A Classy Trashy Murder Mystery

Adeline Curry Wilford, known to everyone as Curly, was sixty-four years old in January 1987. She had been born in Pittsburgh on September 6, 1922, had divorced her husband J. S. Wilford, and had raised four children, two daughters and a son, one of whom died young. By 1987 she lived alone on a 300-acre farm outside Easton, in Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She was wealthy, private and extremely active: she volunteered at the YMCA, helped run a 4-H horseback riding programme for disabled children, was a docent at the Talbot County Historical Museum Shop and served the county historical society. Her family called her youthful and impossible to keep up with.

On the morning of January 5, 1987 she ran errands in Easton and attended a one-hour exercise class at the local YMCA. At about 2.10 p.m. her car was photographed by the security system at her bank drive-through. She then drove home with groceries. A neighbour and friend, Jack Ripley, had arranged to come over at about three o'clock. Her car was in the drive but she did not answer the door, so he let himself in and found her lying face up on the kitchen floor. She was still wearing her blue outdoor coat, with her glasses hanging on a cord around her neck. She had been stabbed repeatedly, with defensive wounds to her hands, face and head, and a large butcher knife with an eight-inch blade was driven through the side of her cheek and head. Several other knives with broken blades lay on the floor around her.

The house suggested a burglary but not a convincing one. Her keys were still in the door, the groceries were still in their bags on the table, and the utility room window on the west side was propped open with a stick. Dressers had been opened and things moved, but the house was not properly ransacked. Her tan pocketbook, a custom-made diamond and sapphire ring and her wallet, with credit cards and a few hundred dollars in cash, were missing. A palm print was lifted from the washing machine beneath the utility room window and another from the outside of the window. details of the account remain covered until revealed

The police had a narrow window. A hunting guide from Trappe named Danny Keene said that between 1.50 and 1.55 p.m. he had driven past the property looking for geese and had seen a silver or grey General Motors car, possibly a late-1970s Oldsmobile Cutlass, backed in beside the porch. He did not report it until January 9. On February 9 he was hypnotised in an attempt to draw out more detail. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it A reward of $10,000 was offered, later raised to $25,000. Neighbours began locking their doors. Nothing came of any of it.

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The case was revived in 2000. 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 A pickup truck collected the three men. 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

Hadaway proved to be a complicated witness. 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 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 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 In 2011 the New York Innocence Project took up the case. this part of the story is covered for now Evidentiary hearings followed in 2016 and 2018. 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 Wilford's children said the ending brought them no peace. details of the account remain covered until revealed