September 8, 2023 • 27 mins
The courtroom drama unfolding during Ken's trial is dissected, from Judge Wolvington's unique jury guidelines, to the prosecution's strategic evidence presentation and the cross-examination of crucial witnesses.
Giblin, Mary Louise. “Botham jury selection begins.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Colo. January 5, 1982.
Giblin, Mary Louise. “Botham retrial gets under way.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Colo. January 11, 1982.
Giblin, Mary Louise. “Police actions challenged at Botham trial.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Colo. January 12, 1982.
Moss, Michael. “Botham’s lawyer probes recall of crime investigation.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Colo. January 13, 1982.
Moss, Michael. “Witness retells Botham’s idea of ‘perfect crime’.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Colo. January 14, 1982.
Young, Jessica. “These 7 Famous Homicides In Alabama Will Never Be Forgotten.” onlyinyourstate.com. 2022 December 18.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone.
This is Julia, and murder isbad in the morning.
You know I usually record inthe evening hours when my
(00:24):
children are taking a bath Notthat they're not supervised,
when my partner is, you know,bathing them elsewhere.
Anyways, this is the first timerecording in the morning, so
hopefully that won't just bepurely vocal fry.
Last we heard in the BothamMiracle Murders Ken Botham Jr
(00:46):
had been convicted of themurders of Pat Botham and Linda
Chad in Troy Miracle andsentenced to death.
More sentencing.
Ken Botham attempted suicidebut this did not affect his
transferal to death row.
So in 1977, which is when thisis all taking place, the top hit
(01:07):
swore son by Barbara Streisand,rita Coolidge and Abba the
animated hobbit came out.
You remember that?
I mean not then, but do youremember watching it?
That on television there wasLaverne and Shirley, happy days
and Threes Company?
You know, I know Threes Companyis problematic in 2023.
(01:28):
Been problematic for quite sometime, but I'm just remembering
that I used to like fall asleepwatching, like all those shows
on Nick and Knight.
John Ritter was actually a bigpart of my sexual awakening Him
and Spike, anyways, this is alsothe time when the Vysalia Ray
and Sacker graduated to the EastArea Rapist who we now know as
(01:50):
Joseph James DeAngelo.
But for Ken Botham, however,the year 1977 meant waiting.
Right after his conviction andsentencing, public defenders Lee
Foreman and Ed Lipton got towork on Botham's appeal.
The team submitted 87 errors tothe Court of Appeals, while
(02:12):
Botham was scheduled to die bygas chamber on May 1st.
Everyone was pretty positivethat it would be delayed
indefinitely for these appeals.
After submitting the appeal tothe Court of Appeals, the
defense had to wait for thetrial transcripts to be typed up
in preparation for a possibleSupreme Court hearing.
During the wait, officialsdebated whether to sell Botham's
(02:35):
personal items in order to payfor the quote unquote exorbitant
court costs.
Spoiler.
They decided to do that.
You know it mentioned a lotthat Grand Junction wasn't used
to all these crimes and 1975 allthese murders happened and all
that stuff.
So I'm just wondering if theyweren't used to spending that
money and they paid their jurors.
(02:58):
Do jurors still get paid?
I know later on in the samestory jurors are not getting
paid, but yes, they were shockedhow much the costs were.
But in April Botham got a stayof execution while his appeal
was being prepared.
In May the Court of Appealsupheld the conviction and
sentencing, the publicdefender's office moved full
(03:22):
steam toward the Supreme Courthearing In June.
Botham got transferred back toGrand Junction from death row
shortly to testify in hischildren's guardianship hearing.
So after Pat Botham had beenmurdered and Ken Botham Jr had
been arrested, tried andconvicted for that murder, their
two children, thayer and Thad,went to live with Ken Botham's
(03:46):
parents.
They lived relatively close totheir house and also had a child
close to a there's age.
But Pat's parents, who lived inGreenville, north Carolina,
tried to gain custody of thechildren.
The children are eventuallyplaced with Ken Boetham's
parents.
A year after that courtreporter Bill Price completes
(04:10):
the transcript.
He had submitted a partialtranscript earlier but didn't
finish until July 1978.
Since Boetham's incarcerationthe first Test 2 baby was born,
the first Garfield comic cameout and the people's temple.
Mass suicide and murdershappened at Jonestown.
Then on October 23rd 1978,colorado struck down the death
(04:33):
penalty.
Everyone on death row,including Boetham, gets
transferred to the generalpopulation in Colorado prisons.
Boetham tells his mom that hepreferred to stay on death row
because of the dangers of beingin Gen Pop and about a rumor
that there's a $50,000 hit onhim.
Boetham lives through thetransfer and a year later the
(04:56):
public defender, carol Gerstle,submits his appeal to the
Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court would notrender a decision until nearly
two years later.
In a newspaper article that cameout at the beginning of 1980,
they review the top stories inColorado from the past 10 years.
Sure enough, the Boethammiracle murders appear,
(05:19):
represented by a picture of KenBoetham Jr during his trial.
Who else appears?
Well, I'll tell you.
Above Boetham was former ninthjudicial district attorney Frank
Turner, who had resigned inJune 1978 after being convicted
of two counts of embezzlement.
Cady, cornered from Boetham,was Claudine Longet, a popular
(05:41):
singer, dancer and actor fromthe 1960s and 70s, who had been
charged with the murder of herOlympic skier boyfriend,
vladimir Spider Sabik, in Marchof 1976, and the person who was
right next to Boetham, who needsreally no description Ted Bundy
.
(06:02):
Ted Bundy, notorious aero killer, was suspected of several
murders in Colorado Before thedecade would end.
He would confess to three.
One was 23 year old KarenCampbell, a nurse from Michigan,
on vacation in Snowmass Villagein January 1975, when Bundy
(06:23):
attacked and murdered her.
Then there was 26 year oldJulie Cunningham, a ski
instructor in Vale, who wentmissing in March of 1975.
Her body's never been found.
And then there's DeniseOliverson.
If you remember, way back inthe first episode of this series
(06:43):
, denise was anotherdisappearance in Grand Junction.
That occurred in April 1975.
She went on a bike ride andnever returned home.
Her bike was later found underthe Fifth Street Bridge.
A few days before Bundy'sexecution in 1989, bundy told
investigators how he disposed ofa body five miles west of Grand
(07:06):
Junction.
Colorado also has thedistinction of having Bundy
escape their hold twice.
The whole reason I bring thisup is I've never heard of
Kenneth Botham Jr before gettinginto this case, and yet he has
been woven into a lot of eventsthat I have heard of.
(07:28):
So back to Botham.
On June 8th 1981, the SupremeCourt issued a 7-0 decision to
grant Ken Botham a new trialunder the reasoning that the
trial judge improperly denied amotion for the seating of a
substitute judge and alsoimproperly refused to grant a
(07:51):
motion for a change of venue, aswell as some testimony that
should not have been allowed in.
District Attorney Terry Farinatold the Daily Sentinel that he
was disgusted, and then theDaily Sentinel agrees with the
disgust in a letter from theeditor.
Judge William Ella also is alittle, but heard about it.
Soon after this announcement,it's reported that testimony
(08:15):
that was disallowed was from oneof Linda Miracle's
sisters-in-law, patsy Murphy.
According to her, linda hadplanned to see two men on the
night of August 22nd NormWilhelm, who left around 11.30pm
that night, and another man whowas supposed to stop by after
that.
Another trial is scheduled forNovember 2nd and it's going to
(08:39):
be held in Golden, colorado, andpresided over by Judge Winston
Wolvington.
And if I had a name like that,I would be a judge during the
day and a vampire hunter duringthe night in a noir-inspired
adventure to only be told inpulp publications.
I digress.
In August the trial was delayeduntil January, while Botham was
(09:01):
held without bail.
On January 5th 1982, attorneysstarted picking the jury for
Botham's second trial.
Mesa County DA Terry Farinarejoins his prosecutor and
Botham is represented by publicdefenders Lee Forman and Norman
Mueller.
But I don't think this guy gota Pulitzer Prize for writing
(09:26):
awesome novels.
But I could be mistaken.
I don't know his life.
Jury selection this time movesso whiffed Lee, with most
candidates never having heardabout the case, just like me.
It only took two days comparedto the two and a half weeks it
took during the first trial, andmaybe I'm the ignorant one, but
during both trials the dailySentinel prints the names of the
(09:50):
jurors before the trial begins.
Is that usual, someone tell me?
Just seems like a liability.
I could be dramatic like oh, onTV.
If somebody knows who the jurymembers are, they can extort
them.
Okay, I definitely am beingdramatic, but still that just
seems weird.
Testimony began on January 11th1982.
(10:12):
In DA Farina's openingstatement he said Kenneth H
Botherm Jr succeeded in one goalhe killed his wife and three
other people, but he failed toavoid detection.
The bodies came up.
He was referring to how thebodies of Pat and the miracles
(10:33):
had been found after beingweighed down in Gunnison River.
He went on to say how evidencewill show that Botherm was
familiar with the area aroundBridgeport on the Gunnison River
.
Da Farina told the jury how PatBotherm and Linda Miracle were
asphyxiated, while Troy and ChadMiracle had both been shot in
(10:54):
the head.
The slugs had never beenrecovered but forensic showed
that the wounds were created bya 22-caliber weapon, and that a
22-caliber western-style pistol.
That could not be proven, asthe murder weapon was found in a
crawlspace underneath thebottom house six weeks after Ken
(11:14):
Botham was arrested.
Da Farina then said that hairsand blood matching those of the
victims had been found on thebridge over Gunnison River in
Bridgeport and that my newquantities of Type A blood,
which matched three of thevictims, were found in Botham's
Land Cruiser.
He told the jury aboutstriations from a wire cutter
(11:37):
found in Botham's possessionthat was positively identified
as the same wire cutters used tocut the wire found tied around
the victims.
He finished by saying thatthere was no evidence to prove
that Botham was in Ure after twoor ten thirty pm and contended
that he had time to drive toGrand Junction and kill the
(11:58):
victims after one am.
Defense Attorney Mueller saidin his opening statement it is
impossible for Ken to havecommitted these crimes.
Evidence will establish theydisappeared before midnight and
died before midnight.
He was in Ure.
He couldn't have done it.
(12:20):
In a daily Sentinel article byMary Louise Giblin, she talks
about the jury having to besequestered throughout the
trials but will be allowed totalk on the phone to their loved
ones on personal matters.
They will also be allowed towatch television, accepting
newscasts of course.
Judge Wolvington allowed themto attend a movie on Sundays
when the trial wouldn't be heldand allowed them to buy up to
(12:43):
two drinks before dinner butdisallowed drinking during
deliberations.
So the thing with the nameWolvington is that it rekindles
something.
In my adolescence my friendsand I would always add ink tin
to people we watched in malls orcartoons we created during a
Sunday service.
There's Von Marrington.
(13:05):
She's a real juicy couture inktin.
Here's a drawing of MrStabbington.
You know good, wholesome fun.
After opening arguments, theprosecution begins their case.
They called Sheriff'sInvestigator Mike Smith to
testify about the physicalevidence attained by the
Sheriff's Office.
(13:25):
That included woodchips fromthe Bridgeport Bridge with what
appear to be bloodstains, hairsamples found at the scene,
clothing worn by the victims andthe quack sole cable used to
bind the bodies to railroadscraps.
Upon cross-examination, defenseattorney Foreman went after
investigator Smith on thetimelines of evidence and
(13:46):
testing.
The woodchips had been sent tothe Colorado Bureau of
Investigations or Kibbe onNovember 20th, six weeks after
they were found.
Sweepings collected fromBotham's car weren't sent for
hair and fiber analysis untilNovember 13th.
The word sweepings reminds meof a case I researched out of
(14:07):
the UK when they vacuum a trunkof another suspicious husband
and they called them hooverings,just a fun fact.
Defense attorney Foreman alsoquestioned investigator Smith
why half-eaten plates ofspaghetti were left out for a
month in the miracle homewithout collecting them as
evidence or running any tests onthem like DNA or fingerprints.
(14:30):
Also why no fingerprints orphysical evidence was collected
until the bodies of the victimswere found.
Investigator Smith said he sawno relevance in the plates of
spaghetti and just admitted tothere being no evidence
collected.
If you remember from the firstepisode of the series, chief
Robert Burnett told the pressthat he saw no need to collect
(14:53):
evidence because the ladiesprobably just ran off to start
new lives, probably separately,and probably just didn't want to
be found.
Chief Burnett later resignedover the case and was pretty
salty about it.
Halfway through the morning andafternoon hearings, ken Botham's
mother Elspeth, along with LilaMiracle, one of Troy and Chad's
(15:15):
aunts, and their grandmotherAyala Miracle, slipped into the
courtroom.
Other members of the Miraclefamily waited outside as they
had been subpoenaed to testify.
Reporter Mary Louise Giblinalso highlights the attendance
of Bob Wackner and his daughter.
Bob's wife, ruth, was part of aprison fellowship group and had
(15:38):
written to Botham when he wason death row.
Bob and Ruth visited Botham twoor three times a month while he
was incarcerated in the GoldenJail awaiting trial.
Bob said.
From all we've read and heard,I feel he's innocent.
The next day at trial, severalwitnesses testified about the
physical evidence.
Montrose forensic pathologistDr Thomas Canfield testified to
(16:02):
the causes of death, and hairfiber expert Nielsen Jemmet
testified about hair samplesthat had been taken where the
bodies were found.
Lee Foreman said that thephysical evidence linking Botham
to the homicides will prove tobe key in the case Quote.
This time, though, we have ourown scientific evidence to
(16:23):
counter theirs.
The last witness of the day wasMesa County Sheriff's
Department Investigator Milo Vig.
He was called to recount thetimeline of Ken Botham's journey
to Ure and back, between 9 pmon August 22nd 1975 to around 3
pm on August 23rd.
No witnesses have come forwardto say that they saw Botham
(16:47):
during that time.
Here's an excerpt from one ofMichael Moss's articles that I
enjoyed.
Vig, balding, with silver-rimmedglasses, rocked nervously in
the witness stand as Foremanpressed him for details.
Yes, vig recalled Botham wasdriving a 1972 Toyota Land
Cruiser on what was a repeatedtrip for him to photograph the
(17:10):
Western Slope.
But no, he couldn't say whetherBotham's visit the next day
with the minister at MesaBaptist Church in Grand Junction
was at 4 or 4.30.
There was small discretion.
Defense Attorney Foreman'spurpose was more to point out
the investigators' lack of totalrecollection of the 6-year-old
(17:32):
case.
He also emphasized that Bothamhad spent an hour with Reverend
OJ Haller that day as a routinemeeting as the choir director of
the church.
Judge Wolvington ran a strictcourt schedule, with proceedings
being cut off promptly at 5.
He repeated a warning to thejurors about not talking about
the case.
He then took the prosecution totask for having some of their
(17:55):
teams stay at the same holidayin as the jurors.
I would just say, yes, sir, youcan be my mommy and my daddy,
but apparently some of thejurors wanted to go for a swim
but found one of the prosecutinglawyers paddling around.
Adorable, I hope they had theirfloaties on.
Investigator Mike Smith startedthe next day of the trial by
talking about how he retracedBotham's trip to Ure and how it
(18:19):
took two hours to travel the 102miles.
Norm Wilhelm then took thestantest testify about his date
with Linda Miracle on the nightof August 22nd.
Quote I wasn't drunk oranything.
She wasn't drunk, she was high,I was high.
We just had a good time.
They shared dinner and somepink shabby before Norm left
(18:41):
around 11.30.
According to him he leftbecause he was unusually tired.
But he also said he stayed uplistening to the stereo in his
apartment until 2 am, which Imean I've done that like, oh,
I'm so tired, and then I end upstaying up later.
But the defense attorneyforeman highlighted that that
was an inconsistency andapparently went after Norm
(19:04):
pretty hard about the abortionLinda had days before her murder
.
Norm had said he figured it washis so he paid for it.
A daily Sentinel writerapproached Norm after he
testified but all he would saywas I just know he's guilty.
That's all.
The neighbors then testified towhat they saw and heard that
(19:24):
night.
The testimonies of MargeMcConnell, mike Larson and Cora
Heiner were fraught withinconsistencies.
Cora, now 89 years old, couldnot be certain if the vehicle
that pulled up to LindaMiracle's home was a station
wagon or a van.
Marge wasn't sure how much ofthe man she saw down the street
(19:45):
and obscured by the parked car,and Mike was reminded by the
defense that the scream he heardcould have come from a boy.
But now Mike was certain it wasa woman.
Independent prosecutor JerryJorgensen combated the cross
examination by saying we nowhave several witnesses saying
these people were killed about1.30 am by a tall, slender guy
(20:08):
with a square built vehicle.
While questioning MargeMcConnell, the first of three
middle school classes enteredthe court.
Apparently, arvada Junior HighSchool had a very thorough
government studies program.
Has anyone seen Junior HighSchool?
By the way, it's like highschool musical, but Junior High
(20:29):
and in the 70s, and instead ofZac Efron we get like a pretty
young Paula Abdul.
It's pretty great.
Detectives James Fromm andDouglas Rushing testify and are
questioned on the efficiency oftheir investigation into the
(20:49):
Botham Miracle Murders.
Detective Rushing admittedfeeling inexperienced at the
time and probably faltered bytalking to too many people too
fast.
Quote you often don't know whatto look for or what to remember
in a person's statement untillater Detective Rushing's notes
had it down as Folly's motelinstead of Polly's, the owner as
(21:13):
Bill instead of Bob and saidthat a car that was parked on
the street when in actuality itwas close to the house.
He explained that you have toparaphrase people and you don't
always get the wording right.
What people really told you,you get what you can.
And in a truly troublingstatement, da Farina said when
(21:35):
people are interviewed as manytimes as they have been in this
case, by the investigators andby us.
Of course they won't relate thesame thing twice.
In fact, if someone does repeatsomething verbatim over and
over, they become suspect.
So if somebody has the samestory, they become suspect.
You better have inconsistenciesor else the murder will be
(21:57):
pinned on you.
Just so you know, theprosecution's big witness for
the day was Botham's formerfriend, dwayne Jackson.
Prosecutor Jorgensen predictedthis would be what would stick
with the jury.
He said that's one of thethings you do Give the jurors
one big thing to think aboutovernight.
Dwayne talked about aconversation he had with Botham
(22:21):
in 1971 during a lull in theirMonday night Barbershop Quartet
practice at the VeteransAdministration Hospital in which
they were both baritones.
The topic was the perfectmurder Discuss.
Botham talked about theabandoned bridge over Gunnison
near Bridgeport Quote Kennethremarked that it would be a good
(22:44):
place to dispose of bodies andI added that if you did, it
would be a good idea to weighthem down.
Kenneth then asked me what I'dtie them down with and I said
wire and weights.
Yes, specifically wire andweights.
If memory serves, dwayne'stestimony from the first trial
definitely sounded more like anequal back and forth because he
(23:07):
was like oh for the perfectmurder.
I would definitely use wire soit didn't decay In this version.
It seems like he's just simplyresponding, so it's no wonder
why defense attorney Foremanstrongly protested this
testimony.
He said this witness had put myclient's entire character in
question, opening Pandora's boxof speculation with statements
(23:30):
that are highly prejudicial andjust unfair.
Judge Wolvington denied theobjection but said prosecution
couldn't question Dwayne furtherthan his recollection of the
conversation.
Dwayne said the technique camefrom an article Botham had read
in Time magazine about a murderin Alabama.
I believe he's referring to theHawes family murders in
(23:55):
Birmingham, alabama, during thewinter of 1888.
Richard and Emma Hawes werehaving marital difficulties.
He worked long hours at GeorgiaPacific and Emma was an
alcoholic who spent most of theday drinking.
(24:15):
Their oldest daughter, mayHawes, was forced to care for
her younger siblings, irene andWillie.
Then, on December 4th, may'sbody was found in East Lake.
Richard Hawes was the onlysuspect, though he continued to
claim his innocence in jail.
Authorities then found Emma'sbruised and beaten body at
(24:37):
Lakeview Park.
It had been weighed down withiron.
After draining that lake theyfound the body of Irene Hawes.
Richard Hawes went on to getthe death penalty but while
being held he admitted he hadpaid a man named John Wiley to
commit the murders, though Haweswas the one to actually get his
(25:00):
daughter May intoxicated andthen drown her because he was
worried she would tell about themurders.
John Wiley was brought to trial, but it ended up being
dismissed due to lack ofevidence and nobody really knows
what happened to Willie Hawes.
I suspect murder, but it'sinteresting to think about the
(25:21):
comparison of these two cases.
Richard Dawes wanted his wifedead and he killed his oldest
daughter and two small childrenin the process.
Both cases have four lives lost.
Richard ended up hanging.
Both of them has escaped onedeath penalty already, but what
will happen in this new trialWe'll find out as we continue to
(25:46):
delve into the Both of MiracleMurders.
Thanks for listening to.
Murder is Bad.
If you're interested inpictures related to the case,
head over to the Instagram atmurderisbadpodcast, and if
you're feeling generous, youcould go over to the little app
(26:08):
you're on right now andsubscribe so you don't miss out
on the next installment.
That was my phone falling, sothat's what you expect to get
Just genuine authenticity.
You're hearing noises.
You're hearing me sip tea.
Doesn't that sound exciting?
Why don't you just go ahead andclick the five stars and leave
(26:30):
a kind word or two or say, hey,you suck.
That's fine too.
You know what?
Just tell me, help me, help you.
All right guys, take care ofeach other and remember murder
is bad.
Hello everyone.
This is Julia, and murder isbad in the morning.
You know I usually record inthe evening hours when my
(00:24):
children are taking a bath Notthat they're not supervised,
when my partner is, you know,bathing them elsewhere.
Anyways, this is the first timerecording in the morning, so
hopefully that won't just bepurely vocal fry.
Last we heard in the BothamMiracle Murders Ken Botham Jr
(00:46):
had been convicted of themurders of Pat Botham and Linda
Chad in Troy Miracle andsentenced to death.
More sentencing.
Ken Botham attempted suicidebut this did not affect his
transferal to death row.
So in 1977, which is when thisis all taking place, the top hit
(01:07):
swore son by Barbara Streisand,rita Coolidge and Abba the
animated hobbit came out.
You remember that?
I mean not then, but do youremember watching it?
That on television there wasLaverne and Shirley, happy days
and Threes Company?
You know, I know Threes Companyis problematic in 2023.
(01:28):
Been problematic for quite sometime, but I'm just remembering
that I used to like fall asleepwatching, like all those shows
on Nick and Knight.
John Ritter was actually a bigpart of my sexual awakening Him
and Spike, anyways, this is alsothe time when the Vysalia Ray
and Sacker graduated to the EastArea Rapist who we now know as
(01:50):
Joseph James DeAngelo.
But for Ken Botham, however,the year 1977 meant waiting.
Right after his conviction andsentencing, public defenders Lee
Foreman and Ed Lipton got towork on Botham's appeal.
The team submitted 87 errors tothe Court of Appeals, while
(02:12):
Botham was scheduled to die bygas chamber on May 1st.
Everyone was pretty positivethat it would be delayed
indefinitely for these appeals.
After submitting the appeal tothe Court of Appeals, the
defense had to wait for thetrial transcripts to be typed up
in preparation for a possibleSupreme Court hearing.
During the wait, officialsdebated whether to sell Botham's
(02:35):
personal items in order to payfor the quote unquote exorbitant
court costs.
Spoiler.
They decided to do that.
You know it mentioned a lotthat Grand Junction wasn't used
to all these crimes and 1975 allthese murders happened and all
that stuff.
So I'm just wondering if theyweren't used to spending that
money and they paid their jurors.
(02:58):
Do jurors still get paid?
I know later on in the samestory jurors are not getting
paid, but yes, they were shockedhow much the costs were.
But in April Botham got a stayof execution while his appeal
was being prepared.
In May the Court of Appealsupheld the conviction and
sentencing, the publicdefender's office moved full
(03:22):
steam toward the Supreme Courthearing In June.
Botham got transferred back toGrand Junction from death row
shortly to testify in hischildren's guardianship hearing.
So after Pat Botham had beenmurdered and Ken Botham Jr had
been arrested, tried andconvicted for that murder, their
two children, thayer and Thad,went to live with Ken Botham's
(03:46):
parents.
They lived relatively close totheir house and also had a child
close to a there's age.
But Pat's parents, who lived inGreenville, north Carolina,
tried to gain custody of thechildren.
The children are eventuallyplaced with Ken Boetham's
parents.
A year after that courtreporter Bill Price completes
(04:10):
the transcript.
He had submitted a partialtranscript earlier but didn't
finish until July 1978.
Since Boetham's incarcerationthe first Test 2 baby was born,
the first Garfield comic cameout and the people's temple.
Mass suicide and murdershappened at Jonestown.
Then on October 23rd 1978,colorado struck down the death
(04:33):
penalty.
Everyone on death row,including Boetham, gets
transferred to the generalpopulation in Colorado prisons.
Boetham tells his mom that hepreferred to stay on death row
because of the dangers of beingin Gen Pop and about a rumor
that there's a $50,000 hit onhim.
Boetham lives through thetransfer and a year later the
(04:56):
public defender, carol Gerstle,submits his appeal to the
Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court would notrender a decision until nearly
two years later.
In a newspaper article that cameout at the beginning of 1980,
they review the top stories inColorado from the past 10 years.
Sure enough, the Boethammiracle murders appear,
(05:19):
represented by a picture of KenBoetham Jr during his trial.
Who else appears?
Well, I'll tell you.
Above Boetham was former ninthjudicial district attorney Frank
Turner, who had resigned inJune 1978 after being convicted
of two counts of embezzlement.
Cady, cornered from Boetham,was Claudine Longet, a popular
(05:41):
singer, dancer and actor fromthe 1960s and 70s, who had been
charged with the murder of herOlympic skier boyfriend,
vladimir Spider Sabik, in Marchof 1976, and the person who was
right next to Boetham, who needsreally no description Ted Bundy
.
(06:02):
Ted Bundy, notorious aero killer, was suspected of several
murders in Colorado Before thedecade would end.
He would confess to three.
One was 23 year old KarenCampbell, a nurse from Michigan,
on vacation in Snowmass Villagein January 1975, when Bundy
(06:23):
attacked and murdered her.
Then there was 26 year oldJulie Cunningham, a ski
instructor in Vale, who wentmissing in March of 1975.
Her body's never been found.
And then there's DeniseOliverson.
If you remember, way back inthe first episode of this series
(06:43):
, denise was anotherdisappearance in Grand Junction.
That occurred in April 1975.
She went on a bike ride andnever returned home.
Her bike was later found underthe Fifth Street Bridge.
A few days before Bundy'sexecution in 1989, bundy told
investigators how he disposed ofa body five miles west of Grand
(07:06):
Junction.
Colorado also has thedistinction of having Bundy
escape their hold twice.
The whole reason I bring thisup is I've never heard of
Kenneth Botham Jr before gettinginto this case, and yet he has
been woven into a lot of eventsthat I have heard of.
(07:28):
So back to Botham.
On June 8th 1981, the SupremeCourt issued a 7-0 decision to
grant Ken Botham a new trialunder the reasoning that the
trial judge improperly denied amotion for the seating of a
substitute judge and alsoimproperly refused to grant a
(07:51):
motion for a change of venue, aswell as some testimony that
should not have been allowed in.
District Attorney Terry Farinatold the Daily Sentinel that he
was disgusted, and then theDaily Sentinel agrees with the
disgust in a letter from theeditor.
Judge William Ella also is alittle, but heard about it.
Soon after this announcement,it's reported that testimony
(08:15):
that was disallowed was from oneof Linda Miracle's
sisters-in-law, patsy Murphy.
According to her, linda hadplanned to see two men on the
night of August 22nd NormWilhelm, who left around 11.30pm
that night, and another man whowas supposed to stop by after
that.
Another trial is scheduled forNovember 2nd and it's going to
(08:39):
be held in Golden, colorado, andpresided over by Judge Winston
Wolvington.
And if I had a name like that,I would be a judge during the
day and a vampire hunter duringthe night in a noir-inspired
adventure to only be told inpulp publications.
I digress.
In August the trial was delayeduntil January, while Botham was
(09:01):
held without bail.
On January 5th 1982, attorneysstarted picking the jury for
Botham's second trial.
Mesa County DA Terry Farinarejoins his prosecutor and
Botham is represented by publicdefenders Lee Forman and Norman
Mueller.
But I don't think this guy gota Pulitzer Prize for writing
(09:26):
awesome novels.
But I could be mistaken.
I don't know his life.
Jury selection this time movesso whiffed Lee, with most
candidates never having heardabout the case, just like me.
It only took two days comparedto the two and a half weeks it
took during the first trial, andmaybe I'm the ignorant one, but
during both trials the dailySentinel prints the names of the
(09:50):
jurors before the trial begins.
Is that usual, someone tell me?
Just seems like a liability.
I could be dramatic like oh, onTV.
If somebody knows who the jurymembers are, they can extort
them.
Okay, I definitely am beingdramatic, but still that just
seems weird.
Testimony began on January 11th1982.
(10:12):
In DA Farina's openingstatement he said Kenneth H
Botherm Jr succeeded in one goalhe killed his wife and three
other people, but he failed toavoid detection.
The bodies came up.
He was referring to how thebodies of Pat and the miracles
(10:33):
had been found after beingweighed down in Gunnison River.
He went on to say how evidencewill show that Botherm was
familiar with the area aroundBridgeport on the Gunnison River
.
Da Farina told the jury how PatBotherm and Linda Miracle were
asphyxiated, while Troy and ChadMiracle had both been shot in
(10:54):
the head.
The slugs had never beenrecovered but forensic showed
that the wounds were created bya 22-caliber weapon, and that a
22-caliber western-style pistol.
That could not be proven, asthe murder weapon was found in a
crawlspace underneath thebottom house six weeks after Ken
(11:14):
Botham was arrested.
Da Farina then said that hairsand blood matching those of the
victims had been found on thebridge over Gunnison River in
Bridgeport and that my newquantities of Type A blood,
which matched three of thevictims, were found in Botham's
Land Cruiser.
He told the jury aboutstriations from a wire cutter
(11:37):
found in Botham's possessionthat was positively identified
as the same wire cutters used tocut the wire found tied around
the victims.
He finished by saying thatthere was no evidence to prove
that Botham was in Ure after twoor ten thirty pm and contended
that he had time to drive toGrand Junction and kill the
(11:58):
victims after one am.
Defense Attorney Mueller saidin his opening statement it is
impossible for Ken to havecommitted these crimes.
Evidence will establish theydisappeared before midnight and
died before midnight.
He was in Ure.
He couldn't have done it.
(12:20):
In a daily Sentinel article byMary Louise Giblin, she talks
about the jury having to besequestered throughout the
trials but will be allowed totalk on the phone to their loved
ones on personal matters.
They will also be allowed towatch television, accepting
newscasts of course.
Judge Wolvington allowed themto attend a movie on Sundays
when the trial wouldn't be heldand allowed them to buy up to
(12:43):
two drinks before dinner butdisallowed drinking during
deliberations.
So the thing with the nameWolvington is that it rekindles
something.
In my adolescence my friendsand I would always add ink tin
to people we watched in malls orcartoons we created during a
Sunday service.
There's Von Marrington.
(13:05):
She's a real juicy couture inktin.
Here's a drawing of MrStabbington.
You know good, wholesome fun.
After opening arguments, theprosecution begins their case.
They called Sheriff'sInvestigator Mike Smith to
testify about the physicalevidence attained by the
Sheriff's Office.
(13:25):
That included woodchips fromthe Bridgeport Bridge with what
appear to be bloodstains, hairsamples found at the scene,
clothing worn by the victims andthe quack sole cable used to
bind the bodies to railroadscraps.
Upon cross-examination, defenseattorney Foreman went after
investigator Smith on thetimelines of evidence and
(13:46):
testing.
The woodchips had been sent tothe Colorado Bureau of
Investigations or Kibbe onNovember 20th, six weeks after
they were found.
Sweepings collected fromBotham's car weren't sent for
hair and fiber analysis untilNovember 13th.
The word sweepings reminds meof a case I researched out of
(14:07):
the UK when they vacuum a trunkof another suspicious husband
and they called them hooverings,just a fun fact.
Defense attorney Foreman alsoquestioned investigator Smith
why half-eaten plates ofspaghetti were left out for a
month in the miracle homewithout collecting them as
evidence or running any tests onthem like DNA or fingerprints.
(14:30):
Also why no fingerprints orphysical evidence was collected
until the bodies of the victimswere found.
Investigator Smith said he sawno relevance in the plates of
spaghetti and just admitted tothere being no evidence
collected.
If you remember from the firstepisode of the series, chief
Robert Burnett told the pressthat he saw no need to collect
(14:53):
evidence because the ladiesprobably just ran off to start
new lives, probably separately,and probably just didn't want to
be found.
Chief Burnett later resignedover the case and was pretty
salty about it.
Halfway through the morning andafternoon hearings, ken Botham's
mother Elspeth, along with LilaMiracle, one of Troy and Chad's
(15:15):
aunts, and their grandmotherAyala Miracle, slipped into the
courtroom.
Other members of the Miraclefamily waited outside as they
had been subpoenaed to testify.
Reporter Mary Louise Giblinalso highlights the attendance
of Bob Wackner and his daughter.
Bob's wife, ruth, was part of aprison fellowship group and had
(15:38):
written to Botham when he wason death row.
Bob and Ruth visited Botham twoor three times a month while he
was incarcerated in the GoldenJail awaiting trial.
Bob said.
From all we've read and heard,I feel he's innocent.
The next day at trial, severalwitnesses testified about the
physical evidence.
Montrose forensic pathologistDr Thomas Canfield testified to
(16:02):
the causes of death, and hairfiber expert Nielsen Jemmet
testified about hair samplesthat had been taken where the
bodies were found.
Lee Foreman said that thephysical evidence linking Botham
to the homicides will prove tobe key in the case Quote.
This time, though, we have ourown scientific evidence to
(16:23):
counter theirs.
The last witness of the day wasMesa County Sheriff's
Department Investigator Milo Vig.
He was called to recount thetimeline of Ken Botham's journey
to Ure and back, between 9 pmon August 22nd 1975 to around 3
pm on August 23rd.
No witnesses have come forwardto say that they saw Botham
(16:47):
during that time.
Here's an excerpt from one ofMichael Moss's articles that I
enjoyed.
Vig, balding, with silver-rimmedglasses, rocked nervously in
the witness stand as Foremanpressed him for details.
Yes, vig recalled Botham wasdriving a 1972 Toyota Land
Cruiser on what was a repeatedtrip for him to photograph the
(17:10):
Western Slope.
But no, he couldn't say whetherBotham's visit the next day
with the minister at MesaBaptist Church in Grand Junction
was at 4 or 4.30.
There was small discretion.
Defense Attorney Foreman'spurpose was more to point out
the investigators' lack of totalrecollection of the 6-year-old
(17:32):
case.
He also emphasized that Bothamhad spent an hour with Reverend
OJ Haller that day as a routinemeeting as the choir director of
the church.
Judge Wolvington ran a strictcourt schedule, with proceedings
being cut off promptly at 5.
He repeated a warning to thejurors about not talking about
the case.
He then took the prosecution totask for having some of their
(17:55):
teams stay at the same holidayin as the jurors.
I would just say, yes, sir, youcan be my mommy and my daddy,
but apparently some of thejurors wanted to go for a swim
but found one of the prosecutinglawyers paddling around.
Adorable, I hope they had theirfloaties on.
Investigator Mike Smith startedthe next day of the trial by
talking about how he retracedBotham's trip to Ure and how it
(18:19):
took two hours to travel the 102miles.
Norm Wilhelm then took thestantest testify about his date
with Linda Miracle on the nightof August 22nd.
Quote I wasn't drunk oranything.
She wasn't drunk, she was high,I was high.
We just had a good time.
They shared dinner and somepink shabby before Norm left
(18:41):
around 11.30.
According to him he leftbecause he was unusually tired.
But he also said he stayed uplistening to the stereo in his
apartment until 2 am, which Imean I've done that like, oh,
I'm so tired, and then I end upstaying up later.
But the defense attorneyforeman highlighted that that
was an inconsistency andapparently went after Norm
(19:04):
pretty hard about the abortionLinda had days before her murder
.
Norm had said he figured it washis so he paid for it.
A daily Sentinel writerapproached Norm after he
testified but all he would saywas I just know he's guilty.
That's all.
The neighbors then testified towhat they saw and heard that
(19:24):
night.
The testimonies of MargeMcConnell, mike Larson and Cora
Heiner were fraught withinconsistencies.
Cora, now 89 years old, couldnot be certain if the vehicle
that pulled up to LindaMiracle's home was a station
wagon or a van.
Marge wasn't sure how much ofthe man she saw down the street
(19:45):
and obscured by the parked car,and Mike was reminded by the
defense that the scream he heardcould have come from a boy.
But now Mike was certain it wasa woman.
Independent prosecutor JerryJorgensen combated the cross
examination by saying we nowhave several witnesses saying
these people were killed about1.30 am by a tall, slender guy
(20:08):
with a square built vehicle.
While questioning MargeMcConnell, the first of three
middle school classes enteredthe court.
Apparently, arvada Junior HighSchool had a very thorough
government studies program.
Has anyone seen Junior HighSchool?
By the way, it's like highschool musical, but Junior High
(20:29):
and in the 70s, and instead ofZac Efron we get like a pretty
young Paula Abdul.
It's pretty great.
Detectives James Fromm andDouglas Rushing testify and are
questioned on the efficiency oftheir investigation into the
(20:49):
Botham Miracle Murders.
Detective Rushing admittedfeeling inexperienced at the
time and probably faltered bytalking to too many people too
fast.
Quote you often don't know whatto look for or what to remember
in a person's statement untillater Detective Rushing's notes
had it down as Folly's motelinstead of Polly's, the owner as
(21:13):
Bill instead of Bob and saidthat a car that was parked on
the street when in actuality itwas close to the house.
He explained that you have toparaphrase people and you don't
always get the wording right.
What people really told you,you get what you can.
And in a truly troublingstatement, da Farina said when
(21:35):
people are interviewed as manytimes as they have been in this
case, by the investigators andby us.
Of course they won't relate thesame thing twice.
In fact, if someone does repeatsomething verbatim over and
over, they become suspect.
So if somebody has the samestory, they become suspect.
You better have inconsistenciesor else the murder will be
(21:57):
pinned on you.
Just so you know, theprosecution's big witness for
the day was Botham's formerfriend, dwayne Jackson.
Prosecutor Jorgensen predictedthis would be what would stick
with the jury.
He said that's one of thethings you do Give the jurors
one big thing to think aboutovernight.
Dwayne talked about aconversation he had with Botham
(22:21):
in 1971 during a lull in theirMonday night Barbershop Quartet
practice at the VeteransAdministration Hospital in which
they were both baritones.
The topic was the perfectmurder Discuss.
Botham talked about theabandoned bridge over Gunnison
near Bridgeport Quote Kennethremarked that it would be a good
(22:44):
place to dispose of bodies andI added that if you did, it
would be a good idea to weighthem down.
Kenneth then asked me what I'dtie them down with and I said
wire and weights.
Yes, specifically wire andweights.
If memory serves, dwayne'stestimony from the first trial
definitely sounded more like anequal back and forth because he
(23:07):
was like oh for the perfectmurder.
I would definitely use wire soit didn't decay In this version.
It seems like he's just simplyresponding, so it's no wonder
why defense attorney Foremanstrongly protested this
testimony.
He said this witness had put myclient's entire character in
question, opening Pandora's boxof speculation with statements
(23:30):
that are highly prejudicial andjust unfair.
Judge Wolvington denied theobjection but said prosecution
couldn't question Dwayne furtherthan his recollection of the
conversation.
Dwayne said the technique camefrom an article Botham had read
in Time magazine about a murderin Alabama.
I believe he's referring to theHawes family murders in
(23:55):
Birmingham, alabama, during thewinter of 1888.
Richard and Emma Hawes werehaving marital difficulties.
He worked long hours at GeorgiaPacific and Emma was an
alcoholic who spent most of theday drinking.
(24:15):
Their oldest daughter, mayHawes, was forced to care for
her younger siblings, irene andWillie.
Then, on December 4th, may'sbody was found in East Lake.
Richard Hawes was the onlysuspect, though he continued to
claim his innocence in jail.
Authorities then found Emma'sbruised and beaten body at
(24:37):
Lakeview Park.
It had been weighed down withiron.
After draining that lake theyfound the body of Irene Hawes.
Richard Hawes went on to getthe death penalty but while
being held he admitted he hadpaid a man named John Wiley to
commit the murders, though Haweswas the one to actually get his
(25:00):
daughter May intoxicated andthen drown her because he was
worried she would tell about themurders.
John Wiley was brought to trial, but it ended up being
dismissed due to lack ofevidence and nobody really knows
what happened to Willie Hawes.
I suspect murder, but it'sinteresting to think about the
(25:21):
comparison of these two cases.
Richard Dawes wanted his wifedead and he killed his oldest
daughter and two small childrenin the process.
Both cases have four lives lost.
Richard ended up hanging.
Both of them has escaped onedeath penalty already, but what
will happen in this new trialWe'll find out as we continue to
(25:46):
delve into the Both of MiracleMurders.
Thanks for listening to.
Murder is Bad.
If you're interested inpictures related to the case,
head over to the Instagram atmurderisbadpodcast, and if
you're feeling generous, youcould go over to the little app
(26:08):
you're on right now andsubscribe so you don't miss out
on the next installment.
That was my phone falling, sothat's what you expect to get
Just genuine authenticity.
You're hearing noises.
You're hearing me sip tea.
Doesn't that sound exciting?
Why don't you just go ahead andclick the five stars and leave
(26:30):
a kind word or two or say, hey,you suck.
That's fine too.
You know what?
Just tell me, help me, help you.
All right guys, take care ofeach other and remember murder
is bad.
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