Town note
Golden Valley covers 79 square miles and uses area code 928.
about 0:07:17Spoilers are covered until your reading preferences load.
FILE 197 / 12 November 2020 / 149 MIN / full
Golden Valley, Arizona, in the northwestern Arizona panhandle, in Mohavi County. about 0:05:00
Golden Valley covers 79 square miles and uses area code 928.
about 0:07:17It is about 15 minutes outside Kingman, three and a half hours from Phoenix and about an hour and forty minutes from Las Vegas.
about 0:06:08Golden Valley is unincorporated: residents have never voted to be annexed by Kingman and have no vote in Kingman's elections.
about 0:08:12Arizona State Prison Kingman has an address in Golden Valley even though it says Kingman.
about 0:09:58Golden Valley covers 79 square miles and uses area code 928.
about 0:07:17It is about 15 minutes outside Kingman, three and a half hours from Phoenix and about an hour and forty minutes from Las Vegas.
about 0:06:08Golden Valley is unincorporated: residents have never voted to be annexed by Kingman and have no vote in Kingman's elections.
about 0:08:12Arizona State Prison Kingman has an address in Golden Valley even though it says Kingman.
about 0:09:58The private prison was sold to residents as 'a prison for DUI offenders only'.
about 0:10:24It is now a for-profit prison operated by GEO Group under contract to hold inmates for the Arizona Department of Corrections.
about 0:10:40On July 30th, 2010, three inmates, two murderers and an attempted murderer, escaped from the facility.
about 0:10:49The area was one of the places where people could find a gold mine and get a claim.
about 0:22:58ShineToberfest is an annual moonshine and chilli festival held in October at the Saddle Sore Ranch off Route 66.
about 0:24:1122.5%
Biggest faith: Muslim, 0.3%
about 0:18:17White 83% · Black 0.0% · Asian 1.7% · Hispanic 11.5%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▲ almost double
Violent crime
▲ about 50% higher
One-bedroom, one-bath house, 768 square feet
about 0:21:49Two-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,760 square feet on 2.2 acres
about 0:22:08Three-bedroom, four-bath house, 2,600 to 5,223 square feet
about 0:22:26"almost double"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2020 about 0:28:54
"about 50% higher"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2020 about 0:29:03
"8,694"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:17:30
"up 232% since 1990"
Direction: above.
As told in 2020 about 0:17:34
"54%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:17:46
"22%"
Comparison: "more than double the average". Direction: above.
As told in 2020 about 0:17:59
"about one third"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2020 about 0:18:02
"83%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:18:17
"0.0%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:18:17
"1.7%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:18:17
"11.5%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:18:17
"22.5%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:18:17
"0.1%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:19:22
"0.3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:19:26
"about double"
Comparison: "the rest of the country". Direction: above.
As told in 2020 about 0:19:38
"$33,500"
Comparison: "national median $57,500". No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:19:57
"42%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:20:02
"86.4"
Comparison: "100 is the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2020 about 0:20:17
"$139,100"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:20:25
"$720"
Comparison: "about $1,200 nationally". No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:21:06
"$85,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:21:49
"$165,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:22:08
"$365,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2020 about 0:22:26
2.8 / 5 · average of 5
“Relatively underdeveloped; thousands live without amenities most Americans take for granted. Most residents live on dirt roads, larger families haul water for miles, and there is no grocery store, hardware store, bank or police station. Residents choose it for the freedom.”about 0:14:07
“A former resident says it was a nice place for people who wanted more privacy, with neighbours far enough away to feel like the whole property was yours. Very hot and dry, with a nice view of the desert and cactus.”about 0:16:29
“There are a lot of mobile homes out here.”about 0:16:50
“Dollar General usually has whatever you are looking for, but if you need regular groceries you have to travel to Kingman.”about 0:17:07
“The only jobs in the area are at the Dollar General and the Maverick station.”about 0:17:19
Golden Valley is an unincorporated community in Mohave County in the northwestern Arizona panhandle, about fifteen minutes from Kingman. A year earlier she had been a cook with a house in Kingman. Her arm was crushed in a fall, she lost her job because she could no longer prepare food, and then her house burned to the ground. She and her son spent the summer of 1995 in a tent in the desert before a woman from Kingman lent them the trailer. Lita was known for taking in stray people and animals; she would give her own bed to a stranger and sleep on the floor.
He moved into the trailer and stayed through the summer.
He had told the girl he was a mafia figure, that they would go to Kentucky to marry and that she would become a mafia goddaughter. They ran away together, ran out of money in southern Nevada, and were picked up by a man who had once rented a room from Lita. Lita took them in.
The only usable vehicle on the property was a pickup truck belonging to another guest, fifty-year-old Roland Ware. Dellahunt overheard them and was brought into the plan; he promised not to tell and asked only that they leave his mother alone.
The attack lasted about forty-five minutes. The blade came out through his cheek and nose but did not reach his brain. He finally lost consciousness and died of blunt-force trauma and blood loss.
That evening the two men cut the trailer's phone line, waited until dark, took the .22 rifle they had stolen from Ware and got two rounds of ammunition from a neighbouring child by telling her that Dellahunt was trapped by rattlesnakes. They entered the bedroom where Lita Kagan and Roland Ware were asleep. Ware sat up and was shot in the mouth; the bullet shattered his upper teeth and came out through his cheek. He fled outside towards his truck. They took Ware's wallet and keys, hid his body under debris, left the other two bodies and drove away in the truck.
The bodies were found soon afterwards. Dellahunt was almost unrecognisable, with a knife still sticking out of his head.
He said Dellahunt repeatedly asked why they were killing him and that Ware begged for his life.
She was given four consecutive life terms carrying at least twenty-five years each, plus seven years for the robbery, a total the episode describes as a hundred years. His defence was marijuana use and a claimed PCP flashback, which the court rejected, pointing out the planning that went into getting the bullets, testing and hiding the rifle and cutting the phone line.
August 13, 1996 / the Kagan trailer on Yavapai , Golden Valley, Arizona
As told in the episode, on 12 November 2020.
Accused
Accused
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 1:08:23crime scene
about 1:17:36home
about 0:33:14home
about 1:27:50other
about 1:32:12body found
about 1:40:12business
about 0:24:11business
about 0:17:07business
about 0:17:19road
about 0:29:33landmark
about 0:05:22hospital
about 1:54:06other
about 1:42:15home
about 0:56:41other
about 0:50:46other
about 0:50:53other
about 0:51:00