FILE 288 / 2 June 2022 / 170 MIN / full

The Sex Crazed Killer Accountant

Westminster, MarylandListen

The town

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

We're going to Westminster, Maryland, but it takes place in Silver Run, which is like a small section of Westminster; this is in Carroll County. about 0:05:25

History, in brief

Town note

The area was first called Winchester after William Winchester, who purchased 167 acres; the Maryland General Assembly later renamed it Westminster to avoid confusion with Winchester, Virginia.

about 0:06:39

1865

In April 1865 the newspaper editor Joseph Shaw had his presses wrecked and business destroyed, then was beaten and stabbed to death by four men after publishing an anti-Lincoln editorial; the four were acquitted on grounds of self-defence.

about 0:07:08

1868

Westminster has held a Memorial Day parade every year since 1868, the longest continuously running Memorial Day parade in the country.

about 0:08:21

Town note

Rolls of 35mm film wrapped in wax paper, known as the Pumpkin Papers, were found inside a hollowed-out pumpkin on a farm in Westminster during the Alger Hiss and House Un-American Activities Committee affair.

about 0:09:05
All 4 history facts

Town note

The area was first called Winchester after William Winchester, who purchased 167 acres; the Maryland General Assembly later renamed it Westminster to avoid confusion with Winchester, Virginia.

about 0:06:39

1865

In April 1865 the newspaper editor Joseph Shaw had his presses wrecked and business destroyed, then was beaten and stabbed to death by four men after publishing an anti-Lincoln editorial; the four were acquitted on grounds of self-defence.

about 0:07:08

1868

Westminster has held a Memorial Day parade every year since 1868, the longest continuously running Memorial Day parade in the country.

about 0:08:21

Town note

Rolls of 35mm film wrapped in wax paper, known as the Pumpkin Papers, were found inside a hollowed-out pumpkin on a farm in Westminster during the Alger Hiss and House Un-American Activities Committee affair.

about 0:09:05

The figures, as told

Religious

about 43%

about 0:13:04

Who lives here

White 77.3% · Black 8.3% · Asian 3.3% · Hispanic 7.4%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▼ a little bit low

about 0:21:01

Violent crime
▼ slightly under

about 0:21:14

Money

Median home value$373,200
Two-bedroom rentabout $1,300
Median household income$55,000
Cost of living110

For sale

$1,250,000

Four-bedroom, five-bath house price

about 0:16:54
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2022

Population

"18,712"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:02

Median age

"about 33"

Comparison: "national average of about 37". No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:22

Single people with children

"23%"

Comparison: "more than twice the national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:31

White residents

"77.3%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:50

Black residents

"8.3%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:50

Asian residents

"3.3%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:50

Hispanic residents

"7.4%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:12:50

Religious residents

"about 43%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:13:04

Unemployment rate

"a little bit above average"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:13:38

Median household income

"$55,000"

Comparison: "about $54,000 in the rest of the country". No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:13:49

Cost of living index

"110"

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

As told in 2022 about 0:13:56

Median home cost

"$373,200"

Comparison: "not much higher than the national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:14:06

Average two-bedroom rent

"about $1,300"

Comparison: "about the national average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2022 about 0:14:38

Two-bedroom, one-bath house price

"$70,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:25

Three-bedroom, two-bath house price

"$364,000"

Comparison: "right about the average price". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2022 about 0:15:58

Four-bedroom, five-bath house price

"$1,250,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2022 about 0:16:54

Property crime

"a little bit low"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2022 about 0:21:01

Violent crime

"slightly under"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2022 about 0:21:14

The reviews

4.0 / 5 · average of 3

5 stars

“A nice little town where you can do anything you could ever want, from basketball and skateboarding to piano and mandolin; the people are as nice as can be and the town feels like a second home.”
about 0:09:44

4 stars

“Westminster could be better if the older people would stop trying to remove anything remotely fun in town.”
about 0:11:19

3 stars

“A nice little town, but old, with people who are old and racist and blatant about it; there are a lot of junkies on the streets at night, and it is only nice for people who have lived there forever.”
about 0:11:31

In Maryland

Closest episodes

  1. The Sinister MinisterJackson Township, Pennsylvania · 19 February 202638 km / 24 miShow on map
  2. The Mannequin MurdersElkridge, Maryland · 15 March 201848 km / 30 miShow on map
  3. Proud To Be CruelMiddle River, Maryland · 2 July 202056 km / 35 miShow on map
  4. The Social Media Loving CannibalJoppatowne, Maryland · 18 November 202359 km / 37 miShow on map
  5. Moronic MurderersWashington Boro, Pennsylvania · 9 November 202466 km / 41 miShow on map

The story

Born in 1941, he had built a successful practice, Maryland Business Services, and by the late 1970s he and his second wife, Mary Ruth, owned a twenty-one-acre estate on Turkey Foot Road in Silver Run, with a large house, a seven-acre vineyard, a trailer park in Mount Holly, Pennsylvania, and the North Winds motel in Ocean City. The couple had two children together and looked from the outside like a prosperous, solid family. Behind closed doors they argued constantly, and both used sex as a weapon for control.

She was twenty-nine, had been married four times, had two children, was living in the Hortons boarding house and was facing the loss of her children to the state. She had a record for theft, credit-card fraud and prostitution in California, and her fourth husband, James Marco, was a plumber and mechanic in Florida. On 20 June 1979 her car broke down, and on 10 August he bought her a 1976 Ford Torino, then drove her and her children to his trailer park in Mount Holly.

By mid-August they were lovers. A divorce, he said, would cost him the house and the vineyard.

On 29 August he left his janitor's job early and drove to the Turkey Foot Road house. He let himself in, locked the white poodle in a bathroom and sat in the dark smoking a cigarette. He walked her down to the master bedroom, tore the telephone cord from the wall and told her to lie on the bed and pray. He shot her in the back; when she turned and said he was killing her, he said, "That's right, honey," and kept shooting. She was hit nine times, five shots through the heart and four in the head.

At about four in the morning Maria Paulos took a telephone call at the motel: a voice said the job was done and that he had shot her nine times. Later that morning employees of Maryland Business Services became worried when Mary Ruth did not appear, drove to the house, found the front door open and music playing, and discovered her body with a pillow over her face and a ten-gauge shotgun, a revolver and a .22 rifle nearby.

On 26 September 1979 the two flew to Bermuda and married.

The investigation moved slowly.

The episode closes with her living in the big house in Silver Run.

The case

Murder of Mary Ruth Myers

Victims

Mary Ruth Myers (43). Myers's wife, born in 1936, mother of four and co-owner of Maryland Business Services; shot nine times in her bedroom.

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 2 June 2022.

Accused

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Shelly Myers. daughter from his first marriage
Dana Abbott. Mary Ruth's daughter, whom once choked
Kimberley. Mary Ruth's daughter, who met at a bank in Ocean City
Clarence Botterton. former husband, a bail bondsman and her pimp, killed by a pipe bomb
Maria Paulos. friend in Ocean City who let and stay above the Electric Circus
Corporal James Leat. Maryland state trooper who led the investigation
Philip Sutley. attorney for and who negotiated her immunity
Diane Culp. undercover sergeant placed in Bermuda cell
Thomas Bowman. prisoner who testified about and Myers discussing killing
Jerry Welsh. manager of the North Winds motel
Roger White. 24-year-old Garrett County deputy sheriff became involved with
Linda Hill. woman threatened over a car sale
Adam Hansha. man told he had killed Myers's wife
Melvin Ray Keith Jr.. Dana Abbott's boyfriend
Sabrina. and daughter, born July 1981, with as godfather

The timeline

  1. 1936 Mary Ruth is born.about 0:31:04
  2. 1941 is born.about 0:22:57
  3. 1963 Myers marries and his daughter Shelly is born.about 0:23:13
  4. late 1977 or early 1978 The Myerses move into their twenty-one-acre estate on Turkey Foot Road. (Myers house)about 0:34:39
  5. April 1979 meets at John Owes in Westminster. (John Owes)about 0:47:45
  6. June 20th, 1979 car breaks down.about 0:56:36
  7. August 10th, 1979 buys a 1976 Ford Torino and drives her and her children to his trailer park in Mount Holly. (Mount Holly trailer park)about 0:58:01
  8. mid-August 1979 and begin an affair; he asks whether she knows anyone who could kill his wife.about 1:00:34
  9. Friday, August 14th, 1979 Mary Ruth confronts at Angelo's; he slips out the back, asks to meet him at Sharky's Cove and spends the night at her boarding house. (Angelo's)about 1:02:06
  10. late August 1979 and travel together to Mount Holly, Reisterstown, Atlantic City, Wildwood and Ocean City.about 1:04:06
  11. late August 1979 At midnight and meet outside the Pantry Pride and agree to pay him $10,000 to kill Mary Ruth; writes down her address and description. (Pantry Pride, Reisterstown)about 1:08:22
  12. August 26th, 1979 gives a tinfoil package containing $5,000 outside the Pantry Pride in Randallstown and tells him to make it look like a robbery. (Pantry Pride, Randallstown)about 1:16:24
  13. August 28th, 1979 and drive to the North Winds Motel, visit Maria Paulos, meet Kimberley at a bank and pay at a Howard Johnson's in Pikesville. (North Winds Motel)about 1:11:22
  14. August 28th, 1979 follows Mary Ruth in Ocean City but cannot get a chance to attack her.about 1:19:38
  15. August 29th, 1979, about 4 a.m. Maria Paulos takes a call at the motel saying the job is done and that Mary Ruth was shot nine times; at 5.20 a.m. calls to say the same. (North Winds Motel)about 1:22:10

Pipe bomb murder of Clarence Botterton

Victims

Clarence Botterton. former husband, a bail bondsman and her pimp

Outcome

The timeline

  1. early 1979 Clarence Botterton is murdered by a pipe bomb in California.about 0:54:41

Places and phrases

N ↑Town 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