FILE 60 / 7 March 2018 / 148 MIN / full

A Triangle Of Tragedy

Phillips, OklahomaListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

James says they are heading to Phillips, Oklahoma, in the south central part of the state, and that it is in Coal County. about 0:06:13

History, in brief

Town note

Choctaw Native Americans began arriving in the 1830s, removed from the American South and forced into the area.

about 0:09:00

Town note

Coal County was carved mostly from what is now Atoka County and the Pushmataha district, Indian territory.

about 0:10:20

Town note

Coal mining and agriculture were the main sources of employment.

about 0:10:55

Town note

Mining picked up in the 1870s and attracted large numbers of Eastern European immigrants.

about 0:10:58
All 23 history facts

Town note

Choctaw Native Americans began arriving in the 1830s, removed from the American South and forced into the area.

about 0:09:00

Town note

Coal County was carved mostly from what is now Atoka County and the Pushmataha district, Indian territory.

about 0:10:20

Town note

Coal mining and agriculture were the main sources of employment.

about 0:10:55

Town note

Mining picked up in the 1870s and attracted large numbers of Eastern European immigrants.

about 0:10:58

Town note

Mine permits cost five dollars annually, paid to the Choctaw Nation.

about 0:11:06

Town note

Coal mines opened in Lehigh and Colgate in the 1880s.

about 0:11:55

Town note

Railroads were built to serve the mines, and Centrahoma and other towns began as railroad stops.

about 0:11:59

Town note

The town is named for Henry L. Phillips, who opened a store and operated a coal mine.

about 0:12:23

1892

When the post office opened in 1892, Henry L. Phillips became the first postmaster.

about 0:12:28

1907

Oklahoma became a state in 1907 and Coal County was organised then, with 15,585 residents.

about 0:13:03

Town note

Boon Williams of Lehigh, a Democratic representative, persuaded the first state legislature to select Lehigh as county seat.

about 0:13:11

1908

A special election in 1908 chose Colgate over Lehigh and Centrahoma, but more people voted than were registered and the courts refused to hear the case.

about 0:13:29

1910

Mining peaked between 1910 and 1916, with thousands of men working in the mines.

about 0:14:15

Town note

Italian, French, Mexican and Slovakian immigrants came in during the mining boom.

about 0:14:34

1921

Strip mining companies came after the First World War, but the mines declined and closed in 1921.

about 0:16:15

1920

The county population fell from 18,406 in 1920 to 11,521 in 1930.

about 0:16:42

1958

The mines reopened during the Second World War and closed completely by 1958.

about 0:17:14

1910

In 1910 there were only about 1,100 farms, and by the turn of the 21st century only 586 were left.

about 0:19:03

1956

In 1956 the school closed and was annexed to Colgate.

about 0:20:17

Town note

The Clear Boggy and Muddy Boggy rivers run through the area.

about 0:20:53

2005

In April 2005 Coal County commissioners voted unanimously to ask Sheriff Roy Deck to resign over allegations that he sexually harassed an 18-year-old female dispatcher; he refused.

about 0:21:10

The figures, as told

Religious

66%

Biggest faith: Catholic, 0.0%

about 0:24:48

Who lives here

White 63% · Black 0.0% · Asian 0.0% · Hispanic about five percent

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
exactly average

about 0:31:02

Violent crime
▲ about 50% higher

about 0:31:04

Money

Median home value$65,000
Two-bedroom rentabout $658
Cost of living82

For sale

$54,000

Two-bedroom, one-bath, 820 square foot house

about 0:29:49

For sale

$84,999

Three-bedroom, one-bath, 1,200 square foot brick house

about 0:29:56

For sale

$145,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,000 square foot house

about 0:30:01
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2018

Property crime

"exactly average"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2018 about 0:31:02

Violent crime

"about 50% higher"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2018 about 0:31:04

Population in 1920

"19,972"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:22:08

Population change since 1990

"down 20%"

Comparison: "161 people in 1990". Direction: below.

As told in 2018 about 0:22:16

Median age

"42.5"

Comparison: "about five years older than the average". Direction: above.

As told in 2018 about 0:22:32

Male population

"about 55%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:22:39

Married

"about 47%"

Comparison: "normally 50-50". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:23:12

Divorced

"25%"

Comparison: "usually 11%". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:23:36

Single with no children

"33%"

Comparison: "usually about 10%". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:23:42

White

"63%"

Comparison: "average of 62%". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:24:10

Native American

"16%"

Comparison: "average of 0.66%". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:24:23

Hispanic

"about five percent"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:24:27

Religious

"66%"

Comparison: "50% is the average". Direction: above.

As told in 2018 about 0:24:48

Unemployment

"over nine percent"

Direction: above.

As told in 2018 about 0:26:06

Average household income

"$32,500"

Comparison: "about $21,000 less than the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2018 about 0:26:11

Transportation and warehousing jobs

"21%"

Comparison: "usually four percent". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:26:23

Cost of living

"82"

Comparison: "100 is average". Direction: below.

As told in 2018 about 0:26:40

Median home cost

"$65,000"

Comparison: "national average $185,800". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:26:56

Houses between $60,000 and $80,000

"about 47%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:27:34

Average two-bedroom apartment

"about $658"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:29:30

Two-bedroom, one-bath, 820 square foot house

"$54,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:29:49

Three-bedroom, one-bath, 1,200 square foot brick house

"$84,999"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:29:56

Three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,000 square foot house

"$145,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:30:01

Coal County population in 1907

"15,585"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:13:07

Coal County population in 1920

"18,406"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:16:42

Coal County population in 1930

"11,521"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:16:47

Coal County population by 1958

"six thousand"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:17:26

Mine permit

"$5 annually"

Comparison: "paid to the Choctaw Nation". No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 0:11:06

Rent for the house

"$525 a month"

No direction stated.

As told in 2018 about 1:18:12

The reviews

No rated reviews

No reviews recorded.

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The story

Phillips, in Coal County in south-central Oklahoma, is a town of 129 people about two hours from Oklahoma City and two hours and ten minutes from Dallas. It was built on coal, and the story that brought James there began with a family that had been poor and violent for generations. Marie had been raped at thirteen in West Virginia and had her first child, Eugene, in 1933; she had a third-grade education, drank heavily and beat her children. He left school in the fifth grade, had an IQ of 81, and spent time in juvenile hall for burglary and car theft. In 1973, barely eighteen, he married a fifteen-year-old, Margaret Helen Jaws, in Mexico. In 1976 he was in a motorcycle accident in Portersville, California. In 1978 he met Janelle Moore, then twenty-four, in a cafe in Calvin, Oklahoma. A gunshot wound to his lower left hip in January 1983 could not be repaired, and the bullet stayed in him, causing back pain and numbness in his left leg.

Marie died of cancer in Colgate on 26 January 1986. Janelle divorced him soon afterwards.

She moved to Tupelo in 1988 and married Eugene Mayo on 7 May 1988 at Debbie Smith's house. In August 1991 Mayo left her and moved in with his parents.

Judy disappeared on 5 September 1991. The next day Judy's body was found floating in a small pond next to the lake, shot in the head and neck and wrapped in a quilt and mattress pad. On 16 October 1991 a Choctaw County volunteer fireman, Brian Wilkins, found Melissa's remains in woods off a trail near the Clear Boggy River north of Boswell. She had been stabbed, and her remains had lain there for weeks. Melissa was buried at Lehigh Cemetery on 22 November 1991.

The women pulled the body into the cellar, cleaned the blood, and locked Melissa in a back room. They took the couch to a bridge near Centrahoma and threw it off.

The case

Murders of Judy Mayo and Melissa Moody

Victims

Judy Mayo (50). Jessie half-sister, also known as Judy Runyon; mother of Melissa
Melissa Moody (11). Judy's daughter

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 7 March 2018.

Accused

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Marie Legg. mother; alcoholic who beat her children, died of cancer in 1986
Janelle Moore. first wife in Oklahoma, divorced him in 1986
Loretta McCullough. lover, also known as Loretta Wells
Lahoma Yawz. mother, who slept with
Debbie Smith. younger sister
Eugene Mayo. Judy's second husband, left her in August 1991
Daniel Franklin Chick. lodger who had a relationship with
Brian Wilkins. volunteer fireman who found Melissa's remains

The timeline

  1. 1920 Marie Legg is born in West Virginia.about 0:32:50
  2. 1933 Marie, aged 13, is raped and gives birth to her first child, Eugene.about 0:33:38
  3. 1941 Judy is born.about 2:15:06
  4. 1955 James is born in Modesto, California.about 0:36:17
  5. 1960 Judy marries Henry Moody.about 0:42:18
  6. 1969 Marie's son Eugene is shot and killed in a bar fight in Arizona.about 0:34:02
  7. 1970 Marie shoots with a shotgun as he flees the house, leaving him with nerve damage.about 0:43:03
  8. 1973 marries fifteen-year-old Margaret Helen Jaws in Mexico.about 0:46:21
  9. 1976 is in a motorcycle accident in Portersville, California.about 0:47:06
  10. 1978 meets Janelle Moore in a cafe in Calvin, Oklahoma.about 0:47:50
  11. January 1983 is treated for a gunshot wound to the lower left hip, first at the Atoka hospital and then at McAlester Regional Hospital. (Atoka hospital)about 0:48:54
  12. November 1985 has a lymphoplasty on his left ear at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock. (Baptist Hospital)about 0:52:04
  13. January 26, 1986 Marie dies of cancer in Colgate.about 0:59:40
  14. the autumn of 1986 discovers is sleeping with her mother and stabs him in the chest.about 1:01:14
  15. May 1987 helps deliver his father's new wife's baby and stops her bleeding.about 1:03:35
  16. June 9, 1987 Debbie Marie is born in Harrison, Arkansas.about 1:04:09
  17. October 8, 1987 marries in Tupelo, Oklahoma, at his sister Debbie's house. (Debbie and Jimmy Smith's house)about 1:04:40
  18. April 1988 is admitted to Valley View Hospital in Ada with neck and back pain and has a lymphoma removed. (Valley View Hospital)about 1:07:14
  19. May 7, 1988 Judy marries Eugene Mayo at Debbie Smith's house in Tupelo. (Debbie and Jimmy Smith's house)about 1:09:58
  20. June 14, 1989 Lewis marries with present.about 1:08:18
  21. August 1991 Eugene Mayo leaves Judy and moves in with his parents.about 1:15:53
  22. September 4, 1991 tells to take Judy to look at houses and shoot her from behind.about 1:41:14
  23. September 5, 1991 Judy is shot five times in the living room of the house. ( house)about 1:42:16

Last meals

Places and phrases

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Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode