Almost Got Away With It

Betty Lou Hales was born in Long Beach, California, on 12 June 1942, the daughter of Joseph, a Navy veteran who built and flipped houses, and Dorothy. She had an older sister, Joanne, and a younger brother, Dan. 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

Their daughter Sarah Lynn was born on 21 April 1963 and their son Jeff in 1964. this part of the story is covered for now Betty never knew what he earned, was given barely enough for groceries, and had to ask permission for the smallest purchase. In 1971 he crashed his truck while swerving to avoid a coyote, spent sixteen days in hospital and lost his spleen and one kidney. The family moved to Fontana in California to raise worms, and the worm shed burned down shortly before they moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1978. details of the account remain covered until revealed In Jackson he bought Gene's Pawn Shop on Main Street and renamed it Gray's Pawn Shop. By 1982 it had outgrown the building, so he took a second loan, moved to 560 West Broadway, and bought a two-storey house at Stacey Lane. He sold guns and jewellery, wore a great deal of the stock, and told people he was a bounty hunter.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In 1987 his remaining kidney began to fail and he started dialysis, four times a day. At Christmas that year he needed hospital dialysis twice a week at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. this part of the story is covered for now

Betty had begun an affair in the autumn of 1987 with Roy Leavitt, a salesman for Fanning Wholesale who was also married. Only Rita Roundy knew. Rita, born in 1940 in Utah, worked at Fanning's, had been married and divorced three times, and was Betty's closest friend in Idaho Falls. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

That spring and summer a series of fires struck Jackson: Jackson Hole Hardware at 4.04 a.m., the Virginian Lodge at 5.43 a.m., and Gray's Pawn Shop at 6.50 a.m., followed by attempts on the Ramada Snow King Resort and the Pioneer Cafe. Investigators found cigarette-and-match delays and thirty to fifty gallons of fuel, but nobody could explain where the fuel came from. The pawn shop was gutted and rebuilt with the insurance money, and the balloon payment on the business loan was due.

On Sunday 23 July 1989 Betty was staying with Rita at South 45th East Crowley Road in Idaho Falls. Roy had been there the previous evening and had left to clean out a camper. In the early hours of Monday 24 July a security guard, Stephen Mackley, saw a man on a bicycle at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, put the bike into an International Scout and drive off in a vehicle with Wyoming plates. Five minutes later a patrolman, Greg Black, saw a man on a bicycle on Channing Way. At seven that morning Roy arrived to take Rita to the airport for a flight to Las Vegas. The front door was open and the screen door locked. He went round to the patio door, let himself in and found the two women dead.

Rita was sitting up in bed, shot once above the left ear. Betty lay on her stomach, shot once in the back of the head at close range, her legs straight and her heels together as if posed. On the kitchen island were six saucers with burned-down red candles arranged to spell 666, and the words 'Satan loves you' written in Betty's blood. A scouring pad had been used to scrape blood from beside Betty's body. There were nine cigarette butts although neither woman smoked, footprints in the carpet and a toilet seat left up. The detective concluded that the scene was staged and that Betty was the target.

Roy admitted the affair, passed a polygraph, and was eliminated. Rita's former boyfriend C.J. Walker also passed a polygraph, as did Roy's wife LaDana and another of Rita's men, Howard Wilson. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed It was eventually found at Jack Hurley's ranch in Bondurant, thirty-five miles from Jackson, with a bicycle inside.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it They settled out of court in March 1992. 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 prosecution sought death. 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 Betty was cremated and the location of her ashes is unknown. Rita is buried in the Fairview Upper Cemetery in Fairview, Utah.