FILE 269 / 31 March 2022 / 163 MIN / full

Bad Company

Magnolia, ArkansasListen

The town

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all the way to Magnolia, Arkansas ... This is in Columbia County ... Magnolia is the county seat of Columbia County about 0:07:34

History, in brief

Town note

Magnolia is the county seat of Columbia County.

about 0:07:34

Town note

An important industrial centre with large oil and bromine industries.

about 0:08:38

Town note

The town became an agricultural and regional cotton market before oil was found.

about 0:09:55
All 9 history facts

Town note

Magnolia is the county seat of Columbia County.

about 0:07:34

Town note

An important industrial centre with large oil and bromine industries.

about 0:08:38

Town note

The town became an agricultural and regional cotton market before oil was found.

about 0:09:55

1938

Oil was discovered there in 1938 and was drilled by the Berlin Company.

about 0:10:05

Town note

The Magnolia oil field was the largest producing oil field in volume during the early years of the Second World War.

about 0:10:31

2013

In March 2013 more than 5,000 barrels of oil leaked from a Lion Oil Trading and Transportation storage tank in Magnolia, some flowing into the bayou.

about 0:11:02

Town note

The town's motto is 'discover the difference'.

about 0:07:16

Town note

The one famous person from Magnolia is Charlene Harris, who wrote the True Blood books.

about 0:11:21

The figures, as told

Religious

52.5%

Biggest faith: Baptists, 25%

about 0:15:45

Who lives here

White 50.1% · Black 42% · Asian 2.3% · Hispanic 2.3%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▲ about 50% high

about 0:24:29

Violent crime
▲ maybe 15, 20% high

about 0:24:44

Money

Median home value$103,400
Two-bedroom rentabout $676
Median household income$34,461
Cost of living$73,000

For sale

$59,000

Three-bedroom, one-bath house, 1,260 square feet

about 0:18:25

For sale

$129,000

Three-bedroom, one-bath house, 1,664 square feet

about 0:18:50

For sale

$349,900

Five-bedroom, four-bath house, 4,595 square feet

about 0:19:38
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2022

Property crime

"about 50% high"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:24:29

Violent crime

"maybe 15, 20% high"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:24:44

Population

"11,433"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:14:18

Female residents

"56%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:14:26

Male residents

"43%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:14:26

Median age

"27.2"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:06

Married residents

"41%"

Comparison: "high for a young population". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:10

Single with children

"25%"

Comparison: "national average". No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:15

White residents

"50.1%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:23

Black residents

"42%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:23

Asian residents

"2.3%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:23

Hispanic residents

"2.3%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:23

Religious residents

"52.5%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:45

Jewish residents

"0.0%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:16:02

Median household income

"$34,461"

Comparison: "usually over $54,000 in the rest of the country". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:16:42

Cost of living

"$73,000"

Comparison: "$100,000 is regular, average". Direction: below.

As told in 2022 about 0:16:54

Median home cost

"$103,400"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:16:58

Average two-bedroom rental

"about $676"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:17:17

Three-bedroom, one-bath house, 1,260 square feet

"$59,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:18:25

Three-bedroom, one-bath house, 1,664 square feet

"$129,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:18:50

Five-bedroom, four-bath house, 4,595 square feet

"$349,900"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:19:38

The reviews

3.3 / 5 · average of 4

5 stars

“Changing into a charming town, diverse and vibrant population drawn by the university, horse and mule riding, outdoor theatre, cycling and new establishments.”
about 0:12:14

3 stars

“It is a little bit different here and it is scary as a female to take a late-night stroll.”
about 0:13:19

4 stars

“Great place to live, great banks, small town feel, safe environment, friendly during the day and a great place to raise a family.”
about 0:13:31

1 star

“The night scene is non-existent and they only recently started selling alcohol in the stores.”
about 0:14:05

In Arkansas

Closest episodes

  1. Sleigh Bells & SlaughterMinden, Louisiana · 23 December 202173 km / 45 miShow on map
  2. Freebird For LifeAshdown, Arkansas · 10 September 202295 km / 59 miShow on map
  3. Conspiracy Of FoolsKeithville, Louisiana · 10 August 2024119 km / 74 miShow on map
  4. The Devil, The Darkness & The CheerleaderMalvern, Arkansas · 26 August 2021128 km / 80 miShow on map
  5. Serial Killing For FunCoushatta, Louisiana · 18 January 2024140 km / 87 miShow on map

The story

One of fourteen children from Bradley, Arkansas, she was the only one of the family to attend college. He had a criminal record going back to the age of sixteen, and in 1965 California police had described him as a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde bandit after ten holdup victims identified him in lineups. He had taken more than $3,300 and shot three people in that spree, none of them fatally. Fellow inmates Thurman Moore Jr., Jackie Moore, Donald Lee Biddle and Troy Lee Biggs all heard parts of the scheme.

Five prisoners walked out. The Sumlans and the two Moores drove away in Cooper's Pontiac, the Moores in front and the newlyweds in the back. They stopped in Magnolia for petrol and in Cairo for liquor, went to El Dorado to decide what to do, then headed north toward Fordyce. In the car they found more liquor in the boot and Cooper's wallet in the console with thirty-five dollars in it. He proposed killing both men for the money, found a .22 pistol in the car and had the car pulled over. His gun misfired at first. Thurman Moore was hit twice in the neck, Jackie Moore in the head, and one of them in the leg. Both survived.

What neither the Moores nor the police yet knew was that Cooper was already dead. On the Friday or Saturday after the escape, deer hunters found the body in the woods, clothed only in socks and an undershirt, shot once through the temple. His genitals had been cut and his scrotum and its contents were missing. The medical examiner found no alcohol in his bloodstream, so the story that he had been got drunk did not hold. Tissue containing semen and blood was found around the body. A car had evidently run over his legs, but the mutilation was a clean cut, not a crushing.

A Fordyce policeman picked up the chase about seven miles outside Fordyce. 'I'm much, much worse than he is', she wrote.

There she changed her mind, asked to speak to her husband and to telephone a neighbour, and then gave a taped statement. She admitted planning to take Cooper's car and using it for the escape, said they had had sex in the back seat and that she shot him afterwards. She denied the mutilation.

Graphic photographs of the body were admitted over objection; the judge excluded duplicates. The two Moores testified that no one else had been in the car.

The prosecutor and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office opposed her.

The case

Murder of J.Y. Cooper

Victims

J.Y. Cooper (41). A local man who had shown an interest in ; his car was taken for the jailbreak and he was shot in the head and castrated.

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 31 March 2022.

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Brian Thomason. defence attorney in Magnolia
Joe Pennington. Dallas County Sheriff who took custody of
Walton Rogers. manager of the South Berkeley Pharmacy who snatched back the $5 and chased
George H. Smith. motorist from Little Rock shot in the hip after stopping to help
Mike Beebe. Arkansas governor who rejected clemency in 2008

The timeline

  1. 1965 , 29, is named by ten holdup victims in California lineups and described as a Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde bandit; he had taken more than $3,300 and shot three people, none fatally. (Oakland)about 0:31:36
  2. 1974 robs the South Berkeley Pharmacy at Adeline Street; the manager hands him $5, then snatches it back and chases him out. (South Berkeley Pharmacy)about 0:36:29
  3. 1974 About an hour later he tries to rob the South Berkeley branch of Wells Fargo, demanding 'all your 20s'; when the teller says 'I beg your pardon', he runs out. (Wells Fargo Bank)about 0:40:42
  4. May 1977 , 22 and nine hours short of a psychology degree, meets , 41, who is living in Magnolia under the alias Andrews.about 0:29:25
  5. November 24th, 1977 The Sumlans and the two Moores drive off in J.Y. Cooper's Pontiac, stopping in Magnolia for petrol, Cairo for liquor and El Dorado before heading north toward Fordyce.about 1:13:45
  6. November 24th, 1977 finds a .22 pistol, has the car stopped and shoots Thurman Moore in the neck and Jackie Moore in the head; both survive and flee. (Highway 167)about 1:20:09
  7. November 24th, 1977 A couple stop to help and tries to drive off in their car; robs and shoots George H. Smith of Little Rock in the hip.about 1:31:59
  8. November 26th, 1977 Deer hunters find J.Y. Cooper's body in woods off Calhoun Road east of Magnolia, clothed only in socks and an undershirt, shot through the temple and mutilated. (Cooper body site)about 1:40:50

Places and phrases

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Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode