The Art Of Murder

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The driver was Donald Hendron, an artist from Los Angeles travelling to Talladega, Alabama, to take up a post as artist in residence at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. The two men talked about art for two states, and Hendron invited Spence to come to the institute as a volunteer set designer with room and board. Spence said he first had to visit his mother in Illinois, and they parted north of Jackson, Mississippi. Hendron reached Talladega on 9 January 1986; Spence telephoned him at the institute and arrived on 20 January. He charmed everyone, painted a mural, helped with set designs, and moved into an apartment in the Porter Building with Hendron.

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed At twelve he ran away, and in 1968 his mother had him committed to a state youth home. From 1968 to 1971 he was in and out of Illinois boys' homes, addicted to PCP and committing burglaries. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now In December 1981 he escaped from work release, kidnapped and raped a woman in California, then kidnapped another in San Francisco; she jumped from his moving car on the Golden Gate Bridge and he was caught in Oakland the next day. He received one extra year. details of the account remain covered until revealed

In Talladega he began dating Sherry Weathers, a 24-year-old deaf single mother of two boys, Chad, five, and Joey, four, who lived in apartment 30 of the Sunrise Apartments and was finishing a teaching course at the institute. Staff-student relationships were forbidden, so Hendron moved out of their shared apartment on 16 February 1986. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now Laney went to collect his car; when he returned Odam was gone. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it That evening Laney saw him loading large rubbish bags into the car and was told they held Sherry's belongings.

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed A third, Fetus Porter, found a note at 9.30 asking him to come and play cards; he arrived at 10.30, found the two women chatting, and was told Danny had taken Linda's cream-coloured 1973 Buick for more beer. He waited until midnight and left. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

That night he let himself into Sherry's apartment with a key she had given him, walked her towards the bedroom and strangled her from behind with a piece of cloth. He then woke each boy in turn and killed him, telling the first to come and join his mother and the second to join his mother and brother. He arranged the three bodies in the shape of a cross, the children as the arms, and covered them with a sheet. Afterwards he walked to Linda Jarman's apartment, said he had quarrelled with Sherry and asked to sleep on her couch. They drank Thunderbird wine; when she had gone to bed he strangled her with a strip of pink cloth, then took her video recorder and her car.

On 20 February Hendron waited outside to drive him to a faculty meeting and he never appeared. On 23 February Kyle, worried, climbed through an unsecured window and saw part of a body in the bed. The next day he told the institute social worker Wanda Hunley; she made calls, learned that an odour was coming from apartment 30, and went with colleagues and Officer Tom Bayman, who opened the door, looked in, shut it again and radioed for detectives. Detective Eugene Jacks found Sherry and the two boys dead and posed in a cross. The same day Linda Jarman, who had missed classes, was found strangled in her bed. this part of the story is covered for now A neighbour in apartment 31, Catherine Elaine Shelborn, said she had heard a man say through the wall, 'Come to me, you can join your mother', and a minute later, 'Come on and you will be with your mother and brother'. Autopsies found all three had died of ligature strangulation.

On 25 February a 19-year-old woman, Sheryl Evans, was found strangled in Calhoun County; police said she had been involved in prostitution, which was never confirmed. 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

He was not caught until September. On 8 March 1986 he stabbed 57-year-old Beatrice McDougle twice in the stomach in a hotel hospitality room in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then strangled and robbed her. details of the account remain covered until revealed On 30 March a skeleton was found above ground in a cemetery outside Talladega; dental records identified Linda Fay Odam. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In August 1986 in Baltimore he assaulted a woman in front of witnesses and escaped.

this part of the story is covered for now He refused to say where he was, but the call was in the central time zone and she could hear thunder and rain. The National Weather Service reported storms only in western Tennessee. The call was traced to a pay phone at a convenience store in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, seventy miles west of Nashville. A team including Jacks, investigator Dennis Surrit and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation waited overnight. At dawn they moved in as he entered the store, and found him in the men's room. 'How'd you all find me?' he asked.

details of the account remain covered until revealed He described killing Odam, moving her body twice, and beating her after death; he said she was racist, which made no sense to investigators. He described killing Linda Jarman for her car, and Sherry Weathers because 'she was deaf and would never amount to anything', and the boys because without a mother they would not amount to anything either. Asked what they had said, he answered that Sherry, Joey and Chad had nothing to say and neither did he. A search of his belongings found a road atlas marked with crosses and circled crosses: circled crosses were murders, plain crosses robberies. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He said he killed for money and cars, and when asked how many people he had killed, shrugged: 'maybe a dozen, maybe more'. details of the account remain covered until revealed

He was extradited to Alabama. 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 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 May he developed jaundice and was diagnosed with hepatitis C; on 12 July a biopsy found terminal, inoperable pancreatic cancer. His lawyers argued that the three-drug lethal injection would be cruel and unusual given his condition; stays were granted and lifted in a flurry of litigation. On 22 April 2008, as the death chamber was being prepared, he died of the cancer at 1.35 p.m. Detective Jacks said he thought about the two little boys and always would.