James
was only supposed to be doing ahandyman work for the Wilsons. The prosecution

(01:09:45):
was flabbercasted that this woman did nottestify at Betty's trial. She also had
never spoken to the police investigating thecase. Another big difference between Betty and
Peggy's trial were the character witnesses.In Betty's trial, many witnesses spoke to
how cruel Betty was to Jack.People who were former friends of Betty spoke

(01:10:10):
very poorly of her on the stand, but in Peggy's trial, witness after
witness proclaimed how warm hearted, kindand respected Peggy Low was, how she
took people in without expecting anything inreturn. Peggy was depicted as a devout
and faithful woman with a strong character. She had a parade of friends who

(01:10:33):
testified and said so, and whenshe took the stand to testify in her
own defense, that pristine persona pouredout a Peggy as easily as sweet tea.
Doris Flora, a former reporter forthe Tuscaloosa News, said she came
through as missus clean. She wasbeautiful, she was sweet, and it

(01:10:55):
all came through in the trial.According to Dia Don Valessezka, Hagee's defense
attorneys did their best to confuse thejurors. They presented a slew of new
theories regarding Jack's death. They suggestedthat it wasn't a baseball bat that had
been used to bludgeon him. Theybrought in an expert witness to suggest it

(01:11:15):
was a different weapon, like afireplace poker. When I saw this expert
witness on the Forensic Files episode,he claimed the poker was missing from the
Wilson home, and I had apainful flashback to the Michael Peterson case.
The defense also suggested that Jack's bodyhad been moved, and though he was

(01:11:38):
found in a pool of blood,there wasn't blood spatter high up on the
walls like you would expect. Iadmit I do find that interesting. Unlike
the Peterson trial, blood spatter evidencewas not central to the case. It
does seem unusual that there was onlyone splash of blood about a foot from
the floor. Considering all of Jack'shorrific blunt force injuries, you would think

(01:12:03):
the walls would be a blood bath. But if you went down quickly,
maybe the blood would not have splashedas high on the walls. I don't
know. The defense proposed that multiplepeople had been involved in the murder itself.
Two men might have been able tocarry Jack Wilson's body to the second
floor. They were trying to furtherthe theory that James and another man had

(01:12:29):
gone there to rob the place becauseJames knew they were rich, but the
robbery went wrong and the men forsome reason moved the body upstairs. The
blood spatter stuff is interesting. Thetwo men theory, I don't know.
Why would James byrne two innocent womeninstead of giving up a guilty man.

(01:12:51):
Well, he later claimed he washarassed by police to give that version of
events. Peggy's attorneys allso accused Jamesof being coached by the police during his
taped confession, to which a detectivelater humorously pointed out, if I was
to do that, I would havetold him the exact dates. But as

(01:13:14):
to the two man theory, evenwithout a real full crime scene investigation,
the police would have found blood somewhereelse. The idea that these criminals used
to tark to move him is justsilly. Another forensic piece that didn't seem
to hit was the lack of evidencein Betty's car. If she really drove
James White as he said she did, no fingerprints or other evidence of White

(01:13:41):
ever being in her car was found. I imagine by the time the police
searched her car, she had timeto get it cleaned. It is still
interesting, though, but it justdidn't matter in either trial. Ultimately,
Peggy's defense team's strategy worked because onWednesday, September twenty second, nineteen ninety

(01:14:01):
three, forty eight year old PeggyJoy Woods Low was found not guilty.
The jury had deliberated for two anda half hours. Afterward, Peggy said,
I asked the Lord to send mea good lawyer, and he did.
Her attorney, David Cromwell Johnson,was a bulldog known to be tenacious

(01:14:24):
and flamboyant. He called David Whiteeverything he could think of, including a
child molester. On the Forensic Filesepisode on the case, a liar,
a drug addict doing dope, onand on, a prosecutor griped that trying
to convict Peggy Low was like fightingGod. As for the forensic problems,

(01:14:45):
the defense brought up like that itmight have been a fireplace poker instead of
the bat, and the blood spatterlooked wrong. Well eighty a don Veleska
said succinctly and southernly quote, itdidn't make a damn how doctor Wilson got
killed. The question was who didit, and James White admitted to doing
it, whether he stomped him,beat him with a bat, beat him

(01:15:08):
with a stick. But that's thetype of bull that experts try and sell
to jury's I definitely see his point. I often talk about the battle of
experts on this show. There's noargument how doctor Wilson died. Veleska was
trying to prove a conspiracy and stronglyfelt he had done so. You can

(01:15:29):
see his anger in interviews. Theproblem was he was up against the Sunday
School twin instead of the recovering alcoholicwho admitted to multiple affairs and stood to
inherit six million from her husband's death. But evidently the fancy defense expert wasn't
the problem. Jurors felt White lackedcredibility, especially up against Peggy Lowe's sterling

(01:15:55):
poise. After the trial, Peggyreturned to her face Emily and went back
to teaching first grade. She tolda reporter that she was looking forward to
attending a high school football game towatch her daughter, who was a cheerleader.
But despite Peggy's teflon reputation, hermarriage did not survive. Now known

(01:16:16):
as Peggy Peck, she remarried toa University of Alabama professor. In early
October of nineteen ninety three, fortytwo year old James Dennison White accepted a
plea deal. He was sentenced tolife in prison with the possibility of parole.
After accepting the deal, James ledinvestigators to the knife used to kill

(01:16:39):
Jack Wilson. It was located undersome rocks in Betty and Jack's yard.
There was also his bloody clothes,gloves, and a rope in a plastic
bag. I reckon a plea dealthat saved his ass from the death penalty
helped his memory. James was supposedto be considered eligible for parole in under

(01:17:01):
ten years, but that didn't happen. According to the Alabama Department of Corrections,
James's next parole consideration date is Marchfirst, twenty twenty six. Currently,
James White is incarcerated at the RedEagle Work Center. He is considered
to not pose a significant risk tohimself or others. Meanwhile, Betty Wilson

(01:17:27):
appealed her case in nineteen ninety four, and for a time it was thought
that she might win. Betty's strongestappill point was that supposedly James had retracted
his confession, but when the appealmade its way through the courts, the
judges were wary of overturning her case. James's supposed retraction had been delivered directly

(01:17:49):
to one of Betty's attorneys. Noone else was present, and James refused
to comment on the retraction using hisFifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination. Ultimately,
the appeal was denied in a fiveto two decision in nineteen ninety seven,

(01:18:09):
but if you are interested, hisfull statement is printed in the old
huntsviol magazine. I've referenced he spendsa yarn, just like Betty did.
In two thousand and six, Bettymarried for a third time while in prison.
She was weed to a former GreenBeret named Bill Campbell. Her sister,

(01:18:30):
Betty woods Peck, stood as maidof honor. Today, Betty is
seventy eight years old and still incarceratedat the Tutweiler Prison. She will continue
to not be considered for parole.Incidentally, the infamous Alabama axe murderess Viola
Hyatt was once housed in the sameprison, but she only served ten years

(01:18:51):
for the gruesome murder of two men. That's one of my favorite episodes.
If you haven't heard it, it'snumber one thirty one. Unlike Viola Hyatt,
the motive is ridiculously obvious in thiscase. I think what makes it
so sensational is that two juries sawbasically the same evidence and came back with

(01:19:14):
different results, and it probably hadmore to do with motive and character than
anything else. But as I've saidbefore, I like circumstantial evidence. It
tells a story that people who strugglewith expert witnesses like better. And almost
all evidence in a trial is circumstantialanyway. You just hear that word on

(01:19:34):
TV so much it makes it soundlike it's some kind of lesser evidence,
but it's not. There are somany circumstantial things that tied both Betty and
Peggy to James. But you've alsogot to remember the two pieces of physical
evidence, the gun and the librarybook, were only tied to Betty.

(01:19:57):
There are many many folks who say, if Eddy is behind bars, then
Peggy should be there too, otherwiseboth of them should have gotten off.
But while Peggy can be tied toJames through phone records, there is no
physical evidence tied to her, andthere is no motive other than her sister
might have promised her some money.That's not enough. When you've got a

(01:20:20):
first grade teacher, hiller of herchurch with a squeaky clean reputation, her
calls with James could be explained awayby hiring him for a handyman jobs.
It would definitely be hinky coincidences forme as a juror, but I can
see why they chose not to convict. If they were being really fair and

(01:20:42):
put her sister's trial out of theirminds, I can see it. I
think they truly did only consider theevidence against Peggy and not her sister or
all the sensational press coverage. ButBetty, on the other hand, was
crucified at trial. I think onereason this case is still so controversial is
that one of Betty's former lovers wasa black man. He used to work

(01:21:05):
for the city of Huntsville but hadmoved to California. He was subpoena to
come and confirm the sexual relationship.There really wasn't a parade of men who
took the stand to demonstrate Betty's affairs, but the prosecution made sure and put
the black man on Betty. Wilsonand plenty of other journalists feel that the

(01:21:27):
racism card, as she called it, was played at her trial. The
prevailing thought was it's one thing tobe a rich, cheating wife, it's
another thing to do it with ablack man. As disturbing as I do
find that part of Betty's trial,I do not believe it was prejudicial enough
to be the reason she was convicted. No, I think it's unfortunate that

(01:21:48):
the prosecutors felt the need to puton this offensive show when they had a
veritable mountain of evidence against Betty Wilson. She literally had said she would rather
be a widow than a divorcee,and she got her wish. She just
never dreamed she would be caught,and the state never dreamed that they couldn't

(01:22:09):
convict the Sunday school teacher twin onthe same evidence. We will really never
know how involved Peggy was in theplot to kill Jack Wilson, but I
don't think anyone really believes that shewas not involved at all. She didn't
merely introduce her sister to the killer. She herself played a part in all

(01:22:29):
the phone calls and planning. Shehad just led a respectful life. She
had no motive to kill her brotherin law, and she certainly was never
heard wishing him to be dead.That's why Peggy Lowpeck leads a normal life
of children and grandchildren and gardens andSunday school to this day, and Betty
Wilson Campbell will never see the outsideof prison. But we must come back

(01:22:55):
to Jack Wilson He is often lostin the salacious, sensationalized saga of the
Twin Sisters, when he is thevictim and should not be forgotten. This
man was a beloved doctor, friend, brother, father. I could go
on and on. He was selfless, generous, kind, compassionate, and

(01:23:19):
to those who loved him, irreplaceable. He was only fifty five years old
when he died, just beginning tohave grandchildren. But instead, this poor
man died in a vicious attack inhis own home, a place where you
should feel safe. Instead of along life filled with kids, grandkids,

(01:23:41):
nieces and nephews, birthday parties andChristmases, he was left to die alone,
battered in a pool of his ownblood. It is a terrible tragedy
for this family. It's been thirtytwo years now since he was murdered,
and though I'm sure he is stillmissed, I hope his family has found

(01:24:02):
peace. Southern Fried True Crime ishosted and produced by me Erica Kelly.
Today's episode was researched and written byAndrea Marshbak and Erica Kelly. As usual,
any editorial comments and opinions are myown. Southern Fros's original music is
by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio,and the original graphic art is by Coley

(01:24:25):
Horner. Betty and Peggy's case hasbeen suggested by so many people over the
years it's impossible to name them all. But thanks so much to those who
wrote in asking for this fascinating story. If you have any case suggestions,
please go to my website, SouthernfredTruecrime dot com and click on the listener
suggestion tab or email SFTC Research atgmail dot com. This is the best

(01:24:50):
way for me to get those littleknown cases you'll always send me. Please
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(01:25:13):
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(01:25:38):
Take care,