FILE 236 / 12 August 2021 / 151 MIN / full

Lust, Blood & Trash

Bristol, FloridaListen

The town

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

We're gonna go to Bristol, Florida, right smack in the heart of the panhandle; it's in Liberty County and Bristol is the county seat. about 0:06:13

History, in brief

Town note

Early Bristol had a store, three saw mills, two grist mills, a hotel and a great many churches.

about 0:08:27

1958

The town was not officially established until 1958.

about 0:08:40

Town note

The area was home to the Apalachee Indians; six excavated mounds were estimated to date to the early 1200s.

about 0:08:47

Town note

A British trader maintained trading posts on the Apalachicola River.

about 0:09:16
All 7 history facts

Town note

Early Bristol had a store, three saw mills, two grist mills, a hotel and a great many churches.

about 0:08:27

1958

The town was not officially established until 1958.

about 0:08:40

Town note

The area was home to the Apalachee Indians; six excavated mounds were estimated to date to the early 1200s.

about 0:08:47

Town note

A British trader maintained trading posts on the Apalachicola River.

about 0:09:16

Town note

When Florida became a territory, pioneers from Georgia and the Carolinas settled here for the good farmland.

about 0:10:06

Town note

During the Civil War the swamps made a haven for deserters.

about 0:10:13

Town note

Baptist preacher L.V. Callaway claimed the site of Bristol was the biblical Garden of Eden, and Callaway's Garden of Eden was a tourist attraction from the 1950s to the 1970s.

about 0:10:58

The figures, as told

Religious

43.3%

Biggest faith: Baptist, about 20%

about 0:18:52

Who lives here

White about 77% · Black 6% · Asian 3.3% · Hispanic 12%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▲ about 50% above

about 0:25:33

Violent crime
▲ about 20% high

about 0:26:09

Money

Median home value$115,100
Two-bedroom rentabout $694 a month
Median household income$36,354
Cost of livingabout 80, almost 84

For sale

$139,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 720 square feet

about 0:23:15

For sale

$199,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,676 square feet

about 0:23:29
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2021

Property crime

"about 50% above"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:25:33

Violent crime

"about 20% high"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:26:09

Males

"55%"

Comparison: "way more males than females". No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:33

Median age

"about 38 and a half"

Comparison: "about a year older than normal". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:39

People aged 75 to 84

"three times the normal amount"

Comparison: "normal". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:51

Married

"35%"

Comparison: "way under the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:07

Single with no children

"12%"

Comparison: "above the national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:10

Single with children

"27%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:17

White

"about 77%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:21

Black

"6%"

Comparison: "about half the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:21

Asian

"3.3%"

Comparison: "about 5% nationally". No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:21

Voted Republican in the last election

"79.8%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:20:11

Voted Democrat in the last election

"19.5%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:20:11

Religious

"43.3%"

Comparison: "lower than normal". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:52

Baptist

"about 20%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:19:22

Mormon

"11%"

Comparison: "a lot more than normal for a little town in Florida". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:19:36

Household income

"$36,354"

Comparison: "national average about $57,000". No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:20:34

People making $40,000 or less a year

"about 54%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:20:42

Cost of living

"about 80, almost 84"

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

As told in 2021 about 0:21:36

Housing cost

"50 out of 100"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:21:41

Median home cost

"$115,100"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:21:45

Houses worth under $100,000

"55%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:21:51

Average two-bedroom rent

"about $694 a month"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:22:12

One-acre lot

"$14,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:22:33

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 720 square feet

"$139,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:23:15

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,676 square feet

"$199,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:23:29

The reviews

4.5 / 5 · average of 2

5 stars

“A small town with one caution light that blinks yellow, very little restaurants, and everyone super friendly and welcoming; you will never meet a stranger.”
about 0:13:43

4 stars

“Grew up here and loves the place, but wants more jobs and attractions to keep younger people occupied.”
about 0:14:40

In Florida

Closest episodes

  1. The Idiotic AvengerGreenwood, Florida · 26 March 202053 km / 33 miShow on map
  2. Pictures Of FearDonalsonville, Georgia · 13 October 202269 km / 43 miShow on map
  3. A British Tourist MurderedMonticello, Florida · 22 March 2017107 km / 67 miShow on map
  4. Wear My Murder NecklaceDaleville, Alabama · 9 July 2022119 km / 74 miShow on map
  5. Three Murders & Six Congenital IdiotsStarke, Florida · 7 September 2023280 km / 174 miShow on map

The story

Bristol, the county seat of Liberty County in the Florida panhandle, was a town of about 950 people in the mid-1970s, with a bait and tackle shop on Lake Mystic and not much else. They had raised seven children, five sons and two daughters, and had 19 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. He was left in pain and began drinking heavily and taking pain pills.

Lela May found out. Lela May, according to her friend Evelyn Smith, had always been jealous of any woman who worked at the shop, but this time she had real cause.

The affair turned into a nest of competing murder plots. He began at $2,000, then offered $5,000 and a red pickup truck. Lela May had her own plan.

He blew the horn, the signal for a bait delivery, and Lela May came out of the house. The autopsy later found two blows to the head, either of which could have killed her.

They left the car and the body at the refuge. Two days later they went back, tied a concrete block to Lela May's feet, put her in a small boat and pushed it out into Sifrett Creek, south of Bristol near Sopchoppy, expecting the boat to drift into deeper water and the body to sink. Instead the boat took on water, the block dragged one side down, and the boat sat half submerged with her body hanging over the side. He told the sheriff that she had got up after a knock at the door and that the last time he saw her alive was when she closed the bedroom door; he wept on television and said he wished he had answered the door himself. Three days of air and ground searches followed. On 27 June the fisherman Aubrey Lawhorn found the body in the half-sunken boat in Sifrett Creek. She had been beaten beyond recognition and scavenged by animals; she was identified by her fingerprints.

There was an agreement, signed on 30 May 1979 by assistant state attorney William Megs, that the state would not seek the death penalty against him if he testified; the judge said the agreement did not rule out death, but the prosecution ultimately asked the judge to take death off the table. James could find no trace of him afterwards.

He is buried in Lake Mystic Cemetery. Eldora Sanders Coxwell, his wife of 20 years, died on 2 December 2020, aged 92.

The case

Murder of Lela May Coxwell

Victims

Lela May Coxwell. wife, who ran the family bait and tackle shop with him

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 12 August 2021.

Accused

Accused

Accused

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Alton Coxwell. cousin, told by Lela May about her plan to shoot
Evelyn Smith. Lela May's lifelong friend
Alfred Walker. friend, who overheard and discussing the plot
Bill A. Corbin. attorney the Coxwells consulted about a divorce
Sheriff Rankin. Liberty County sheriff
Raymond Coxwell. son, who believed him innocent
Aubrey Lawhorn. fisherman who found the body
Captain Clendon Williams. officer who took July 12 statement
William Megs. assistant state attorney who signed the 1979 agreement with
Howard Williams. lawyer hired by family for the retrial

The timeline

  1. 1919 is born in Calhoun County, Florida.about 0:32:13
  2. 1973 is badly hurt in a car accident and begins drinking and taking pain pills.about 0:37:50
  3. Christmas 1975 offers Carol Melton $2,000 and a red pickup truck to kill Lela May; Melton says he turned him down.about 0:58:33
  4. late 1975, early 1976 begins talking about killing his wife and discusses it with , who agrees.about 0:41:28
  5. early 1976 Lela May fires from the bait shop and calls the state to try to have her children taken away. (Coxwell bait shop)about 0:40:15
  6. early 1976 pays for groceries, opens an account for her at the Bristol store and sends a taxi to bring her to him six or eight times. (Bristol store)about 0:44:57
  7. the six months before the murder and Lela May consult attorney Bill A. Corbin about a divorce; says he loves her and would give her everything.about 1:12:10
  8. spring 1976 offers a friend of $5,000 to kill Lela May; the man declines.about 0:42:24
  9. spring 1976 Lela May shows Alton Coxwell a gun and says she will shoot in his sleep; she later plans a roadside ambush, then abandons the plan.about 0:47:06
  10. late spring 1976 Over about two months asks roughly 50 times to kill Lela May, finally offering $5,000 and a red pickup truck; agrees. (Coxwell bait shop)about 0:53:28
  11. June 24, 1976 checks into the county hospital at request to create an alibi; she is paid $450. (County hospital)about 1:00:14
  12. the night of June 24, 1976 drives to the Coxwell home, blows the horn, and when Lela May comes out he hits her over the head with an iron pipe and puts her in his car trunk. (Coxwell home)about 1:03:25
  13. the night of June 24, 1976 At the wildlife refuge opens the trunk and hits her again with a tire iron, crushing her skull; the autopsy says either blow could have killed her. (Wildlife refuge)about 1:04:49
  14. June 25, 1976 reports Lela May missing to the sheriff, saying she got up after a knock at the door and he never saw her again; he cries on television. (Coxwell home)about 1:01:06
  15. June 25 to 27, 1976 Three days of intensive air and ground searches for Lela May.about 1:11:50
  16. about two days after the killing and return to the wildlife refuge, tie a concrete block to Lela May's feet, put her in a boat and push it into Sifrett Creek. (Wildlife refuge)about 1:10:12
  17. June 27, 1976 Fisherman Aubrey Lawhorn finds the body in a half-sunken boat in Sifrett Creek, her feet bound to a concrete block. (Sifrett Creek)about 0:27:57

Places and phrases

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

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode