Horses Of A Feather

Jerry Eli Sternadel was born on February 18, 1941 in Wichita County, Texas, the son of Eli, a farmer, and Marceline, a housewife. He grew up on the family farm, played basketball and table tennis, and attended Midwestern University and the university at Wichita Falls while working part-time at a dairy, loading crates of milk onto delivery trucks. He met Genie and they married in the summer of 1963. When Genie became pregnant he left college, took a job delivering linen and uniforms, was promoted to manager within months, and then moved into plumbing, earning his master plumber's licence.

The couple built Jerry Sternadel Plumbing together: Jerry did the work and Genie did the estimates, appointments and bids, and when they could not afford a helper he trained her as his apprentice. The business grew into a substantial company, and Jerry became a millionaire with a ranch and racehorses. The marriage was not happy. Genie later wrote that Jerry raped her, tying her up and choosing a day she had marked on her calendar as fertile, and that he left her tied up for an afternoon. They divorced in 1972. Genie took only her personal property, including a 1969 Ford LTD, while Jerry kept the ranch and the business and was ordered to pay $100 a month for each child. Afterwards he put sugar in the fuel tank of her car, was seen by neighbours creeping around it, and stalked her, once pulling up beside her at a pharmacy and pointing a rifle at her, asking whether she was coming back to him.

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed She did not get on with Jerry's children, Becky and Sandy, and there were years of conflict with Genie, including a 1978 letter from the Texas Department of Human Resources reporting that fourteen-year-old Becky wanted to live with her mother and that Jerry had forbidden contact. In 1980 Jerry's horse Deep Knight won a 400-yard race at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He was soon suffering severe abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness and shortness of breath; suppositories at four o'clock made him feel better. this part of the story is covered for now An employee found him weak and drove him to the hospital in Wichita Falls, where he was treated in intensive care for acute gastroenteritis or possible food poisoning. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He seemed better on June 1 and was discharged on June 2. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He died on June 12, 1990.

The autopsy found very high levels of arsenic, enough to kill him several times over, consistent with repeated doses over about two weeks. Sheriff Bogard ruled the death a homicide. this part of the story is covered for now Suspicion briefly fell on Sandy, who hired a lawyer. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it A nineteen-year-old visitor, Thomas Bradley, had drunk cran-apple juice at the ranch in early June 1990, felt it burn his throat and became violently ill; tests later showed arsenic, and his grandmother called the sheriff on June 15.

this part of the story is covered for now On June 8, 1992 a Wichita Falls storage locker was opened for unpaid rent and found to contain a bottle of Cowley's rat and mouse poison, arsenic trioxide, along with correspondence addressed to Jerry dated June 12, 1990. details of the account remain covered until revealed Police also found syringes in the plumbing office, one containing arsenic, behind the butter door of the refrigerator. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Dr Thomas Kurt testified that the arsenic missing from the bottle amounted to three lethal doses and that the first dose could have been in the taco salad, with hot sauce or cranberry juice masking the taste. The defence called Jerry's business partner Jerry Woods, who described Jerry as aggressive, a womaniser, dishonest in business and violent towards his son, and said he had had an affair with his stepdaughter; Stella testified that she left home at seventeen because Jerry had sexually molested her. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Thomas Bradley testified about the juice. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The district attorney called it a circumstantial case and a betrayal of the worst kind. this part of the story is covered for now

In 1995 the case was featured on A Current Affair. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now Jerry is buried at Crestview Memorial Park in Wichita Falls. Genie wrote a book about the case, Fighting the Devil. details of the account remain covered until revealed