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The Murder Book: A True Crime Podcast
Each week, The Murder Book will present unsolved cases, missing persons, notorious crimes, controversial cases, and serial killers, exploring details of the crime scenes and the murderer's childhood. Some episodes are translated into Spanish as well. The podcast is produced and hosted by Kiara Coyle.
The Murder Book: A True Crime Podcast
Unraveling the Murder of Elizabeth Condon III
Can you imagine being in a laundromat in Colorado on the morning of your mother's murder, discussing potential property purchases with a local artist? That's exactly where you'll find Marjorie, one of our central figures, in this captivating episode. Marjorie's intriguing story unfolds from her turbulent past, her strained relationship with her adoptive mother, Elizabeth Condon, to her dreams of breeding horses and owning a ranch in Colorado.
Marjorie, a spirited individual with a knack for getting her way, and her sister Jennifer, a well-mannered and outgoing child, enjoyed a life of special privileges. From piano lessons on a Steinway grand piano to receiving boxes of clothes from stores to try on, their unique upbringing and complex family dynamics sets the stage for an enthralling narrative. The tale gets more intriguing as we unravel her issues with money, her experiences at Dana Hall, and her first serious relationship with Richard Leroy.
Hold onto your seats as we close this episode on a high note, dissecting Marjorie's shocking reaction upon hearing the news of her mother's death. With multiple versions of her whereabouts on the murder morning and the suspicious activities of her husband, you'll be left on the edge of your seat. Tune in as we navigate through the perplexing maze of this intriguing murder case. The truth is stranger than fiction, and this episode is no exception.
Sources:
Newspapers:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/lubbock-avalanche-journal/159939752/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-morning-star/159939845/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/panama-city-news-herald/159939886/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-memphis-press-scimitar/159939921/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-terre-haute-tribune/159939964/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/quad-city-times/159940002/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-courier/159940044/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/tyrone-daily-herald/159940082/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-forum/159940150/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hamilton-spectator/159940232/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-palm-beach-post/159940279/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald/159940316/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-forum/159940440/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-forum/159940472/
Book:
Hendry, S.D. (2009). Glensheen's Daughter: The Marjorie Congdon Story
Kimball, J. (2017). Secrets of the Congdon Mansion: The Unofficial Guide to Glensheen and the Congdon Murders
Welcome to the murder book. I'm your host, keira, and this is part three of the murder case of Elizabeth Condon and Ares, who lived in near Lake Superior in Duluth, minnesota, in 1977, and her nurse, her night nurse, mrs Petilla. Let's begin. No one could have mistaken Elizabeth Condon's adopted daughters, marjorie and Jennifer, for biological sisters. The differences between Marjorie and Jennifer went far beyond physical appearance. Jennifer had an outgoing bubbly personality that allowed her to make friends easily. She got along well with people, including her condom relatives, and didn't share Marjorie's sensitivity or insecurity about being adopted. Like her mother, jennifer loved the outdoors and played outside whenever she could. Family members and Glensheen staff remember that Jennifer was very well mannered. She was a thoughtful girl who liked to help her mother. She seldom disobeyed Elizabeth.
Speaker 1:Marjorie was a more complex child to raise. An introvert. Marjorie would play with toys by herself or spend hours lost in a book reading. She was also a spirited child who said she enjoys sliding down Glensheen's main staircase banister or down the laundry chute to the baskets below. When Marjorie didn't want to eat her vegetables, she claimed she hid them in the oriental vases in the dining room until she, distanced, exposed her secret. But the spirited child could turn woeful, even volatile, if she didn't get what she wanted. Marjorie liked attention and she was bossy. According to her cousin, mary-benn Irira, when playing with her friends and cousins, she insisted on being in charge of the games or toys. Marjorie also needed to have more toys or doll clothes than the children she played with.
Speaker 1:For an early age, marjorie learned to get her way with her mother by throwing temper tantrums. She would fling herself on the floor, kicking her feet, screaming, and when Marjorie got older, if her mother denied her something she wanted, she might flail at Elizabeth with her fists, sometimes striking her. According to Jennifer, elizabeth gave in to her elder daughter's demands in order to keep the peace. Yet as suddenly as Marjorie could turn prickly, she could ooze charm. She could be unexpectedly demonstrative, showing showing friends and family with affection and presence. Even as a girl, marjorie had the gift of gab. She could tuck her way into or out of just about anything. Marjorie would tell strangers she was related to royalty Not just any royalty. She said that she was a direct descendant of King Charlemagne of France.
Speaker 1:As she grew older, marjorie complained that her cousins in Duluth teased her about being illegitimate. She also claimed that because she was not a blood relative. Her mother's family did not accept her and did not allow her to sit at the dining room table for family dinners. But some family members say Marjorie manufactured her bitter memories. Her claims were nonsense. Marjorie used to say that she was rejected because she had to sit at the other table. There were so many of the young kids that they have a table just for them.
Speaker 1:While Elizabeth's daughters may have liked the father, two of her brothers, robert and Edward Conn, they provided them with a male presence. Elizabeth relied particularly on her older brother, ned, for help. Ned lived nearby and frequently looked in on his mother and sister and nieces, and he was godfather to Marjorie and Jennifer and a loving uncle to both girls. Jennifer recalled that Uncle Ned could tell wonderful stories and she and Marjorie would take turns sitting on his lap and listening to his tales. Elizabeth's younger brother, robert, was also one of her closest confidants, especially after Ned's sudden death from a heart attack in 1940. Jennifer enjoyed a good relationship with her uncle Bob and when she married Uncle Bob gave her away. Marjorie, however, did not get along with her uncle from a young age, most likely because he had advised his sister to practice tough love when Marjorie first began acting out. When Marjorie threw tantrums, he insisted that his sister not gift into the child's demands. After Marjorie repeatedly ran up her mother's charge cards and spent money she didn't have, he told his sister to stop bailing Marjorie out. Marjorie became furious when she learned of her uncle's recommendations, but it didn't matter. Elizabeth continued to rescue her daughter financially and gave her what she wanted because, as she could, she told her brother she wanted to uphold the condom name Out from mother's relatives.
Speaker 1:Marjorie preferred the company of her uncle Harry Dudley and his wife Marjorie, her name's second godmother. Perhaps her sister Jennifer speculated this was because the Dudley's false story from Marjorie. When it came to family matters, they listened to her side of the story. Throughout the grammar school years the girls spent the full semester until Christmas at Glensheen. Marjorie and Jennifer attended the Duluth Normal School, where both girls were good students. Jennifer was a serious student who loved school but had to work hard at it. The good grades, however, became easily for Marjorie who, although she was a gifted straight student, didn't care for school. However, while Marjorie excelled at most subjects, such as English and history, she had no aptitude for math.
Speaker 1:Life at Glensheen served to remind Marjorie and Jennifer that they were not ordinary little girls. Like many children, the two girls took piano lessons but, unlike most, jennifer and Marjorie practiced on a Steinway sorry, grand Piano and Glensheen's living room. When Marjorie and Jennifer needed new clothes, they didn't shop with their mother and department stores. Instead, the stores ferried boxes and boxes of clothes to Glensheen for the girls to try on. The girls were classic, expensive clothing with timeless styling. As a child, marjorie had a brown woolen winter coat trimmed with Bieber pelts and that was later worn by other family members' children. In the wintertime, when it was too cold to play outside, elizabeth allowed the girls to roller skate and ride their bikes on the subway's marble floors.
Speaker 1:Mention life even affected how they got around town. Whenever the girls visited friends, the chauffeur drove them. Jennifer particularly hated the fuss. She would lie on the back seat of the Cadillac so no one could see her. A half block away from a friend's house, she made the driver let her out so she could walk to the door unescorted. The first time Marjorie was allowed to walk home from school, the chauffeur followed her in the family car.
Speaker 1:At school, jennifer had many friends and loved to take part in activities such as Glee Club. Marjorie spent a lot of time by herself, often reading. Jennifer dated regularly throughout school, while Marjorie didn't have her first real boyfriend until she was 18. It didn't matter that only three years separated Marjorie and Jennifer, or that they share a bedroom in Tucson, arizona, even each winter and spring, or that they have both been adopted. The sisters went out close and they spent little spare time together as children, usually choosing to play a part and make separate friends. Marjorie talked about being a veterinarian when she grew up, seeming to prefer the company of animals than most humans. She particularly loved horses. She thought they were beautiful creatures and she loved the feeling of power she had when riding. Marjorie took riding lessons for a number of years, during the winter in Tucson and in the summers at Duluth Skyline Stables.
Speaker 1:Marjorie demonstrated her rebellious streak on an early age. When she was about seven years old, she would take her mother's special diamond and sapphire ring and wear it outside to play in the sandbox. Another childhood friend recalled that Marjorie had a thing about that piece of jewelry. The maid would have to come and retrieve the ring and return it to Elizabeth's jewelry box. Marjorie's fixation on the ring would continue into adulthood. Her daughter, suzanne, later recalled that when she was a young girl, elizabeth told Suzanne that she would receive the ring someday. Marjorie immediately corrected her mother saying that she would get the ring, not Suzanne. Marjorie would sometimes sneak away from the estate without her mother's permission. Jennifer recalled a number of occasions when Marjorie dragged her along on a misadventure. For example, one afternoon the two girls left home without telling anyone and hopped the bus downtown to a movie theater Shofur. James Roper, however, saw the sisters get off the bus returning home, although the movie was Marjorie's idea, jennifer remembers they were punished equally.
Speaker 1:Elizabeth did not tolerate dishonesty. Jennifer recalled that her sister began having money troubles as a young child. She always had a spending problem. Even when she was little. She would steal money from her mother's purse in her bedroom and, according to Jennifer, she says I have seen her steal from my mother's purse. We got a quarter a week and 15 cents of that had to go to Sunday school. She always had to have money. For many years Elizabeth was unaware that her daughter was stealing money from her. If Elizabeth's wallet had less cash than she remembered, it was money. She must have forgotten when she spent at the groceries or at the drugstore.
Speaker 1:Elizabeth Okerland, who was a childhood friend we call that. Marjorie learned early on that she could get away with overspending even when caught as a teen. This friend, elizabeth Okerland. She clerked at Walt's department store in Duluth where Marjorie was a frequent customer, and she said that Marjorie would come in charge three or four cashmere sweaters and then Elizabeth Condon would make a telephone call to the store telling them not to let Marjorie charge things. Okerland remembers that even eventually Marjorie's continued charging without consent led to a special arrangement with the store. Elizabeth would give Marjorie a sign note when she had permission to use Elizabeth's charge account. But Okerland said the arrangement did nothing to rein in Marjorie's spending. Marjorie simply forged her mother's signature as needed.
Speaker 1:One winter in Tuxon, when Marjorie was a teenager, she entreated Elizabeth to buy her thoroughbred stallion. Jennifer recalled that Marjorie, without their mother's knowledge or permission, signed papers and put money down on the stallion. Marjorie could not come up with the remaining money and when the owners threatened to sue Elizabeth, she bailed her daughter out and bought the stallion. Maybe because her scheme had worked so well, marjorie tried again with a Palomino mayor named Farah. Elizabeth bought the second horse but told Marjorie that Palomino would be Jennifer's to ride, as Marjorie already had the stallion. But Marjorie wasn't finished. She insisted she should have the stallion to ride in Duluth. Elizabeth was allergic to horses, but Marjorie's power of persuasion was wrong. Marjorie arranged to have the horse transported by trailer to Duluth and Elizabeth got stuck with the bill. The condons kept the stallion in glenching stables while Farah remaining Tuxon for Jennifer who rode the Palomino for many years.
Speaker 1:Marjorie's theatrical flair reminded one family friend of actress Tallulah Bankhead. She said that she can make herself do anything she wants. One longtime glenching employee described Marjorie as smart and scheming. Marjorie could tuck her mother into almost anything.
Speaker 1:In the fall of 1947, elizabeth decided to send Marjorie to Dana Hall, the exclusive girl's boarding school she had attended outside Boston. Elizabeth hoped her daughter would outgrow her emotional problems at school known for academic excellence and strict supervision. In her first letter home on September 28, 1947, marjorie wrote Well, I suppose you're pretty disgusted that I haven't written to you before, but I have been so doggone, busy and no, since classes have started that I don't know where the time goes. She was most excited about her first writing experience at the school stables because she was put into the second class, advanced writers. The instructor said I didn't have much form. He's a stickler in form, but I would someday be an excellent horsewoman. So after mentioning how well she was doing in her classes, marjorie also said by the way, sprained my ankle slightly, it's very slight and know there's nothing to worry about, but I thought you might like to know. And she signed off love me.
Speaker 1:Marjorie was a loner, a school friend. Remember that she would spend as much time as possible around horses and rode every day at Dana Hall. Marjorie had one friend who was very tall and together they make a real mud and Jeff combination. They were two lonely girls and the horses, marjorie and Good Grace and Dana Hall reportedly possessed one of the highest IQs in school's history. But even in her first year she had money trouble and run ins with the headmistress, as her letters home reveal. On a letter on January 27, 1948, she wrote Dear mom, I have enclosed the reports to you.
Speaker 1:As for plus a note from Peg, she wrote it herself with no priming from me, because things were in a mess here and she figured this will calm you down. Boy, you really fixed things with Mrs Johnson. She was so mad at me she was about to have little kittens, but I told her I talked everything over with you and that it was all okay. Finally I got her calm down and she said that she would disregard your letter and you won't have to write her anymore. For heaven's sake, don't do that again. Everything was horribly messed for a while and I got so wrought up about it. Oh, I just about flunked a Spanish test. I got a C on it. After this, discuss things with me first and leave the school out of it. It is none of Mrs Johnson's business. Anyhow, now she has poker, nose and everything. I am coming back in one condition only we can talk about it later. I got to go to bed now, but I will write just as soon as I get back from pecs. Love Marge. And then there was a close note from Marjorie's friend and classmate named Peg. It says I don't think that Marjorie was money or that she gets too much. And then Marjorie also included a list of recent expenditures in an attempt to persuade her mother that she was conscientious and charitable.
Speaker 1:Marjorie returned to Deina Ho for her junior year. Her letter to her mother, dated Valentine's Day 1949, described her continued problems at school and her overspending. It also reflected Marjorie's sensitivity about her adoption and she wrote. Quote Dear mom, it was swell to talk to you on the phone yesterday. You don't know how much I miss you and want to get home. As you know, I have from the 23rd until the 6th, that is, 15 days of freedom. I really will stay home more this time and only go riding once a day for half a day at the time instead of all day.
Speaker 1:My bill for rides at Colonel's Beasley's was my biggest expense justification. Jean is going to let me ride for considerably less. I was paying about $20 a week at the Colonel's but I certainly got my money's worth with the amount of riding I did. I hate to think what it would have been by the hour. Anyway, that and paying for a few of the girls' rides when they went as my guest mounted the amount. They just catch my check, apparently. And I got a letter from Mr Burke of the Condom office in Duluth saying I have overdrawn my account. He put in my March allowance to cover it. Though I'm sure you it won't happen again, I'm now going to try and see how a big bank balance I can pile up. I have a suggestion to make. What do you think about lowering my allowance considerably during the summer months I really won't need as much money there as during the winter.
Speaker 1:Mrs J says that she's going to answer your letter. She says that she feels it her duty to help you bring me up, as I don't have two parents. I just about slapped her face. I was so furious as if you couldn't bring me up as well or better than most girls. If there is anything you want to discuss with me, do it during vacation, but leave that woman out of it. She says, since I am an adopted child, I should feel much more grateful to you and realize what a privilege I have been given. She won't even say your mother. She says your guardian or your aunt when she says anything to me about you. And then she says I have an adoption complex. I have never hated anyone so damn much in all my life and if you will have any more correspondence with her about me, I will clear out of here and never come back to this place again. I mean it. She says I get too much money when I know four girls that get $125 a month. Anyway, it's none of her damn business so long and write me any questions you want answered before her Love March.
Speaker 1:Jennifer recalled that her mother was extremely frustrated by Marjorie's irresponsibility with money. Either Marjorie had not registered all the checks she had written or she had lost track of her balance. But the spending didn't stop with an overdraft notice. That summer Marjorie attended camp in Maine. In her postcards Marjorie asked her mother to send more clothes and money.
Speaker 1:Following Marjorie's junior year at Dana Home, elizabeth took her for an evaluation at the manager clinic, a well-known psychiatric treatment center in Topeka, kansas. Marjorie's compulsive lying, her stealing, irresponsibility with money and her acting out at home added up to a bigger problem than adolescence. Condom. Family members remember manager doctors diagnosed Marjorie as a sociopath, a person who ignores social and moral norms. After a short stay at the clinic, marjorie went to a group home in St Louis and completed her senior year at a special school. Jennifer said that Elizabeth hoped this change would help and that Marjorie, who did successfully graduate and make plans to attend St Louis University. And soon after she met her first real boyfriend, richard Leroy, a handsome man with dark hair and long, thin face, distinguished by deep, sad, serious eyes, nearly a foot taller than Marjorie. In five years her senior he would become her first husband.
Speaker 1:Dick Levolle was raised in Winchester, massachusetts. As a child he learned the virtues of hard work and physical responsibility from his father, who was director of the Boston Area chapter of the Boys Club of America. His biggest job was fundraising and according to Dick, talking about his father and he said when he came in 1910, they have $3,000 in a couple of rooms. When his father retired, the club had five buildings and an annual income of $350,000. His physical lessons continued after his father's stroke and death in 1938 and when he was 11, financial problems forced his family to move from their 17 room house to one less than half its size, but his mother always made sure there was food on the table and scraped together money for her children's needs. Years later, dick still remembered the day she sold rec-rec to her neighbors for bus fare so his brother and sister could look for work.
Speaker 1:After high school, dick enlisted in the Navy where he specialized in radio communications and combat gunnery. After two years of service, during which World War II ended, dick returned home to enroll at the University of Massachusetts. He majored in political science, originally hoping to go on to law school after graduation, but money was tight, so he accepted his brother's Robert's invitation to come live in Job Hunt in St Louis, dick started working as an underwriter for a general insurance company of America and spent his first six weeks in St Louis living with Robert. From there he moved into a rooming house that didn't provide meals. Most evenings he walked down the street to take his supper at Mom and Pop Lipper's boarding house, where Marjorie Condom happened to live. On an October 9, 1950, dick was introduced to a talkative young woman sitting across the table. Thick glasses did little to hide her dark, inquisitive eyes. Marjorie told him she was taking a nursing course at Washington University For months he would learn little of her family background or her family's wealth. Soon after they met Dick as Marjorie out that winter, they dated steadily, often, meeting at the rooming house or at a favorite local restaurant for pizza and coke.
Speaker 1:Dick and Marjorie regularly attended Cottenary Methodist Church where they participated in the Young Adults Club. The couple played volleyball with other club members, attended church potluck suppers and went to concerts and plays. When the weather was warm they enjoyed the municipal opera, which performed outdoors, and took excursions on the riverboat Admiral. According to Dick, marjorie was exuberant, so full of fun. She was very intelligent, from an upper middle class family whose values were similar to his own. Marjorie confided to Dick that she had been in some trouble doing her early teens and been taken to the messenger clinic. She explained that her overprotective, eccentric mother had insisted on the visit. He shouldn't take it seriously. She didn't need to make excuses for her visit to the clinic.
Speaker 1:Dick had fallen in love with a spunky woman who seemed to him a whirlwind of activity. One night in January of February 1951, while the couple was alone helping paint the church, dick asked Marjorie to marry him. She said yes but would have to wait a year for her diamond engagement ring, which Dick couldn't yet afford. Elizabeth learned of the wedding plans in a Funko van Marjorie just as she and Jennifer were returning to the US after a trip to Europe. She and Jennifer travelled straight to St Louis to see the newly engaged couple. Concerned that Marjorie, at age 19, was too young. Elizabeth talked to her about the importance of getting an education, of perhaps seeing more of the world before committed to marriage. Elizabeth hoped that she and Marjorie could go to Europe together, but it didn't. No good, marjorie had made up her mind to get married. If opposites attract Spentthrift, marjorie couldn't have chosen a more suitable partner than Dick. Beyond his austere upbringing. His last name from the French Leroy the King made him a filling companion for a young woman who liked to believe she descended from royalty.
Speaker 1:Marjorie Manor Condom and Richard Webster Leroy were married on June 30, 1951 in a large formal Methodist ceremony held in Glenshing's living room before approximately 150 guests. Dick's mother, beth, had flown in for her wedding and to meet her new daughter-in-law. The wedding announcement in Dick's hometown newspaper described the wedding as taking place before a fireplace banked with Calerium Ivy and Maiden hair fern. Marjorie wore a long-sleeved traditional white Italian silk satin dress, trim and hairline rose-pointed lace lace with a Juliet cap. Marjorie's floor length veil of silk illusion had belonged to her name's sake, her Anne Marjorie Condom Dudley, and she was given away by her uncle, harry Dudley, both of whom she was among the few relatives with whom she enjoyed a close relationship. Jennifer was her maid of honor and her bridesmaids were childhood friends. Dick Bestman was unable to make a to-do list from St Louis, so Marjorie's cousin took his place and other condom cousins and friends were the surface groomsmen. It was a simple but yet elegant reception and the newlyweds went honeymoon for two weeks at Swift Waterform before returning to St Louis. They recalled years later how happy they were to simply be together for the brief time enjoying the outdoors as they went swimming to canoe drives and picnic, and they never once discussed money. So this is giving you a little bit of background of Jennifer, but primarily Marjorie, who were the adopted daughters of this single lady, mrs Condom, elizabeth Condom.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk a little bit about what was happening in the present in 1977. So as police learned of the killing site clenching, marjorie Cutwood took her usual seat in the coffee shop at the Holland House Hotel in Golden Colorado, a thousand miles southwest of Duluth, across from Golden State Bank, in the Central Business District, the 50-year-old hotel catered to travelers looking for a bargain. A few like Marjorie called the one-two-story White Stucko building home and since March, marjorie, her 16-year-old son Rick and her second husband, roger Cowell, had occupied two adjacent rooms at the back of the second floor of this building. She and Roger had met in 1975, so this is telling you that her first marriage didn't last. They have decided to live together after they have known each other one weekend they were married within three months of meeting. As waitress Mildred Smith poured coffee that Monday morning, marjorie told her quote I'm going to surprise you and have breakfast. End quote. Normally Marjorie preferred barbecue beef sandwiches, even for breakfast, but today she ordered French toast and a side of bacon. It was 6 am on a Monday morning in Colorado, but it was 7 am in Duluth.
Speaker 1:Golden and pretentious small town in the edge of the Rocky Mountains just west of Denver is home to several sites of interest, including the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Eight of Course Company headquarters, the Colorado School of Mines, whose signature letter M lights up Lookout Mountain, illuminating the campus at night In one sub-boom town known as the Gateway to the Golden Fields. Golden was Colorado's first territorial capital. Signs of the town's frontier past are abundant. The main street storefronts in a historic district recall the old west of the 1800s.
Speaker 1:Marjorie had moved to Colorado two years earlier, in May 1975. Soon after arriving in Denver she had been arrested and jailed. Her AMC pacer had not been paid for and this arrival had its origin back in Minnesota. When Marjorie had decided to move, she called E Thomas Welch. Since 1973, welch, senior Vice President in charge of the Trust Office of the Marquette National Bank in Minneapolis, had administered the two trusts that Elizabeth had set up for Marjorie. In 1968. The Trust Office, due to past problems with Marjorie had instituted a policy of sending money directly to her creditors instead of to her. During the phone call, marjorie told Welch she was moving her family out to Colorado for a new start. The climate would be better for her son's risk asthma and he would be closer to his asthma specialist in Denver. At the time the Trust Office already had an outstanding $30,000 bill from Dayton's department store in Minneapolis for clothing Marjorie had bought. Nevertheless, a short time after Marjorie's move, welch got a call from Dayton's On the day Marjorie left Minnesota. She had charged hundreds of dollars more at the downtown store for items including designer clothes, hair styling and electrolysis. Next Welch discovered through a call from a car dealer that on the day she left Minnesota Marjorie had driven to a Bloomington dealership and traded in her GMC for two paces for her and her children to drive to Colorado. But the dealer had subsequently learned that the trade-in car had a lien against it and Marjorie's check for the difference on the cars had bounced. The dealer assumed the trust would pay up. When Welch contacted Marjorie about this, her only response was that she needed transportation. The car dealer took the situation into his own hands and went out to Colorado to repossess the cars. He had Marjorie jailed and since Welch was out of town she spent the weekend incarcerated. Welch came back the following Monday, bailed Marjorie out pay for one car, so Marjorie had transportation and let the dealership repossess the other.
Speaker 1:After recovering from this shaky start, marjorie eventually decided her Colorado dream was to breed and train horses and own a ranch. Her friends were used to seeing her dress casually in worn Levi's and cowboy boots. She was most comfortable, she told them, hanging out in the barn with her horses. She didn't even mind the miniature, she was a real stowmucker. With shovel and pitchfork she cleaned out horse manure and let down fresh hay. Marjorie would be working toward her dream. Later, the morning of her mother's murder, she had a meeting with Crown Realty agent Fran Beyer. Marjorie had first met Beyer in May when she was intrigued by an igloo-shaped house listed with Beyer's office. Though Marjorie decided against buying the house, she had asked Beyer to help her find a ranch. They had made plans to.
Speaker 1:Previous night over dinner at a Mr Steak restaurant. Marjorie wanted to look at some new properties and revisit others. She also needed to finalize the purchase of two properties, including one. The car walls were already calling Rodgers' Retreat the previous night, after the restaurant closed, beyer had drawn up the purchase agreements in the front seat of Beyer's car, parked next to a light post.
Speaker 1:After breakfast, marjorie planned to do laundry down the street at the landmark laundromat. Marjorie reached down and wrapped her plastic garbage pair of dirty clothes mostly horse blankets and riding apparel, walked briskly through the laundromat three blocks away, even to the casual observer. Marjorie was a kinetic woman with dark cropped hair and motive, brown eyes hidden behind thick glasses. Her hands constantly moved and her strong chin hinted as a woman used to getting her own way. She arrived at the coin-operated laundromat shortly before it opened at 7.30 am. The owner, fred Goldmonard, leaned against the counter as she waited impatiently at the door. Minutes later he watched her load close, as a man Goldmonard didn't recognize came in and approached her. The man stood by the side door and he and Marjorie laughed and talked animately for 15 minutes before he left.
Speaker 1:Goldmonard later learned that the man was Frank Wilbur, or what they call him, frank Wilbur Bill K Jr. He looked like a genuine cowboy. He had long, wavy brown hair, western clothes and boots. He flaunted a layback approach to life and called himself an artist. Local law enforcement, however, wasn't so sure they had investigated his possible connection to a suspected burglary insurance fraud involving the Cowboys, former Bailey Colorado ranch, pine Valley Farms. Though no charges were ever filed, authorities continued to track his activities.
Speaker 1:Kay had first met the Cowboys in November 1976 when they bought Pine Valley Farms. After the purchase he sometimes watched the property for the Cowboys and the Cowboys had recently disclosed to Kay they were desperate for cash. Only five days earlier Kay had gotten an urgent call from Roger and he says can you help me? Do you know some place where March and I could park or sell some of our jewelry? And Kay asks why? What's going on? So Roger explained they owed hundreds of dollars in horse boarding and feed bills at Table Mountain Ranch in Golden. He said we're not going to sell the horses, especially not his horse Poppy, that he wouldn't let anyone else ride. And Kay said well, I'll take you two out tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1:This was not the first time Roger had confided in Kay about his troubles. On a boozy night two or three months earlier Kay had listened to Roger loudly complain about his wife and certain comments had stuck in Kay's mind. And Roger had said to him I'm thinking of leaving Marjorie because she's capable of anything. It's hard to believe anything she says. And Roger also talked about how his lawyers had suggested him to file bankruptcy and to divorce Marjorie. But Kay doubted Roger would ever make good on his thread. Kay knew Roger was unemployed and virtually penniless, living off his wife's trust income. Besides, roger struck Kay as too passive and Kay even remembers that Roger was a hardworking man before he met Marjorie. She turned him into a gentleman farmer.
Speaker 1:So on Thursday morning, june 23rd, about 9 30 am, kay had arrived at the Holland House Hotel to pick up the car wells. Kay noticed that Roger was so groggy that he could hardly keep his eyes open. Kay then drove the couple to LA Dye a coin which is a Denver punch shop where he was a regular. The owner gave the car words a $3,000 check in exchange for $8,000 worth of gold, silver and Turquoise jewelry. Marjorie made sure the owner knew she planned to buy the jewelry. Back Start policy gave the car words 30 days to repurchase the jewelry but it would cost them an extra $1,000. And Marjorie said well, I'm expecting to come into a sizable amount of money soon. And she completed the track section. Kay again observed that Roger could barely stay awake Aware he was being watched, roger wonder aloud about what type of medication Marjorie had given him.
Speaker 1:That morning. After the punch shop, marjorie insisted that Kay drive her to a nearby bank so that she could immediately cash the check for $3,000 worth of 10 and $20 bills. Next, marjorie asked Kay to drive them to the Hertz office in Denver so she could rent a car for the weekend. Kay and Roger waited in Kay's car while Marjorie went inside and returned a short time later stating that her rental car was at the airport. And again Kay showed for the couple, dropping Roger and Marjorie off at the airport's upper level.
Speaker 1:At about 1.30pm On Monday morning Kay wanted to talk with Roger to see how Bill Payne had turned out, but when he arrived at the Holland house the front desk clerk said that Roger was out and Marjorie was at the laundromat. She also told Kay there was a wake up call and note for Rick which Kay volunteered to take to the boy. He went upstairs and knocked out until he awakened Rick, handed him the note and left the hotel. When he found Marjorie at the laundromat he asked about Roger's whereabouts and Marjorie said Roger had to go downtown to meet with the lawyer. She told Kay that she had driven him to John Moorhead's office in downtown Denver. Kay talked about the cowboys' horses with Marjorie for a short time before leaving.
Speaker 1:And while fun to talk to, marjorie's outward charm soon wore thin as her need to impress became overbearing even to casual appearances or acquaintances, I should say like Kay. So, as Kay said later, marjorie boasted of her riches and tried to surround herself with people she could really impress. But Kay knew that she had nearly depleting her family trust funds. Minutes after Kay had left, as Marjorie folded her laundry, the phone rang Go, not answer and then call out and said Marjorie phone call.
Speaker 1:The cowboys' personal attorney, david Arnott was underlined, from Minnesota. His secretary had tracked her down after calling the hotel and Arnott asked are you alone? And she said yes, roger's gone out to get a six pack of Coke. And she told Arnott that Roger was at the 7-Eleven that was located three blocks from the laundromat, and this was the second excuse for her husband's absence that morning. So Arnott said well, I have some bad news. And Marjorie broke in and she said oh my god, is it the children? She said no, your mother, your mother and her nurse were murdered last night. The news had already reached her sister Jennifer. The first report said that the woman had been killed during a break in. Rumors were rampant. Arnott continued in. According to an unofficial report, a young man in bloodstained clothing had been seen running away from Glensheen around the time of the murders. But there were a few details Arnott could share Sorry, share.
Speaker 1:Upon hearing the news, marjorie sounded distraught. She sobbed loudly and fired question after question at Arnott. However, by conversations end, arnott realized Marjorie had changed her tone. She had become businesslike, unnaturally composed and organized. As she ticked off funeral details and travel plans, arnott would arrange to wire money ahead for the cowards playing tickets. At the time it didn't seem at all strange. Arnott later recalled that shortly after he thought how can one, after being advice of murder and having the response that she did, suddenly had the clarity of mind to go through a checklist?
Speaker 1:After Marjorie hung up the phone, she turned to Golnar and she said I'm going to look for my children. And she announced this before repeating the grim news of her mother's murder. She said the burglar took $7,000 worth of jewelry. Not even police had an estimation of the jewelry worth at that time, but she knew. And so Golnar said are you going to tell your husband and Marjorie said I don't know where he is. He's someplace downtown. And this is shrugging the question. With her third version of Various Warabouts, she folded two wet shirts before asking Golnar, will you mind folding the rest of the laundry for me?
Speaker 1:Marjorie then left the laundromat and Golnar as soon as she went home, but instead Marjorie drove to the National Asthma Center in Denver. She has to see Dr Hyman Chai, the specialist who had regularly treated Rick since they had moved to the Denver area. Dr Chai was busy in a meeting and she spoke instead with Shirley Herman, his administrative assistant, and she said a terrible thing has happened in my family and her voice sounded like nearly hysterical. She said my mother's been murdered. And then she asked dramatically what should I do with Rick if he breaks down when he hears about his grandmother's death? We'll be going to Duluth tomorrow because we can't get into Duluth today. Before she left, marjorie insisted that the center should be ready in case her son's asthma flare up and he required hospitalization. Later that day Dr Chai confirmed with his assistant that, if necessary, rick could be brought to the center for treatment.
Speaker 1:From the asthma center, marjorie drove to the ranch home of her host, trainer and then Dion, dana and the two women had met at the National Western Stock Show at the Denver College, cme back in January when Marjorie wanted to find a house to buy. Dana helped Marjorie buy a house. Dana had insisted on cash payment, having learned of Marjorie's history of bounced checks from another horse trainer. Since then she had given Marjorie and Rick writing lessons Around 9 am and June 27, marjorie ran into Dana's house, talking rapidly and not making much sense. She was basically upset as she told Dana. She said my mother was murdered last night. Marjorie said her mother kept little real money at Glensheen but noted that the mansion did have some valuable paintings, implying a plausible motive for murder.
Speaker 1:While at Dana's ranch Marjorie called her cousin Tom in Denver shortly before 9.30 am. He Senior trustee for the family trust funds. Tom Condon was regarded as the patriarch of the Condon clan. He was a mild manner man with dark hair, tortoise these tortoise, sorry show glasses. He had a youthful face and Condon was usually not only attired in rumple yet obviously expensive tailored clothes or suits, searsucker. In summer he worked as president of St Mary Parish Land Company, which is a Denver oil and gas exploration firm.
Speaker 1:So, stuttering and crying and seemingly in shock. Marjorie told Condon that she had gotten a phone from her attorney at the laundromat and Marjorie said mother's been killed. She asked Condon if he knew who did it and then launched into an unprompted rundown of her and Marjorie's activities that evening before and the morning she had, or she told Condon that she and Marjorie had been at the laundromat that morning, but Marjorie was out on an errand where she got the bad news. According to her and this her fourth story of Marjorie's whereabouts the morning of the killings was closer to the version that she had told Arnold. Thank you for listening to the murder book. We will continue with the suspect news that is coming on Marjorie's way and how she's reacting and what is the deal with all the versions regarding her husband's whereabouts. Where is this going? Have a great week.
