Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XX: The Von Stein Trial Begins

A death penalty case can pivot on one phone call, and that’s exactly where we start: Chris Pritchard decides to plead guilty and testify, and the fragile hope around Bart Upchurch’s defense instantly narrows. We walk through the private panic behind the scenes as Bart’s lawyers and parents confront the stakes in plain terms: a guilty plea might save his life, but it also means admitting to murder, and Bart refuses to do that.

From there, we move into Elizabeth City and the strange theater of trial. Jury selection, cameras in the courtroom, and Bart’s own posture in front of jurors all become part of the story. We break down the competing narratives from opening statements, including how Dungeons and Dragons is used to explain mindset and influence without claiming it “caused” the crime, and why the defense leans hard on the timing and incentives behind witness testimony.

Then the testimony lands with full force. Bonnie Von Stein describes the night of the attack, the long shadow it leaves on her body and mind, and the limits of what she could truly see. We also dig into the hard edges of evidence: investigators concede no physical proof places Bart in the house, and the medical examiner’s autopsy raises uncomfortable questions about injuries, digestion, and timeline. Finally, Chris Pritchard takes the stand and lays out a plot involving sleeping pills, a failed arson idea, maps, alibis, and promised payoffs, plus the chilling line that planning felt “like the game” until it became real.

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Transcript

Welcome And Case Recap

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Welcome to the Murder Book. I'm your host, Ciara, and we continue with the Von Stein Family Tragedy. Let's begin. In August of 1989, Jim Upchurch had taken a job with the North Carolina Department of Human Resources, inspecting nursing homes in a wide area of North Carolina's mountains. He worked out of Black Mountain near Asheville, but he stri he still drove the 230 miles home to Caswell County every weekend. He had spent Christmas Day Monday with his mother and had driven back to Black Mountain the day afterward. He was planning to spend New Year's Day in Caswell County and already had arranged time off from work to be with Bart at his trial in Elizabeth City starting january second. He was at his desk at work on Thursday, december twenty eighth, when the telephone rang. His former wife was on the line, and John told him we got a problem. Weyland Sermons had just called to tell her that Chris Pritchard was pleading guilty and would be testifying against Bart. Sermons said that Bart was still denying any role in the murder, but Jim knew that this was a devastating development. It instantly deviled the glimmer of hope that he had been able to muster about Bart's chances. Someone wanted both of them to come to Washington immediately, and Jane arranged to meet her meet John there afternoon the following day. He left very early in the morning for the eight-hour drive. Two days earlier, Chris had spent nearly nine hours telling his story to John Taylor, Louis Young, Michelle Norton, Keith Mason, and his own attorney, Bill Austin. Austin had led Sermons half

Chris Pleads And Everything Shifts

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his handwritten notes of the marathon interview, and Sermons was grim when he revealed the essence of the contents to Jim and Joan. Although there were some inconsistencies, Chris was backing up Neil's story that Bart was the murderer. The day before, Sermons and Frank Johnston had come to the jail to tell Bart about the situation. It came as no surprise to him. And Bart says, quote, I said, well, I have known he was going to do this all along. It wasn't a shock, but it was a tremendous depressing letdown. End quote. With two witnesses ready to testify against him, his lawyers told him he stood a good chance of getting the death penalty. He should think about pleading guilty and letting them go to the district attorney to try to save his life. Bart didn't flinch, according to Sermons. He said, quote, I'm not going to take a plea bargain. I'm going to trial. End quote. Sermons and Johnston felt that Bart had not thought about the situation and he didn't realize how real it was. Now Sermons explained that to Bart's parents, hoping that they could get to change his mind. He went outside to give Jim and John a chance to talk with their son alone. In the beginning, Bart had told Sermons that his father and his father and that Hank could give him an alibi for the night of the murder. When Severens had called Hank soon after Bart's arrest, Hank told him that he wanted to help if he could, but he couldn't really remember where he or Bart or any of his friends were on the night of the murder. Later, he told Saramons that he thought he had gone to Bart's room between two and three that night and Bart was there. Still later, he became wary in he began backing away from the that statement. He had dodged the private detectives who tried to talk with him just as he had attempted to dodge John Taylor, Lewis Young, and Kristin Newsom when they became to question him. Sermons realized that he would be of no use as a witness. Now Bart was telling his parents that he possibly was with a girl that night. But what girl? Where was she? Where would you and if she would be willing to stand behind him? Bart was vague. Sermons had brought to the jail the evidence against Bart that had been provided by the state to this point. It included copies from the pages of the journal Bart had been keeping just before his arrest. Joanne had been going through the material and she began crying as she read the journal entries. She handed one page to Jim, but he saw that some of it was about him and put it down unread. That he thought was private and he would read it only if Bart asked him to. Jim left Joanne talking with Bart and went outside where Sermons was waiting. And Jim asked him, So what do you think? And Sermon said, I don't know. And Jim said, Well, it it doesn't sound too good. And Sermons agreed. So the father asked him, So what's your gut feeling? And Sermon says, Well, I will go with whatever Bart says. If he wants to go to trial, I'll go to trial. Bart had turned twenty one in the Beauford County jail. He was legally responsible for his own decisions. His parents could advise him, but they could not direct his defense. His attorneys were in the same position. Sermons returned to the cell where Jim with Jim to explain that that likely would happen. What would likely happen if Bart did plead guilty? He would probably get life plus twenty years for murder. Maybe

Bart Rejects A Life Saving Plea

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a little more depending. So Serpens returned to the cell were with Jim to explain what likely would happen if Bart did plead guilty. And he'd probably get life plus 20 years for murder, maybe a little more, depending on what they were able to work out on the other charges. So Jim asked, What does that mean in terms of active sentence? And Sermon said that it could be 30 years. And Bart said, Well, I'll rather die than spend 30 years in prison. So Jim asked, Well, was there is there any chance for a litter a lesser sentence? So Sermon explained that the DA would ask for the maximum, and the judge, no doubt, would go along with it. The time for bargaining clearly was passed. The only hope that a guilty plea offered now was to save Bart's life. So they asked Bart, you know, do you know of anything that you could tell us? This is his father pleading. And he said, Is there anything you're hiding? Are you protecting somebody? This is now, you know, it's this is the time to speak. This is your life at stake. But there was nothing he was hiding. Bart said that he was not protecting anyone. So his father told him, Well, we will go with whatever you say. Just make sure you know what you're doing. And Bart just said, Well, I can't live with myself if I plead guilty to something I didn't do. And the mother started sobbing and she said, I knew you were going to say that. Everybody in the room realized that Bart understood what he was doing. It had been spelled out to him as clearly as possible, and he had made his decision. She would play out the ultimate game, win or lose, his life, the treasure at stake. But this time Bart would not be the dungeon master. Elizabeth City was in many ways like Washington. Although larger by a few thousand people, it too was a river town. The river in this case being the Pasquatunk, named for Indians who once lived in the area. The Pasquatunk emptied into the Armar Sound, giving Elizabeth City access to the sea, and the town had sprung up as a site for shipbuilding. Like Washington, Elizabeth City was proud of its history, which dated back more than 300 years. The town could claim many firsts. The first land deed in the state, the first General Assembly, the first public school, the first soybeans grown in this country were planted at a plantation near Elizabeth City. In another important way, the town was very much like Washington. Its people were largely conservative, many of them fundamentalist Christians, strong supporters of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, and they believed fervently in Old Testament edicts of justice and eye for an eye. If Bart had any concern about that, he did not show it on the day his trial opened in the second floor courtroom at the Brick Colonial style

Elizabeth City Sets The Stage

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Pascual Tank County Courthouse. Judge Thomas Watts, a short middle aged man with a balding head and heavy ring glasses, asked Bart to stand so that the courtroom full of potential jurors might identify him. Bart rose, smiling, pointed at his red tie and bowed slightly, tucking at the back of this of the blue blazer that his mother had brought for him to wear during the trial. It was not an auspicious beginning. Throughout the trial, observers would be talking of how he took at the bar at the beginning as if he were an actor savoring his role. The tedious process of jury selection was speeded somewhat because potential jurors had filled out information sheets about themselves, but it still went on all week. Joanne came to the courtroom every day, driving back and forth from her home in Virginia. Jim stayed for the first day of jury selection, then drove back to work in Black Mountain until testimony began. Bunny came to court every day, sometimes took notes. She had told friends that she planned to write a book about the case and had hired a photographer to take pictures of the trial participants. The jury there would try Bart for his life was made up of eight women and four men, nine of them white, three black, ranging in age from 22 to 50. Half had attended college, but only one had received a degree. Both alternates, a man and a woman, were white, or had said that they could, in good conscience, sentence Bart to death if they determined that circumstances warranted such a penalty. As Bart was being led manacled into the courthouse for the opening day of testimony in his trial, or blustery rainy Monday morning, January eighth, the news media was waiting. Reporters and photographers had come from newspapers in Washington, Raleigh, Norfolk, from TV stations in Washington and Greenville. Bart smiled and answered their questions. One of them asked, You innocent? And he said, Yes, sir. And another call as he reached the door, he said, Are you sorry it all happened? And he said over his shoulders, Well, I'm sorry I'm where I am now. Despite the pessimistic outlook of his lawyers and his parents, Bart still had hope. He thought that the jury would see Chris and Neil as liars, and he was certain that he could convince them of that if he could go on, you know, into the stand. His mood appeared to be one of jaunty confidence. The appearance Bart was giving was of concern to his lawyers. His natural facial expression made him look as if he were smirking. When he smiled, which was frequently, that appearance was amplified, added to his natural cockiness, that could lead jurors to think that he held the entire process in contempt. And although that was indeed the case, Bart's lawyers saw no point in letting the judge and jury know it. If such an attitude were perceived, it could only lessen whatever slim chances Bart might have. Throughout the trial, Bart would be reminded not to smile and to put a finger to his mouth to keep from giving the appearance of smirking. His lawyers gave him a legal pad where when he sat at the defense table beside them and encouraged him to take notes to keep him occupied. Before opening arguments and testimony could begin, another matter had to be decided. News organizations had petitioned to have the trial open to photo to photography from both stale and TV cameras. Judge Watts overruled objections from both the state and defense to allow that for the first time in the first judicial district. In his opening argument, Mitchell Norton detailed how the state would show that three bright kids from good families entered into a conspiracy to kill Leith Vonstein so that Chris Pritchard could come into an early inheritance. These boys, he said, had been brought together by Dungeons and Dragons, which he described as a medieval game of clubs, daggers, knives, and sticks. And then he said, quote, but this is not the story of a game gone crazy. The game simply influenced the way they thought and lived. It accustomed them to thoughts of me. Nurne promised evidence that would be unusual and bizarre and warned the jurors that they could expect to hear some discrepancies and testimony, which was quite normal, he pointed out. But in the end he said the state would prove that Bart alone had done the code calculated killing. He said the state doesn't have any absolute evidence that shows Bart Erchad did this. And this was Frank Johnston responding in his opening statement, which revealed the defense strategy to cast

Cameras Allowed And Theories Clash

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doubt on the word of Neo and Chris. Why, he asked, had it taken Neo eleven months to have this great conscience breakdown? And why had Chris waited until days before the trial to admit his part? By the evidence from his own mouth, we know that he conspired to carry out this act. He thought of this and pursue it. Norton began his case by calling to the stand Michelle Sparrow, the Buford Cam dispatcher who had taken Bonnie's call on the night of the murder and had kept her on the line until officers could get to her. Michelle had been so nervous with anticipation about the trial that her digestive tract had been in turmoil for y for days. It was not just the prospect of her testifying that had upset her. Her experience that night had affected her deeply. She knew that it would be painful to go through it again. Also, she still had not met Bonnie and she knew that finally meeting her would be an emotional moment. Michelle's husband, David, who was to testify after her, had pointed out that Bonnie, when they arrived at the courtroom that morning, and Michelle had been struck by how tiny and fragile she seemed. How, she wondered, had she ever survived so brutal an attack? Michelle tried to avoid looking at Bonnie when she took the stand. She was determined to be professional and not break down in tears. As she sat down after being sworn, her eye caught her husband's and he winked. Everything will be alright. When the district attorney tried to introduce the tape recording of Bonnie's call that night, Sermons objected.

The 911 Call And First Witnesses

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Simmons and Justin didn't want the jurors affected by the roll emotion of the tape if they could avoid it. The jurors were asked to leave the room while the lawyers wrangled and Cord was released for lunch without the matter being settled. When Michelle and David got back to the courtroom after lunch, before Cord reconvened, two of Bonnie's friends came up to Michelle and thanked her for saving Bonnie's life. Then suddenly Bonnie was standing there. And Michelle recanted later, she said, she just kind of is up to me. And she said, Oh, hi, I'm Bonnie. I and I said, Well, I know. And you don't know how how bad I wanted to meet you. So they hug. And she said, I just wanted to tell you thank you for all you did. If it hadn't been for you, I might be dead. When somebody tells you something like that, it makes the whole job worth it. Low pay and all. So after hearing the tape, some of which was nearly inaudible, the judge ruled it admissible, and Bonnie and Michelle had to listen to it again. Michelle still containing her professional demeanor. After David Sparrow came off the stand from telling what he had seen at the house that morning, Michelle Norton called Bonnie to the stand. It was 4 45 PM, not long until normal stopping time, and everybody in the courtroom knew that she would only begin to tell her story this day. Bonnie had asked that her testimony not be taped for TV, and the judge had ordered the camera shut off to preserve her privacy. She wore a short sleeve black dress with a cape-like white linen collar, and her long dark hair, flecked now with grey, was pulled together at the back and held by a wide, white barette. She was composed and her face looked thin and hunted. She spoke so softly that after a few questions, the judge interrupted to make certain the jurors could hear her. Mitchell led her through an abbreviated story of her life from the time she met Leith until they settled in Washington. He had her identify a photograph of Leith and another of their house in Smallwood. He questioned her about the difficult year in which Leith's parents died and about the inheritance. He took her through Chris's relationship with Leith, including the outbursts that nearly caused a fist fight between them. Bonnie acknowledged that both Chris and Angela occasionally called Leith an asshole before the judge interrupted to declare a recess for the day. The second day of testimony was Bonnie's. She took the stand shortly after court opened at nine and she did not step down except for breaks until nearly 3 30. Norton took her carefully through the events of the weekend of the murder right up to the attack, when Leith awoke screaming. And can you describe Leith's scream to us, please? And Bonnie said it was short. It sounded piercing right in my ears. Just a series of short screams like ah very loud to me. And as best as you can, can you duplicate for us? Here in the courtroom, you said it was very loud. Can you duplicate the scream for us that awakened you? And then Sermons at this point, he objected to judge overrule. So Bonnie tried, but the sound was soft and feeble, hardly a scream. And they asked her, it and with the volume that Leith used that you heard that night, and said, I don't know if I can or not. I said, Can you try? And Sermons again objected. And the judge said, sustain. Is there some reason that you feel like you can't do it, Mrs. Funstein? And Bonnie said, Yes. That's

Bonnie Describes The Night Of Violence

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one thing that I have not been able to face for myself. Bonnie went on to describe the attack in detail. Everything looked dark and black, everything looked black to me, it was just dark. Of her attacker, she said he looked bulky, big through this area, indicating shoulders and chest. It looked like he didn't have a neck. It looked like the head just sat right on top of his shoulders. Later, after asking her to describe the injuries she received, Norton said, Could you pull up your bangs? I guess that's what they call them, and show us where those. And Bonnie said, Well, she's and she did. She pulled out her back her hair and she said, I have had plastic surgery on two occasions. Since the injuries, but you will always be able to see if you look closely. She pointed to the scars, which were hardly visible from the jewelry box. A little later, Norton asked if she had suffered any permanent effects from her injuries. And Bonnie said, I have had some seizure type anxiety and had testing done because of that. So they asked her what kind of seizures. And she said, I will be in the shower, driving down the highway, and all of a sudden it was like I was standing on the outside watching somebody else doing somebody totally different. And it was explained to me as a daydream type seizure. So they asked her, Do you ever had those prior to being beaten? And she said, No. After telling how she had summoned help and the police had arrived, shining a light into the room, she said everything, everything was red. The whole room looked red to me. Bunny remembers somebody telling her that nothing could be done for Leith, and she recalled asking about Angela. And she said, I didn't want Angela to see what I saw in the room. I heard her voice and that was a beautiful sound. And so they asked her, now you said that you saw Leith, and she said yes. I show you what's marked for identification as state's exhibit number nine, Mrs. Vanstein, and asked you to take a look at this. And you to handle her a color photograph of Leif's bloodied body. And ask him, Do you recognize that state's exhibit? And Bonnie broke into tears and said, Yes. Who is that individual? She said, That's my husband, Leith. She was trying to control herself as much as she could. And he asked, Does that photograph fairly and accurately show and depict the way he was that night in bed? And she said that morning, yes. Did she know who had been arrested for doing that to Leith? She did, naming her son as one of the three. At first she didn't believe Chris had anything to do with it, she said. Initially he denied knowing anything about it, but he finally had to tell her everything two days after Christmas, just before he made his long confession to the police. And up until that time in December, did you believe or want to believe that your son could not and would not do such a thing? This is Norton asking the question. And her answer was yes. Cross examination was to begin immediately after lunch, but it was just put off for more than an hour because the prosecution did not deliver copies of Bonnie's statements to Sermons and Justin until 1 PM, leaving them to no time for lunch and insufficient time to read the reports before court reconvened. Judge Watts made it clear to Norton that he would not tolerate any more such delays. During the hatch the sorry, the lunch break, Bonnie had stopped behind the rail where Bart's parents were seated. They never had met. Now they did. Jim stood and shook her hand and Bonnie said, I'm sorry all of this is happening. And Jim said, I am sorry too. For a few moments this this they stood patting with one another's hand, uncertain what else to say. Parents drawn together by the children in tragedy. Their lives forever changed. We'll be right back. When court resumed at mid-afternoon, Sir Mons took Bunny back over her testimony and he focused on the fight with Chris and he asked, Did that cause any animosity or split feelings between you and Leith? And she said no. The children calling Leith, you know, a hole. Did either of these children say that to his face? And she said occasionally. On one point, Sermons did Ciro in Bonnie's description of her attacker. And he asked, Now, you have described this person that you saw as appearing that he had very broad shoulders and no neck. Is that correct? She said yes. And he handed a photograph of Neil. Can you tell us when the very first time is that you saw Mr. Henderson? And she said, I saw him in the courtroom in Beaufort County when I was there for some motions to be heard. And she asked Mrs. Von Stein, can you describe to us whether or not you have any feelings of recognition of Mr. Henderson at that time? The judge allowed her to answer over Norton's objection. She said, I didn't recognize Mr. Henderson.

Cross Examination Tests Her Memory

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I recognize, you know, that he had a shape that frightened me. Can you describe to us how frightened you were? She said, I was upset to the point that when we broke, I left the courtroom and did not return until after the lunch break. So he asked, Did you have an occasion to see Mr. Upchurch in court after that? And she said yes. You did not feel frightened? And she said no. Does the defendant James Upchurch's physical features match the silhouette you saw in the bedroom? And she said, In the conditions I have seen him, no. Sermus continued driving home the point that Bonnie had not seen any identifying features of the person who had attacked her and leave except for being big, broad-shouldered, strong necklace. All in the courtroom could clearly see that Bart was tall and thin with a long neck and shoulders that were hardly brought broad. Norren was squirming with impatience as he waited to counter the point. When his turn came, he began a long series of vivid repetitive questions designed to show that Bonnie's comparisons had been made under different circumstances, one in a brightly lighted courtroom, the other under the conditions in her bedroom the night of the attack. He said, You have said that the individual that you saw appeared to be broad shouldered and appeared to have no neck. If you were laying on the floor looking up, having been struck in the head several times, bleeding from the chest, hearing your husband scream at the top of the of his voice, and awoken from a deep sleep, saw an individual dressed in dark clothing, head to toe, something over his face, draves drawn, dark light filtering through a side door, a bat or stick somewhere in his hands, with his hands raised over his head. And Norton he rose from his seat, raising his hand threateningly over his head, and he said, and like this, in this manner. So he showed her. And the sermons, of course, called objection. And the judge ordered the counselor to sit down. Norton said, even as he continued speaking, and he said that you know, he had the hands raised over the head in this manner with the bat, as you have described it. He says, What happens to the shoulders and to the neck? And Bonnie said, Well, yours appear to blend together. And this was another objection from Sermons. Sermons came back with questions reconfirming that he was Neil whose physical appearance had frightened her. And she said, You have never seen Mr. Henderson dressed in black clothing with a baseball bat standing over your body. She said, Not to my knowledge. So would you say the circumstances under which you saw Mr. Upchurch and Mr. Henderson in the courtroom were pretty much identical? She said yes. And again, Mr. Upchurch did not cause you to feel frightened in any way, did he? And she said no. John Taylor was the first witness on the third day of testimony. He spent hours on the stand as the state slowly worked in dozens of pieces of physical evidence picturing the scene at the Von Steinhouse on the morning of the murder. The significance of it, however, was summed up in a single question from Frank Johnston during cross-examination. He asked, in all the tests that were submitted regarding fingerprints, fibers, any other identification procedures that were closed, or sorry, that were done, is there any evidence to connect Jess Barlett Church with ever having been in that house? And Taylor said, no, sir. The highlight of the trial on Wednesday was the appearance of Dr. Paige Hudson, the highly acclaimed medical examiner who had performed the autopsy on Lee. His testimony raised intriguing questions at odds with the evidence. In describing the scrapes on Lee's shins and the front of his ankles, Dr. Hudson said that in his opinion, the injuries occur at the time of death. And he asked Norton, Sir, do you have any opinion satisfactory to yourself as to what a type of object could or

No Physical Link And Autopsy Doubts

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might have caused those injuries? And he said, Yes, sir. So what is that opinion? And he said, they're not specific injuries, but they were quite consistent with an identical two injuries I have seen by the heel of a shoe. So he asked, Do you have an opinion satisfactory to yourself as to whether or not they could be or might have been caused by the swing of a wooden bat? And he said, Yes, sir, I do. And my opinion is that they were probably not caused by the swinging of a wooden bat. Bunny had told police that Leith simply had tried to sit up when he was being attacked, but never had gotten off the bed to face his attacker. As to describe the stab wound that killed Leith, Dr. Hudson said, quote, the track was through the skin, through the chest rib area, and into and through the heart. End quote. So when it was asked, when you say through the heart, do you mean literally completely through the heart? And the doctor said, Well, I mean at least this point of the blade penetrated into the heart and through the tissue during and really came a little ways out of the back side of the heart. Dr. Hudson said all of these wounds had occurred within a short period of time. So they asked him, Do you have an opinion assuming the wounds were inflicted within a short period of time? How long it would have taken him to have died from the combination of his wounds. And the doctor said, I would have expected death to have occurred within a very few minutes. So Norton asked a short time later, What do you find in the stomach? And the doctor said, I found a rather large quantity of food, rather undigested rice and meat, which I thought was most likely chicken. Stress might have caused that food to remain undigested for six or seven hours. Dr. Hudson said, but only severe stress, financial and family worries likely wouldn't cause it. Under cross-examination from Frank Johnston, Dr. Hudson said that it should have taken no more than an hour or two for the food to have cleared. Lee's stomach and the appearance of the food, if eaten at 8 p.m. or so, as Bonnie had testified, was inconsistent with the death at 3 or 4 in the morning. Of the more than 4,000 cases with which he had dealt, Dr. Hudson said that he had seen a few in which trauma had slow digestion. And then he said, quote, but I don't recall any at all where it stopped to the point that even some simply digested material like rice didn't get change any more than this was. Nobody ever had confronted Bonnie about them, and now she had completed her testimony. And nobody would. We'll be right back. Despite white media coverage, the Upchurch trial was not attracting many spectators, probably because the people of Elizabeth City had taken little notice of the Van Stein murder. On most days, the courtroom was largely empty, populated only by those who felt an obligation to be there. The participants, their friends and family, and of course the small cadre of out of town reporters, photographers, and TV technicians. Among those who had an interest in the trial, nobody wanted to be late when court reconvened from lunch recess Thursday, January 11th. The state was about to court star witness Chris Pritchard. He took the stand wearing a double-breasted blazer, a white pattern luminescent tie, and a grave and shift and shell shock expression. His face seemed pale and lined, his eyes hollow and deeply set. He looked older than his 21 years. Martha Quillen, a reporter for the Valley News and Observer, wrote in her notebook, Very dark hair that's short and spiky on top, has a widow's peak, which makes him look much like Eddie on the monsters. The first portion of his testimony was all background. His father's marriage to Leith, his relationship to his stepfather, his Dundee and Dragons playing, his troubles during high school, his bad grades after he went off to college, his meeting

Chris Pritchard Takes The Stand

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Bart and Neal, his drug use and drinking during the weeks preceding the murder, the charges against him, his plea bargain with the state. The details of the murder plot, which never had been made public. So they asked him now, when when did you first meet with James Upchurch to begin talking with him about the murder of your parents? He said the Wednesday, prior to July 25th. The meeting, Chris said, was at the Golden Corral, a steakhouse on Western Boulevard near the campus of NC State, but he couldn't remember whether it took place during daytime or at night. His roommate Chuck Jackson and his friend Bruce Simpson were there, but they have left the table to go to the potato bar. And he said, and I looked straight at James and said, Well, what do you think about patricide? And he also said, You better not believe in God. And Norton asked him, so what happened next? He said, Well, Chuck and Brue came back and the conversation was dropped. Nor led Chris through the conversations that he and his friends had had about his family's wealth and his potential inheritance. Although Chris couldn't remember many specifics about it. He recalled boasting that his parents had about five million dollars plus houses and cars, and if something happened to them, he would have plenty of money and would see his friends up in business, or set his friends up in business, and they all would live together and have a big time. So Chris said it was just daydreaming. And after this rambling digression, or discretion, I should say, Norton brought his witness back to the plot. He and his friends left the restaurant that night and returned to the dorm, according to Chris. And he said, James and I were alone. And he said, Chris, you know, this is a general idea. I don't know specifically what was said. James said to me that what was I talking about earlier in the restaurant? And I said, Well, you know, killing my parents. And I don't remember we did discuss it further, but I don't remember exactly what was said or even close to what was said after that point. But the conversation did continue for a little period of time, maybe about 15 minutes. Said, Do you develop any plan at the time? He said, I don't remember. The next day, Chris said they talk again, but again, but again, he couldn't remember specifics. He said, There was a talk about finding some way to get rid of any parents without looking suspicious. There was talk of starting a fire with the fuse box, switchbox in the house. And I told James I was going home that weekend, and I asked him, did he want to go? And he said no, he didn't want to go with me. But if I would pick him up behind the safest center and rally at one o'clock Saturday, he would come back with me and we would proceed to burn the house by using the fuse box switch uh box or whatever. And he said, So how were you going to use the fuse box or the switchbox to burn the house, Chris? He said, Well, we were going to attempt to get a fuse to blow or make it look like a fuse blue, and then throw gasoline on the switchbox and you know start an electrical fire that way.

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He said, So what about your parents?

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Would you would you state whether or not you discussed them waking up when you set the fire? He said, Yes, sir, we did. And again, Chris said that he couldn't remember specifics, but he was going to make supper for his family on Saturday night. He said, in making supper, I was to slip some crushed slipping pills into their food so that everyone in the house would be asleep. Chris said that he came home that Friday night, went out to see friends, returned to the house to sleep. When he got up Saturday morning, he said he told his parents that he was going to visit friends and would return to cook supper. He left about 11, drove to Raleigh, picked up Bart behind the safer center. On the way back to Washington, Bart gave him a cigarette box with blue powder in it that he said was eight crushed Salminex sleeping pills. Chris was to mix this into the hamburgers that he made for his family that night. When they got to Washington, Chris said he left Bart at a little meadow shack about a mile from his house, where he was to wait until he returned for him in a few hours after cooking supper. Back at home, Chris said he set up the grill for cooking hamburgers, poured the blue powder into the meat, put ketchup over it, and kneaded it in. He made ten hamburgers, he said. His father ate two, and he, his mother and his sister, and his sister's friend Donna Brady ate one. Norton interrupted his questions about supper to ask about another matter. Had you and James talked either that day or any prior time about what would happen to your sister, Angela? He said, We discussed it. It was, I don't remember what day it was, but James said something to the effect of, well, what about your sister? And I said, Well, if she's there, then I get that I guess her too, but if she's is not, that's fine too. Angela was seated beside her mother behind the prosecution table and most eyes in the courtroom turned to her, but she showed no change of expression. So there was no specific intent at that time to kill Angela. No, sir. Unless she happened to be there. Yes, that's correct, sir. She said after supper, Chris said he bade farewell and said that he was returning to campus. Instead, he drove to the shack where he had left James, arriving between seven o'clock and nine o'clock. And Dalton said, Can you describe for us what you did and what was said when you drove up? And he said, Well, he came out and asked if I had cooked supper. I said that I had. I then brought out a marijuana cigarette. And we worked and tried to figure out a way to break his future open. They had picked up a glass fuse that day. Chris has testified earlier, although he couldn't recall where or when with the intention of breaking it and putting it into the fuse box at the house to make it look as if the fuse had blown starting the fire. And so Chris said, We opened the hood of my car, try slamming the hood on it, and that didn't work. I put the fuse over a pinhole where the pin that keeps my hood closed goes. When I brought the hood down, it broke the fuse and shoved it so far down the hole that we couldn't get it out. The more Chris talked, the more this murder plot sounded like some Buster Kitten farce. It was all so far-fetched, so juvenile, so utterly ridiculous. There were college students with high IQs. Were they actually so naive as to believe that they could put a whole family to sleep with a few over-the-counter sleeping pills crushed into the hamburgers? That they could start a fire with a fuse in a house in which there was no fuse box, something they have not even bothered to check. Did they really believe that a gasoline fuel fire would not attract immediate attention to or be detectable afterward? As Chris discussed driving the fuse down the latch hole, some in the courtroom had to suppress their laughter. Would this movie end with the bungling plotters fleeing, the car hood flopping in the wind because the latch could no longer you know

A Bizarre Plan Unravels Fast

SPEAKER_01 45:05

close? The fuse in the latch hole was no joke, however. After interviewing Chris, John Taylor had discovered that it was still there. He took a photo of it and Norton now introduced it as evidence. And Norton said, Well, now after you got the fuse stuck in there, what's what's going on? And James said, Well, this isn't going to work because you don't have an alibi and Arson is pretty suspicious looking. So what do we do? Now what? A burglary, he said. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. At this point, we left and proceeded back to Raleigh. During the court of the trip, what was discussed? He said, Well, the burglary basically, he said that when we got back to Raleigh, that we should go to an army surplus store so that he could get a machete, so that he could just chop my parents' heads off. So it would be quick and painless. And so Norton asked, what was the reaction to that talk about getting to get a machete? And he said, I said, on the army surplus and stores store? Stores closed? And he said, first of all, you know, I wanted it to be painless. But the army surplus stores were closed when we go, we got back to Raleigh. So he asked, Did you go looking for an army surplus store? And he said, Yes, sir. Jake said he knew what one was, and we went by there and we and it was closed. He said, Okay, after you found that the store was closed, what was the next thing that you did? He said, We went back to the room and I said, Well, how are you going to get back down there? You don't have a car, he said. Well, I could borrow yours. I said, No way, because he had lost his license. He said, You got to find somebody to drive you there or use somebody else's car because you're not using mine. So Bart suggested Chris said that they talk to Neil. And so Norton asked, Did you do that? And he said, We did talk to Neil Henderson. It was on Sunday. The next day, I had taken James to Kmart to buy a hunting knife, and then we went to see Neil. We, I don't remember specifically what was said, but we talked to Neil about driving James and to Washington. Neil was receptive to the idea and they said they were going to discuss it between themselves further. What was the plan that you and James had talked about? He said he answered, Well, James was to go into the house, steal some small items, some valuables. I told him where my mother's purse was underneath the microwave. And I told him that there was money lying about the bedroom, my parents' bedroom. I also drew them to maps, one of the neighborhood and one was floor plans of the house and directions on how to get to Little Washington. He said, See, you talk about how he was to get into the house. What weapon was to be used. He said he was supposed to use the key to get into the house. He was supposed to take some items. At that time he was supposed to murder my my parents. He said, what type of weapon? He said, the knife or a hunting knife. He asked, was there any other weapon ever discussed? And he said, no, sir, just a knife. What was to occur after the killing? So James was to come back to Raleigh. He was to leave the king in the car, and then he was to come back later and that day and see if the car was still there. And so they asked him, What was the purpose of killing your patients? Or your parents, I should say. What were you going to get out of it? And he said, A large inheritance. And had you talked with James about that? And he said, Yes, sir, I did. So what do you tell him that you were going to do with this inheritance? He said, I told him that I would give him a car and $50,000. More to the point, a porch and $50,000. Then did you plan to kill your parents who thought was that? He said, I brought up the idea. After the initial statement, which what part did James Upchurch play in the thought process? And Chris said, Well, he was equal in the planning in that he came up with some ideas. I came up with some ideas. He says, Have you ever discussed what your alibi was going to be? He said, not in great in any great detail. I was to either go out and stay up late with Chuck or with Sandra and Sue. He said, so who idea was that? He said, the alibis itself was Jensen's idea. I was going to to do what's up and to me entirely as long as I was seen in Raleigh. And so Norton asked, Was there any timetable set for you being seen in Raleigh? And he said, I needed to be up until around three o'clock in the morning. What was the three o'clock o'clock in important? He said, because they they were to have left around midnight. And Norton asked, What was this plan laid out for Neil Henderson? He said, Yes, sir. Was Neil to get some reward, some payoff? He said, Yes, sir. He was to get fifty thousand dollars and a Ferrari. Following the afternoon recess during which Time, you know, quite chatted and laughed with his mother and sister. Norton had Chris through other details of the of the plan. When Bart and Neil returned, Chris said they were to leave the house at the same time. Well at the same spot, I should say, where they had to pick it up. They were to leave the keys inside and Bart was to check back by the car later Monday. If the car was gone, it meant that Chris had taken after receiving word about him the murder. If it was still there, it meant that the call had come before. In that case, why was to take the keys out of the car, carry them to Chris's room, leave them in a qu in a chair. So when they asked about Neil's duties, Chris said that he simply was to drive James to Washington, let him out at a predetermined spot, go to another isolated spot to wait for him, then drive him back to Raleigh. Neil, he said, had never been to Washington, which was the reason for drawing a map. He said, I drew a layout of my neighborhood and I wrote down directions on how to get to that neighborhood. So Norton handed him the partially burned map that had been found at the fireside in Pitt County following the murder. The Jews had heard testimony around the map before.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

Norton Handleham, the partially burned map that had been found at the firesight in Pitt County following the murder. So the jurors had heard testimony about the map the day before from Noelie, the farmer who had found it and from Lewis Young. I and he said, I ask you to take a look at that and see if you can identify that for us, please. And he said, This is the map of my neighborhood that I drew for Neil and James. The blocks have drawn along the line indicating Lawson Street represented houses. According to Chris, the four legged symbols were neighbors' dogs that were to be avoided to keep them from barking and alerting somebody. The rectangle behind the block representing the fifth house on the street was the six-foot fence behind the house. The shaded spot on the street, directly behind Lawson, was a wooden lot without a house where Neil was to let Bud out so that he could slip up to the fence without being seen. Chris said that he also drawn a floor plan of his house. He had written directions to Washington on the back of it. On the floor map, he saw he drew in the the bedroom where his parents slept and noted

Maps Alibis And The Night Timeline

SPEAKER_01 54:40

who sleep on each side of the porch. After he drew the maps at Neil's apartment on Sunday, July 24th, the afternoon before the murder, Chris said Neil and Bart recommended. So after he drew the maps at Neil's apartment on Sunday, July 24th, the afternoon before the murder, Chris said that Neil and Bart accompanied him back to the dorm where he gave Neil the keys to the car. He said when I gave him the keys, I had not intended on going back out that evening, but I did go back out. And when I did, I went out with Chuck Jackson and Sandra Goodman and Civil and James. And I sent James to Neil's apartment to get my keys while Chick, Sandra, and Cebo and myself waited at the car for him to return. So they asked him, when what happened next? He said, Well, when he did return, they all went to California, pizza to eat and drink beer, stay a couple of hours. On the way back to the dorm, they stopped at a grocery store for Sandra to buy beer. And when they returned to the campus after dark, Chris parked under a street light in a French lot distant from the dorm. He said, What was it that you parked away from your dormitory? And he said, so it would be easy for James and Neil to find. And so it would have be, I told the girls, it was because I had got my stereo stalling recently, and I didn't want any well vandals coming to my car without being able to be seen. So Chris locked the car, he later took the driver's butt dropped his keys back inside through a window van through which they could be retrieved later by Bart and Neil. After the group returned to the dorm, Chris said that he last saw Bart about 11 p.m. to in the room Chris shared with Chuck Jackson. Only the three of them were there. He said Sandra and Cyril were in Cyril's room. And he asked, Well, what was discussed between you and James at the time? And he said that he was going to go to some homework. And he said, Well, good luck. And that was it. So afterward, Chris said he went to Cyril's room to drink beer and play cards. Brew was there. They stayed until about three when he returned to his room, undressed, and went to sleep, only to be awakened about five by a call from his sister telling him that their parents had been beaten and stabbed. And he said, What was it? Why did you do it? And I honestly don't know the answer to that question. There were many reasons that went through my mind, he said, but I honestly don't know why I came up with this idea. He said, What reasons were going through your mind? And he said, Well, money. He said, What about money? He said, I would have inherited a lot of money. I wouldn't have had to do anything else. I wouldn't have had to go back to school or anything. I could sit around, buy a house, do drugs all the time. I could play DD or I wanted to. And I had a term paper that due that Monday that I had not even started on. So Norton led Chris through his drug use prior to the murder. Smoking pot three times a day, drinking as much as three pitchers of day of beer a day, using LSD at least once a week. He said, What effect did the LSD have on you? He said, I saw colors. I felt invisible. My mind raced. And I had incredible amounts of energy for about six or seven hours straight. Okay, so what about marijuana? He said, Well, when I was smoking it three times a day,

Money Drugs And A Game Like Reality

SPEAKER_01 58:50

after each time I smoke it, I would fall asleep for a little while. I listened to music. It seemed to make music better. It seemed to make TV more interesting, commercials, especially. And the drug called Ecstasy that Chris also used. He said, Yeah, I was very mellow. I felt very mellow. I had a lot of energy still, though, and I just wanted to sit down and contemplate life. He said, Were thoughts of money part of your family at this time? And he said, no, it was generally politics. That was what I was contemplating. World politics. And he said, you also said that you had a term paper. Surely you don't mean that you killed your father because of a term paper. He said, what I meant, I mean is that was a thought that went through my mind as one of the reasons because I was very upset over the fact that I have not done it. I was very upset over the fact that any, you know, my parents would be upset about it. He said, so what do you feel about your parents? What do you think that they will be upset? He said, well, it would have directly affected my grades. And so Norton asked, what caused you to be concerned about your grades? He said, I've already had two talks with my father and mother about my grades. I knew a third would mean that I probably wouldn't go back to school. Norton took Chris through his actions after receiving the call from the sister on the morning of the murder. Chris emotionally told of wandering around for a time before picking up the public uh safety was home.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:44

Well, so I was going to shock at that time. We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:54

So when they asked him why he was in shock, then criticized start showing tears, and he said, Why were you in shock? This was something you had planned. He said, Well, on one level, I did not really believe this would happen, but you have provided an automobile, you have provided the keys to the house, you have purchased a knife, supply the knife for the killing. He said, Yes, sir, but it was just like the game. In the game, you sit down, you plan out things, you get your ducks in a row, and I knew that this would happen, but at a deeper level, I didn't believe that it would happen. He said, So when you got the telephone call from your sister, did you believe that it had happened then? He said, Yes, sir, I did. So, what was going through your mind at the time? He said, The only thing that was on my mind was to stick to the plan. Chris described how the public safety officers had taken him to Washington and how Melvin Hope had told him what had happened. And he said, So you find out at that time that your mother was alive? He said, Yes, sir. So what do you go? Where do you go then? He said, I don't know how I got there, but I went straight to the hospital and straight up to the intensive care unit to see my mother. He said, What occurred when you were talking to your mother? He said, I don't remember. This is him just happy that she was alive. He said, Do you go to the funeral? This is Norton asking. He said, Yes, sir. Had any feelings about it at the time, about the killings? He said, Yes, sir. I did. Very strong feelings. So, so what kind of feelings? He said, incredible remorse. But and so Norton asked, but did you also have other feelings at the time, Chris? He said, Yes, sir. I was thoroughly disgusted. Do you think about the police? He said, Yes, sir. I thought about the police. I thought about keeping myself away from them. I didn't want to be arrested, thrown in jail. I didn't want my mama to know. And his voice choked when he spoke about his mother and in tears. And it it welled up. Oh, it woke in. And when asked what he had done to keep his mother from knowing, Chris said, I deceived the police as best as I could. I had a lie to my family, I lied to my friends. When she asked me, did I know what had happened or did I know who was involved or any of that, I told her, no, I did not. Yes, sir, I struck with the plan. He said, Chris said that he never had come any contact with after the murder, only with Bart. And when he called his roommate from Washington to ask about his car keys, Bart was there and expressed condolences. He saw Bart again when he returned to NC State and said, but not on a regular basis. So he asked, What was the reason that you didn't see James on a regular basis? And he said, Well, I was afraid of him. I was disgusted with him. So Bart, who had been writing regularly on his legal path during Chris's testimony, was scribbling away from his lawyers at this comment. This is simply not true. As Brew or any of Chris's friends, if he has he that he had talked with Bart since you know, at least once about the murder at a party in his own dorm room before the full semester began. So he went to a room, he doesn't remember where it was. It was in the dorms to he didn't remember where it was, but he wa it was in the door the dorm. And he said, You didn't remember you didn't tell me that window the back door was plexiglass. He said he had to cut the screen and break the glass on the side window to get doors. And then before I could say anything, he said there was blood everywhere. At that point, I told him to shut his mouth. I didn't want to hear another word. I told him to forget it and make sure that Neil forgot it. After that was the end of the conversation. I walk out of the room. Thank you for listening to the murder book. Have a great week.