She had three outstanding warrants on him for probation violations. It was speculated at trial that the von Stein's were attention to Chris, who refused to take a polygraph test (which his One word would hardly suffice, he thought. ``If he shows up over there,' Taylor said, ``nail him, and call me.'. 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He wanted to meet Bonnie Von Stein. 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. ``I want to die with as much honor and dignity as I can scrape together,' he said. Lieth was not so lucky. Leith ``Neither one of them was the most popular person in school,' said Weldon Slayton, head of the academically gifted program at Bartlett Yancey High. Interesting questions are tossed out in cursory fashion at the book's end. He and Reynolds compared the two, and a smile began to spread across Taylor's face. Reportedly, Chris was bitter toward his stepfather for not Air Date -- Pictured: Blythe Danner as Bonnie Von Stein, Adam Baldwin as Det. He thought the murder was an inside job, a family affair. He had photographed the body and the house, then had helped SBI Agent Lewis Young gather evidence at the scene, because no SBI crime lab was available. After turning Henderson, who accompanied Upchurch to the Von Stein home, McGinniss tells a gripping yarn, assuredly whisking the reader from scene to scene, creating a sense of the world-ripped-from-under-you feelings that Bonnie experienced. We have many case: Joe McGinniss' Cruel Doubt (1991) and Jerry Bonnie Von Stein, 45, is from Wellcome, a community in Davidson County, and Leith Von Stein, 42, was a Winston-Salem native. The 1992 book Blood Games by Jerry Bledsoe was Lieth was dead, but Bonnie, barely clinging to life,. Taylor was wary of this as hard evidence. He will not be eligible for parole killed. With little resistance and only seven deaths, U.S. troops under General read more, On July 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele, who tells Il Duce that the war is lost. On the morning of July 25th, 1988, Christopher Wayne Pritchard walked into the bedroom of his stepfather, Leith Von Stein and mother Bonnie, with a knife and club and murdered Leith, leaving Bonnie with severe injuries. He will not be eligible for parole until 2022. The case He spent the evening playing cards in a friend's dorm. vented his frustration to his fellow players at North Carolina State She hadn't seen him in months, she said, but she was looking for him. Chris testified that he had supplied a The trial was moved from Beaufort County because of pretrial publicity. London was born in San Francisco in 1876. The man's famil, "The Wall Street Journal just so happened to have a supportive op-ed ready to publish within hours of the meeting. The family would perish in their beds, according to the plan. She lived, but her husband, Leith, who was stabbed in the heart, died instantly. Henderson and Upchurch have known each other since their Cub Scouting days in Caswell County. Reportedly, Chris was bitter toward his stepfather for not spending more of the inheritance on him. He brings with him a solid sense of time and place, and devotes a great deal of attention to the police investigation and trial. friends revealed that James Upchurch and Neal Henderson, other D&D plans and enthusiasm that Leith had inherited over a million dollars shortly before he was Unfortunately, some important aspects of how and why the crime was committed get jettisoned in the process. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help If they were similar, it would be a strong indication that Chris had drawn the map. Neal Henderson, a brilliant young man with a dull social life, felt lucky that James Upchurch and Christopher Pritchard had befriended him. Landmark News Service contributed to this report. On Friday, March 10, Taylor requested criminal histories on all of Chris's college acquaintances whose names were mentioned in the reports. John Crone knew that he faced a challenge. Beloved wife of Steven Stein. Lieth was dead, but Bonnie, barely clinging to life, somehow survived. Upchurch was convicted of first degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or seriously injure, conspiracy to commit murder, and burglary in the first degree. 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. Now their suspicions had been confirmed. and Gerald Neal Henderson, were both convicted of murder They came from good families. Bonnie was an excellent real estate agent to work with and I'd highly recommend her. was sentenced on January 30, 1990, respectively, to Lieth was not so lucky. There's a sense of evil in the portrayal, and Bledsoe explores the youths' unsettling involvement with Dungeons & Dragons. James B. Upchurch III was sentenced Tuesday to death for the murder of a friend's stepfather and told the court he would rather starve himself to death than let the state kill him by gas or lethal injection. You have permission to edit this article. Bledsoe's Blood Games (1992). Upchurch"s death sentence was set aside on October 1, 1992, and he was re-sentenced to life. Out came a homemade map of Washington, N.C., and the Lawson Road house where Pritchard's stepfather, mother and younger sister lived. Not Michael Logan. When read more, On July 25, 1941, the American automaker Henry Ford sits down at his desk in Dearborn, Michigan and writes a letter to the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. ``He drew the damn map.'. ``It was just that they were so bright no one had much in common with them.'. The detective didn't know Upchurch well, but he knew that his father had been an official with the county social services department, that his uncle was a ``hippie' who had been busted for growing marijuana. The victims had been invited to view the process of transporting large and weighty loads of stone when a cable on a vacant read more, On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the worlds first baby to be conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to parents Lesley and Peter Brown. Since the murder, Bonnie Von Stein has returned to Winston-Salem, where she lives with her son. 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. ``He was and is the brightest star of the young people in the department,' Radford said of Taylor after Radford had left the job of city manager. The sad ironies of the family's tale are compelling. Carolina on January 31, 1990, and paroled on June 2, 2007. One of Chris's friends at college, James B. Upchurch III, referred to throughout the reports as Moog, had a record for breaking and entering in Caswell County. Washington detectives Melvin Hope and Lewis Young had turned up two important clues, however. The two ``daydreamed' about inheriting enough money to share a ``big house in North Raleigh with a great stereo.'. ``James Upchurch and Christopher Pritchard were my friends.'. the Murderpedia project stay alive. . He'd been told that the police department was a mess. We have many Pritchard was convicted of murder in the second The miniseries Cruel Doubt was released in May 1992. Bonnie Stein, nee Heller, age 59, passed away after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. After turning Henderson, who accompanied Upchurch to the Von Stein home, Although Henderson's testimony was not entirely compatible, and there The case On the day that Lieth Von Stein was beaten and stabbed to death in his bed, John Taylor had been called to the house on Lawson Road. He drove to Greenville, where she was staying at a motel, to meet her and Angela. With Sharon Gless, William McNamara, Paul Scherrer, Christian Hoff. The 1992 book Blood Games by Jerry Bledsoe was ', Pritchard said he first mused on the notion ``if something were to happen to my parents' with Upchurch during the school year, while Pritchard and his family were at odds over his degenerating academic performance. Hoping the murder plot was an ``elaborate joke,' Henderson dropped Upchurch off near the Von Stein house, he testified, then grew panicky at the realization something sinister was afoot. sentence was set aside on October 1, 1992, and he was Though Jimmy Robertson's case didn't make national headlines, his story is well-known in the small town of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Pritchard was convicted of murder in the second He wanted to meet her, let her know that he had been assigned to the case and that the Washington police were still intent on solving it. We've detailed four more killings where the murderers were looking to cash in on the lives of their parents. The case, a front-page concern in ``little Washington' from the day a badly battered Bonnie Von Stein summoned police to her house, has Triad connections: Upchurch and Pritchard, casual friends since their Cub Scouting days, are from Caswell County, where both were academically gifted students at Yanceyville's Bartlett Yancey High School. John Taylor, Matt McGrath as Chris Pritchard, Miguel Ferrer as Lewis. 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. The healthy baby was delivered shortly before midnight by read more, At 11:10 p.m., 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish ocean liner Stockholm collide in a heavy Atlantic fog. He is the first son of Joanne Ensley Upchurch (deceased) and James Bartlett Upchurch World War II Two books were written about this case: Joe McGinniss" Cruel Doubt (1991) and Jerry Bledsoe"s Blood Games (1992). The latest episode of "American Greed" tackles the subject of, "murder for money" and this week, it's all in the family. His wife read one of the introductory books to him aloud as he drove on home. ``But after he told me (he planned the murders) I had to believe him. Lieth was not so lucky. Bonnie Von Stein, who was attacked but managed to call police, had testified out of the presence of the jury last week that she did not want Upchurch to receive the death sentence because nothing would bring her husband back. Perhaps Chris and his friends had become so obsessed with the game that they were enacting it in real life. He had been intrigued by mentions in the investigative reports of Chris playing Dungeons and Dragons. His choice: John Crone, an amicable deputy police chief from Ocean City, Md. After a few weeks, he had become familiar enough with the department that he felt free to begin looking at the second part of his directive, solving the Von Stein murder. In his diary, Truman privately referred to the new weapon, the atomic bomb, as the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. Aug 19, 1991 Updated Jan 23, 2015. first son of Joanne Ensley Upchurch (deceased) and James 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. Here, let us show you.' Browse 16 bonnie von stein stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. On Thursday, March 16, Taylor drove to Raleigh armed with the subpoena to see the document bearing Chris's handwriting. The miniseries Cruel Doubt was was no physical evidence tying him to the murder, Upchurch was convicted Man died Wednesday. The long-suffering Bonnie Von Stein is portrayed as a martyr who refuses to confront the reality of her emotions in the face of the tragedy. Chris, both of whom were known drug users. injure. Now comes Cruel Doubt by Joe McGinniss, a highly subjective work with echoes of Fatal Vision, the 1983 McGinniss telling of Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald's conviction for murdering his family. Man died Wednesday. The players carried weapons and supplies in a knapsack. of the conspirators in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which Taylor also saw that several avenues had to be explored further. You can cancel at any time. Bonnie has trouble dealing with the fact that her own son, Christopher Pritchard, along with two friends consipired to have her and her husband killed. until 2022. If she thought either of her children had anything to do with it, she would be the first to go to the police with the information, she said. III and Gerald Neal Henderson, Pritchard spearheaded the murder of Von In the early morning of July 25, 1988, in the Smallwood subdivision of Washington, North Carolina, Lieth Von Stein and his wife Bonnie were attacked in their bedroom by an intruder wielding a knife and a club. Mussolini responded to it all with an uncharacteristic meekness. Police responding to an emergency call in Washington, North Carolina, Bonnie has forgiven her son for his part in the crime. Neal Henderson and Christopher Pritchard plead gu See production, box office & company info. ``They made me into a hero before I ever got here,' he said later. All Photos Tagged bonnievonstein. appeared to have been staged as though to suggest a robbery. Chris testified that he had supplied a It was after dark when Taylor got back to Washington. Lieth was killed, but Bonnie survived with serious injuries and was able to summon aid. Bonnie has trouble de Lieth Von Stein and his wife, Bonnie Von Stein are attacked while sleeping in their Smallwood home in North Carolina. His co-conspirators, Chris Pritchard degree (aiding and abetting) and assault with a deadly weapon with '. his stepfather Lieth Von Stein in 1988 in Washington, North Carolina. 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. When he came to work Monday morning, he had received a response. Yet only a couple of those had been interviewed. Deputies in Davidson County rushed to help a 69-year-old man they'd found unresponsive in his house following a welfare check. ``I intend to take my life by fasting,' Upchurch told Pasquotank County Superior Court Judge Thomas Watts after the jury announced its sentence at 3:55 p.m.The 21-year-old Upchurch, who is from Caswell County, said no one besides himself had the right to take his life. Angela, Bonnie's 18-year-old daughter, was found in the next room; she said that she had slept through the brutal attack. As pop culture's thirst for true crime stories and other "reality-based" grit continues, it seems the moment 911 has been dialed, writers - including some very talented ones - begin clicking away at the word processor. III and Gerald Neal Henderson, Pritchard spearheaded the murder of Von Lieth Von Stein was stabbed to death, but Bonnie, stabbed and bludgeoned, survived. James Bartlett Upchurch III was born Bonnie Von Stein survived. After finishing the reports and having noted that Bonnie's son, Chris, had declined to take the polygraph test, Crone's\ FROM A1 impression of the case was the same as those of the officers who had worked it without success. Prabook is a registered trademark of World Biographical Encyclopedia, Inc. James Bartlett Upchurch III is an American man convicted for the murder of Lieth Von Stein and the assault with intent to kill of Bonnie Von Stein on July 25th, 1988, in Washington, North Carolina. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Henderson would chauffeur Upchurch to Washington from N.C. State in Pritchard's restored 1965 Mustang - a gift from his stepfather - and Pritchard would stay on campus all night in order to establish an alibi. miniseries of the same name. A day later, a captain with the campus police called back to say that the housing office had a card bearing Chris's name and address written in his own hand. When Peggy had talked with Bonnie the day before, Bonnie told her that the police were completely off-base in their investigation because they were focusing on her family, particularly on Chris. Clearly, the case had been left to languish until his arrival. (born November 25, 1968) is an American man convicted for masterminding In the early months of 1853, a wild band of desperadoes began terrorizing Calaveras County in central read more, Before he took the stage at the 1964 Newport Folk Festivalthe annual event that had given him his first real national exposure one year earlierBob Dylan was introduced by Ronnie Gilbert, a member of The Weavers: And here he istake him, you know him, hes yours. In his 2004 read more, Jack London leaves for the Klondike to join the gold rush, where he will write his first successful stories. Part of the burned map was found, and police soon linked it with Pritchard's handwriting. Radford had been impressed with John Taylor, too. Investigators were immediately distrustful of the crime scene, which . new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help Bonnie Vonstein is 78 years old and was born on 07/15/1944. He immersed himself in the three fat casebooks of reports that already had been filed, and when he emerged, he, like every other officer who had become familiar with the case, felt that Chris Pritchard had to have had something to do with the murder. need your help for this. She met Chris in the hallway outside his mother's room, and he asked her to wait for him because he might need a ride. Six months after Lieth Von Stein's murder, the case was still unsolved . Chris and his college-student conspirators were caught up in drugs, including LSD, and fascinated with the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Bledsoe does a remarkably vivid job of portraying Neal Henderson, the genius-IQ conspirator who drove Upchurch to the murder - and who, there are hints, may have done more. 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