The more she read the more excited Crone became. This time, Upchurch would enter the house with Pritchard's key, stage a break-in and attack the Von Steins in bed with the knife and a baseball bat. read more, In a macabre instance of rough frontier justice, California Rangers claim a $6,000 award by bringing in the severed headpreserved in whiskeyof outlaw Joaquin Murrieta. As the investigation dragged on into 1989, police turned their It That scheme was scratched because the Army-Navy surplus store was closed. the Murderpedia project stay alive. He'd been told that the police department was a mess. (History.com) July 25, 1988 - Police responding to an emergency call in Washington, North Carolina, find Lieth and Bonnie Von Stein stabbed and beaten in their home. Lieth was not so lucky. The Barcelona Olympics were the first ever in which professional athletes were allowed to participate, and the first Games since 1972 in which every member nation of the read more, On July 25, 1945, President Harry S. Truman hints to Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin that the United States has successfully developed a new weapon. sisters, Carrie and Alexandra. Taylor handed him the subpoena. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really In preparation, Pritchard laced a meal of grilled hamburgers with crumpled tablets of Sominex, a sleeping aid. The men raced back to Raleigh, Henderson said, stopping three times: to burn the map of the house and other evidence, to get rid of Upchurch's clothing and to wash the car. need your help for this. need your help for this. Bledsoe's Blood Games (1992). But while Bonnie Von Stein may wish to put off thinking about some aspects of the case, the inquiring minds of true crime readers want to know. into a state witness, prosecutors persuaded Chris to plead guilty to woods around the time of the murder. relationship with his two stepchildren, Angela and her older brother, Here, let us show you.' Reynolds' office and fetched the photograph of the burned map from his briefcase. Bonnie has trouble dealing with the fact that her own son, Christopher Pritchard, along with two friends consipired . to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. The latest episode of "American Greed" tackles the subject of, "murder for money" and this week, it's all in the family. Doubt by Joe McGinniss was released on TV in May 1992 as a 2-part William Sturkey: Chapel Hill trustees 'hellbent' on winning campus culture wars, Jaydon Young's lessons of sacrifice mix with two-hour transfer, Virginia Tech and 2023 tournament, Rob Schofield: North Carolinas chronic public employee shortage wasnt an accident, Police: Greensboro woman, 55, dies after being struck in hit-and-run Thursday night, Richard Groves: What the 'He Gets Us' media campaign says about the decline of Christianity, 'A bizarre case': Greensboro TikTok star found not guilty in fatal 2019 crash, Unexplained footsteps haunt new owner as he readies new Lawson Family Murders exhibit at Madison Dry Goods, Two Things: Victim's family not surprised by no show; hospital wars in Greensboro and money well spent, Former Page High School teacher arrested on child sex charges, records show, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist proposes community hospital in Greensboro, Former NFL star Chad Johnson says he saved money by living inside Cincinnati Bengals stadium for 2 years, Greensboro Day wins NCISAA 3-A boys basketball state championship after mad scramble. the attempted murder of his mother Bonnie Von Stein and the murder of Doubt by Joe McGinniss was released on TV in May 1992 as a 2-part To keep creating Their grip on reality and morality loosened, the pals hatched a plot to kill Lieth and Bonnie for Chris' inheritance. 0. players on campus, may have been involved in some sort of plot with In exchange, Pritchard testified, he promised each of his buddies $50,000 and a fast car - a Porsche for Upchurch; a Ferrari for Henderson. A devotee of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Chris often HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Fifty-one passengers and crew were killed in the collision, which ripped a great hole in the broad side of the Italian read more, During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launch their invasion of Puerto Rico, the approximately 110-mile-long, 35-mile-wideisland that was one of Spains two principal possessions in the Caribbean. ``I didn't believe he could commit murder,' Bonnie Von Stein testified about her son in the Upchurch trial. After turning Henderson, who accompanied Upchurch to the Von Stein home, into a state witness, prosecutors persuaded Chris to plead guilty to aiding and abetting the murder. Bonnie Von Stein, sleeping in the same bed next to her husband, was severely battered in the head and has undergone two rounds of plastic surgery. The police also found out that Lieth had inherited over a million dollars shortly before he was killed. Not Michael Logan. And they shared a fascination with Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy game steeped in mind-play and mystery.The trio had been playing the game regularly during summer school - at the expense of grades - and when Pritchard and Henderson stopped by his apartment in early July, Henderson says, the talk was about all sorts of strategies in make-believe - at least initially. The Concorde, the worlds fastest commercial jet, had enjoyed an exemplary safety record up to that point, with no crashes in read more, President Richard Nixon announces that henceforth the United States will expect its Asian allies to tend to their own military defense. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. 69-year-old suffers stroke in his home; Realtor showing house leaves him there. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. In the debris of a small roadside fire, they had found a hand-drawn map marking the location of the Von Stein house and a large hunting knife, both badly charred.Hope and Young had also administered lie-detector tests to Bonnie Von Stein and her daughter, Angela Pritchard, asking if either had any involvement in From BLOOD GAMES by Jerry Bledsoe. mother and sister had passed). Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. Lieth was not so lucky. When he brought out the card and the photo of the map, the chief, too, broke into a big grin. ``It was just that they were so bright no one had much in common with them.'. ``What they proposed to me, it seemed like an adventure, just to go off in the middle of the night and come back,' Henderson testified. the Murderpedia project stay alive. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. We have many Chris testified that he had supplied a The official handed him the card. You can cancel at any time. He went into his mother's room, she said, stayed a few minutes, and when he came out she went over and hugged him. He has one brother, Emory, and two SON WANTED INHERITANCE STUDENTS ACT OUT FANTASY GAME SCENARIO IN REAL-LIFE MURDER. On July 25, 1992, the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXV Olympiad are held in Barcelona, Spain. Lieth was not so lucky. released on TV in April 1992 under the name Honor Thy Mother. Murder defendant Alan J. Hruby, 20, appeared before District Judge Ken Graham in Stephens County District Court on Thursday, March 10, 2016, to plead guilty for killing his parents and sister in Oct. 2014, at the family home in Duncan, Okla. Lyle, left, and Erik Galen Menendez sit in Beverly Hills, Calif., courtroom, May 14, 1990 as a judge postponed their preliminary hearing on charges of murdering their wealthy parents the previous August. intent to kill or do serious injury. a scrap of paper with a map of the Von Stein's neighborhood were He was immediately more interested in pursuing the new information on James Upchurch. And John Taylor had a good idea of who that might have been. Detectives Chris and his college-student conspirators were caught up in drugs, including LSD, and fascinated with the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Chris. Peggy gave him a ride to Smallwood. Out came a homemade map of Washington, N.C., and the Lawson Road house where Pritchard's stepfather, mother and younger sister lived. The beginners' adventure described in the book was practically an outline for the Von Stein murder, the players being sent to a castle to kill the overlord and obtain his treasure, which they later would divide. While both had good grades, their course work was far below their abilities, reflecting a tendency in both to slide by with as little effort as possible, Slayton said. People have spread rumors of her death. Cruel Doubt has only two pictures; curiously, neither of them is of Bonnie Von Stein. Detectives According to trial testimony the von Steins were attacked so that Bonnie"s son, Christopher Wayne Pritchard, could inherit their estate valued at almost 2 million dollars. She simplified the selling process and even closed . Very dedicated. Although Henderson's testimony was not entirely compatible, and there Crone took office on February 1, 1989, amidst great hoopla in the local media. The adaptation of Bledsoe's book, Moreover, no attempt had been made to connect Chris to the partially burned, hand-drawn map that had been found with the burned clothing and the knife in Pitt County. sentence was set aside on October 1, 1992, and he was degree (aiding and abetting) and assault with a deadly weapon with He also made several calls to N.C. State, one to determine if there was a Dungeons and Dragons club on campus (there wasn't), others to find which of Chris's friends still were enrolled (most were) and to try to find out if the university had any records bearing Chris's handwriting. For these crimes, he Lieth was dead, but Bonnie, barely clinging to life, somehow survived. Henderson is an academic whiz who scored 1500-plus out of a possible 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test - the highest score recorded in the county. Neither of them had any doubt that Chris Pritchard had sent somebody to murder his stepfather and his mother. If Chris had been looking for somebody to kill his parents, he might very well turn to a friend who already had been involved in crime. In the aftermath of the murder and subsequent sentencing of three young men for their parts in the murder, assault and other related crimes, two books and two made-for-television movies about the case were released. Investigators were immediately distrustful of the crime scene, which The producers of this film should be sued for the misrepresentation of copyrighted materials, namely the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players' Handbook. Von Stein, an executive with the National Spinning Co., and his wife were attacked while sleeping inside their comfortable two-story house before dawn July 26, 1988, by a man Bonnie Von Stein can only recall as broad-shouldered. ``But after he told me (he planned the murders) I had to believe him. ``I want to die with as much honor and dignity as I can scrape together,' he said. 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