11. Nature vs. Nurture: The Curious Case of Keith Eugene Wells

Welcome to another gripping episode of Lethal Library with your hosts, Dani and Stephanie! This week, unravel the disturbing tale of Keith Eugene Wells – a full-time tornado of chaos. From a close-knit Mormon family to a violent door-to-door vacuum salesman (imagine letting that guy in your house), Wells’ story will leave you shocked and pondering whether it was nature or nurture that led to his downward spiral. Brandy Raines and John Justad tragically crossed paths with him in 1990, ending their lives in a horrifying act of brutality. Explore Wells' chaotic history, his peculiar marriage, and his ultimate execution in 1994. P.S. – Language warning, because, well, you know how we do.

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Transcript

Dani 0:30

welcome to the Lethal Library. I'm Dani. I'm Stephanie. And welcome back. Glad you're, uh, joining us. Tune in again. tonight, we're going to be talking about,

Stephanie 0:44

dremel please,

Dani 0:45

a man who, I don't, is it nature versus nurture, right? How could one child from a large religious family turn out so different than everybody else? Evil, maybe, if you will. Do you think that there's a turning point in your adolescence that makes or breaks you? Or do you think possibly one choice made at 16 can ruin everything? This week we'll be discussing Keith Eugene Wells. And can I just say that Eugene is a super popular middle name.

Stephanie 1:23

It is! Thank you. That was Creech's middle name, wasn't it? Yes. Thomas Eugene Creech. Yes. Is this like the Anne of Boys? Is this, excuse me, what? Like, Anne is a very popular girl's middle name.

Dani 1:42

Possibly, yes. Or Yes,

Stephanie 1:46

Lynn. But Lynn can also be a boy's middle name. It can be.

Dani 1:51

Very popular. So, I'm going to start in 1990. Nineties. Brandy Raines and John B. Justed. We're found in the back room of a neighborhood bar on December 20th 1990. The Rose Pub Located on North Orchard is the current location of McCleary's and Boise. The victims were found by a customer. He came into the bar and there was no one around to wait on him. So he checked around the bar, which is an eerie feeling. Have you ever walked into a place, a store, even a

Stephanie 2:30

gas station where I'm like, are you guys okay? Is there a robbery in process? That's what always goes to my mind like If I can see no activity, and it's just dead silent, I'm like What, what am I walking in on? Oof.

Dani 2:43

And I think somebody's This is going to

Stephanie 2:45

confirm my fear, isn't it?

Dani 2:47

No, I think somebody's probably quit.

Stephanie 2:51

Or like someone walked off shift and said, Fuck this, I'm out.

Dani 2:54

Fuck you, fuck you. You're cool, I'm out. Hahaha. I'm sorry, okay. I'm

Stephanie 3:01

like, someone's dead.

Dani 3:02

Someone's dead and I'm like, they quit. Uh, patrons say the bar was a quaint, quiet, quiet, quiet. Bar that only served beer brandy and john were both brutally beaten, but were still alive when they were found

Stephanie 3:16

Oh, no,

Dani 3:18

that's the worst. They were transported to the hospital where they succumbed to their injuries

Stephanie 3:24

That is bad. Being beaten to death. Oh my gosh.

Dani 3:28

John, that's like the second we get around. It's like, quit. Like, beating is such. I mean, shooting is bad. Beating is. It's a

Stephanie 3:36

little less emotional with a shooting. Knife, knife being stabbed is more personal. But you just have to keep going. But just bludgeon and bludgeon someone. That is terrifying.

Dani 3:50

Brandy only worked a few nights a week at the bar and John was a customer. That is bad. I want to say this, Brandy at one point was a, was full time there, because she had lost her job, as a food server, but then she got her job back, it was, they just had downsized, it wasn't like she got fired or anything, she was laid off, and, so she was working full time, and then they're like, okay, we're ready to bring you back, and so she was doing that job, and then she's like, I like this job, so I'm gonna just work a few nights a week. Yeah, keep doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The assailant had grabbed cash from the bar and left out the back door. Police were able to track his footprints through the snow for a while, but eventually lost them. There was evidence that John had fought back. 20 year old Brandy Raines, Like I said, was only working a few days a week at the Rose Pub. She was recently engaged to be married. She and her fiance were to leave on the 21st, the Pacific Coast to meet her fiance's parents. So the day before she was supposed to leave, oh my gosh. Uh, she had so much life in front, in front of her, and she was from Emmett. So, I mean, she's probably really excited to go on this trip. She'd just been engaged. Oh, yeah. Okay. Hope the fam likes me, you know, and getting packed. John just a 23 was from the Boise area as well. He worked for a local beer distributor and was recently discharged from the Idaho Army National Guard. John was an avid skier at Bogus Basin and loved animals and the outdoors. Like he was just a good dude. And you're gonna hear some more stuff in here that he was just a solid guy.

Stephanie 5:31

I wonder if he really liked this bar because if you're a beer, working for a beer distributor, you probably know A lot of the bars and know which ones are your vibe.

Dani 5:40

Like, what wouldn't you want to chill out at and spend some time? in January 1991, police released a sketch of the suspect. So it took them a couple weeks, um, after the murder, but it will take four months before there is an arrest. In April, the Boise Police Department arrests Keith Eugene Wells. Wells is 30 years old and married with two children. His current occupation is a door to door vacuum salesman. Those really existed. It had to be

Stephanie 6:20

Kirby or Rainbow. You know what, Kirby did change my household's lives, because those Kirby vacuums, we still have my grandma's. They don't quit. They will not quit. We got a Rainbow too, the one with the water. It was okay, it kind of seemed like a gimmick to me, and I always thought the water was gross, but

Dani 6:42

We had the queen growing up. It was badass.

Stephanie 6:45

Is

Dani 6:45

that like I remember the salesperson, I think it was a relative, I'm not gonna say who it was, but, they were vacuuming large bolts when I was six years old off the carpet to show the power.

Stephanie 6:59

Yep, I still remember the, our demonstration, they said vacuum this tiny area, I think it was like a hundred times with your regular vacuum, just go back and forth a hundred times. And then they brought like the Kirby out and they're like, so there shouldn't be much, right? And there was so much and we were sold. They got us. Done. They got

Dani 7:18

us. Probably 19. 99 a month for like ever. Yeah. Yeah. Wells, is currently also on probation for robbery. Wells is charged with two counts of first degree murder and is facing a possible death sentence. During an initial court proceeding, A confession from Wells was submitted that said Brandy and John were beaten and killed over a drug deal gone bad. Detective Smith testified Wells said he went into the Rose Pub to get about 3, 000 owed to him by John and Brandy for the purchase of cocaine. That's a lot of cocaine. A lot. Ninety one. and another confession from Wells, cause you know,

Stephanie 8:09

multiple. We gotta make it extra confusing. Okay. Cause like,

Dani 8:12

oh, maybe that wasn't a good enough story. Oh, let me tell you this story. in another confession from Wells, he included drug suppliers. Wells stated when he approached John in the bathroom looking for his money, John only had eighty seven dollars on him. Very. Very. Specific. Welles then took the money to his suppliers who were waiting in a car in the alley. And they said, get your ass back in there and get more money.

Stephanie 8:42

Okay. Which I can see. I mean, 87 out of a supposed 3, 000. That's pocket change.

Dani 8:53

Welles said he went back into the bar and confronted John. While fighting with John, he saw Brandy fall and one of the drug suppliers hit John. The supplier then gave the baseball bat to him, and he hit John three or four times. So we have two stories, two confessions. Just to muddy the waters a little. Just to be perfectly unclear. Love it. So, I'm gonna fill you in about Well's past. Well was born in Moab, Utah on May 11th, 1962. Did I say that one correctly? Yeah. He was the sixth of eight children. That's a lot of kids. He grew up on a farm in a close Mormon family. There you go. There's all your kids. Money was tight for the Wells family while he was growing up and they moved quite a bit for jobs. Wells mother stated she tried to get help for her son. She said they spoke with the police, their bishop, and even the stake leader.

Stephanie 10:05

Hmm.

Dani 10:05

They all reassured her that he would be fine. He's just growing up. Just a phase. Just a phase. The Wells family has asked themselves what went wrong. His father, Paul Wells, said as a kid, Wells wouldn't hurt a fly. If he saw something hurt, he would help. He said it just doesn't make any sense. The Wells family gave interviews at length. Really? Yeah. and so that's where this is coming from. I was surprised.

Stephanie 10:43

That is surprising. Usually the family of the criminal keeps a pretty low profile. They might do apologies, you know, a statement, one written statement by their lawyers or These were

Dani 10:54

interviews.

Stephanie 10:55

Yeah.

Dani 10:55

Not only with mom and dad, but with siblings.

Stephanie 10:59

You don't see that very often.

Dani 11:00

So, uh, Keith's sister, Sheree Wells said, we, we're a conservative family. We've been taught morals and principles. Like all of us, Keith made his own choices. Yikes. At 15, Wells was sent to the youth services center for vandalizing a school. When he vandalized a school, when the cops showed up, he was just sitting there sipping on a beer. Waiting for it? Yeah. Didn't give

Stephanie 11:32

a fuck, you know. I know someone who hypothetically may or may not have vandalized a school before and I know that person didn't sit there with a beer. A beer may have been had later, but an interesting

Dani 11:47

choice. That is the total It's like, I don't care. That's really, I don't care. And you really

Stephanie 11:56

don't care. Like, why do you want to get caught? That's That's a foreign concept to me. Like, if you can just get away with a little mischief, why not get away with it? You want people to know. That's weird.

Dani 12:10

while, at the youth services center, he told counselors that he was abused by his parents. Wells now says that that is not true. But his parents were strict and they would spank him. It depends on your level of what you think abuse is, but when he was older, he said, no, they didn't abuse me.

Stephanie 12:37

It wasn't really abuse. No. Wow. Or abuse to the terms of, I mean, we can agree or disagree on spanking anyone, but not like punching your kid in the face or starving them or making them do crazy, like, stupid things. Strenuous tasks while starving like we've seen in some cases. So he's like no, it wasn't like that

Dani 12:58

He's like, oh as I grew up I was getting spankings. That's not abuse and you're fair Some people think that is some people don't and his mind spanking was not abuse. Okay, Welles Said he started smoking pot when he was 10 or 11. I How does this Mormon kid obtain pot at 10 or

Stephanie 13:22

11? That's a that's a good question because He's

Dani 13:24

This is my whole thought process as we go through this next little bit of timeline

Stephanie 13:28

here. He probably had, you know, some kids that ran in a different circle than he normally would have and

Dani 13:33

maybe one of his older brothers and sisters.

Stephanie 13:37

Who knows? He

Dani 13:37

was the sixth of eight.

Stephanie 13:40

Almost

Dani 13:40

the baby, that's crazy. Word! Where's, where's a ten year old getting pot? Anyway. Black Doug! Just kidding. Well, if he didn't live in Idaho, it's a possibility. Sorry, we just know it here. when he turned 12, he decided that he was going to be a man and do what he wanted. This is just rebellion for whatever reason. And this is why the nature versus nurture, like this is just total rebellion. Wells had a drug habit by the age of 12 that was costing him 200 a month. And back then in the, in the

Stephanie 14:24

nineties, when is this?

Dani 14:26

Yeah. Uh, 80s. Was it just marijuana? Uh, no, it was mostly marijuana and some amphetamines. Did I say that one right? You did. Good job, Danny. When he was 13 or 14, he was stealing regularly to pay for his habit.

Stephanie 14:51

Okay, this is escalating very quickly. But you know what? I've done a lot in my childhood, so I don't know. I didn't have that expensive of a habit. Well, that's

Dani 15:02

Very intense. That's a fucking mortgage payment, I bet you. Back then, yeah. I did not google that, I'm guessing. Walls said he was involved in at least 30 thefts and assaults from 1975 to 1978. Big numbers. Yeah, so that's like 10 a year. Once a month, he needed to get his thug money.

Stephanie 15:30

Yeah, that's, he's budgeting. Gotta do my

Dani 15:34

monthly robbery. My monthly assault. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade. It was a middle school, but we've been weird here. And so, middle school was actually, you were a freshman. You know. Did you do that? Oh no, you're much. Oh.

Stephanie 15:53

My sister got lucky because my sister, ninth grade, was at middle school. At West and then the year they changed it. She sails right into sophomore. She was never the new kid on the block. Like the newest, the youngest. So she was in 10th grade when they brought the 9th graders over.

Dani 16:11

But you just.

Stephanie 16:12

Yeah, we just did 7th and 8th there.

Dani 16:16

On April 1st, 1979, Wells pointed an unloaded 22 caliber gun at a clerk at a grocery store in Pocatello and took 400. Two months down boom, but he was arrested and sent to the Northern Idaho Correction Institution in Cottonwood at the age of 17. So he was 16 when he did this Not okay. Glad there was no bullets in it. But you cannot be pulling guns and taking money. This is too much. It's very aggressive for 16. And this poor LDS. Can you imagine? They don't even know what to do.

Stephanie 17:04

They're like, what is this? And especially with no real issues with the other kids. They probably have no idea. Nothing that I,

Dani 17:10

nothing that I read. I mean, Even his sister said, he was making his own decisions. Okay, a little trigger warning. A few weeks after being there, Wells had to be put in protective custody after he was raped by three prison inmates. Well, that's terrible. It's horrible. And so that's what I was talking about in the beginning, like,

Stephanie 17:36

Ugh, that's not going to help anyone. No. No, that's definitely something that can exacerbate any issues, or even if you don't really have any big issues, It's gonna create them. So that is really terrible

Dani 17:52

while in prison He also met his future wife Cindy. She was a prison guard

Stephanie 17:59

also inappropriate that that is Not as bad, but a very bad that power imbalance relationship Cindy what the fuck were you thinking a prison guard and he's 17 Um,

Dani 18:19

I don't know the age difference. He, but I didn't see, okay. I don't know of any level of inappropriateness, but I know that Wells asked his family to send her a gift at Christmas while he was in prison, and that she spoke with his family. So I think that he probably was eyeing her and, and she, this is all assumptions, that she was nice to him when he probably had not been treated very nice by a lot of people and he kind of, and the family was like, Oh my god, there's somebody that is on his corner. Yep. Yep.

Stephanie 19:05

No, I bet they supported it, especially after that happened. Him being there and when you're a family with a kid in jail, you feel literally a fucking kid,

Dani 19:14

right?

Stephanie 19:16

This is crazy though,

Dani 19:17

but they just met there was no I didn't read anything about them hooking up or doing anything weird He just that's how he knew her. Okay in February of 1980 He was released on probation and then here we go Wells went back to To prison in December of 1980 after he was convicted of stealing money from a relative You Who does that by the way? Maybe I'm a sucker, but I wouldn't have, I wouldn't, it would be handled here. Right?

Stephanie 19:56

I don't know. If you can. If you can. Listen, I've seen a lot of people when I was having my crazy days that would do the most ridiculous things to their families. Families had restraining orders and Okay. I tried to prevent things other ways and

Dani 20:15

Fair.

Stephanie 20:16

But I would like to handle it in house for sure. Right?

Dani 20:20

Let's take it out to the backyard. If you have the

Stephanie 20:22

opportunity.

Dani 20:24

In 1984, Wells reconnected with Cindy and they were married in 1986.

Stephanie 20:33

Okay,

Dani 20:34

that's a

Stephanie 20:34

little less creepy,

Dani 20:35

plausibly. Well, she, during the time that he had met her and then been, you know, in and out and she got married and divorced and had a child. So, okay. In 1987, his parole was revoked due to threatening to blow up his pregnant wife and his stepson with a stick of dynamite.

Stephanie 20:58

Come on to Cindy that looked out for you and your unborn baby with a stick of dynamite. Let's be for real here Why are we what are we doing?

Dani 21:09

I wouldn't even know how to

Stephanie 21:11

obtain a stick of dynamite I wouldn't know how to respond to a threat like that

Dani 21:16

I'm just gonna run.

Stephanie 21:18

Yeah, like I would probably laugh and then be like, are you serious? Should I not be laughing right now? This is not a joke. Okay, this picture like this like cartoonish red TNT You Are you going to drop an anvil on me from a cliff? Are

Dani 21:34

you going to push a rock,

Stephanie 21:35

Roadrunner? That wascally wabbit.

Dani 21:40

I do think he had violent tendencies, though. It seems like

Stephanie 21:43

it. I mean, he's very quick to it

Dani 21:45

in his crimes, like Because he was also caught by a guard with his hands around Cindy's throat while she was visiting him in prison.

Stephanie 21:54

Oh, that's not a good place to have your hands around someone, and if you're willing to do it in like a public place, don't give a fuck, because usually abusers want to keep it more private because then they have more control, and then everyone else thinks they're good. Secrets, secrets. And also you don't want to get in trouble in prison, in jail, or whatever, like, he didn't give a fuck, that's,

Dani 22:15

that's the hard thing here, like, he doesn't care whatever the consequence is. He's drinking a beer while getting caught, vandalizing. He'll try to choke his wife out while in prison. It's some serious anger issues. but he was eventually released on parole in December of 1989. So I want you to keep that timeline in mind because Brandy and John were killed in December of 1990. Okay, so we got one year countdown basically and he, his Parole officer tried to help him get jobs and he would take the job but he would quit. So I feel like this vacuum salesperson job was like the last straw for him probably, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because he was just, he'd worked there and then he quit.

Stephanie 23:08

Well, what a scary job for such a violent person.

Dani 23:11

No shit.

Stephanie 23:12

You invite someone in your home. Oh, I didn't even think of that. I'll think about the Can I come and demonstrate my Kirby? And knowing how unstable people do not deal with rejection very well, and that is a job where you have to not even give a shit about rejection. Door to door sales, brutes. People are going to be rude to you, no matter how nice you are, and try to yank your chain and stuff, so that's a very Dangerous job for these people letting him in their house. I didn't even think about that. Yeah, that's kind of scary You know mom lets someone in says I'd like to look at a vacuum and then here comes dad Wanting to puff up and be fighting the salesman not fighting But kind of

Dani 23:56

we don't need this damn vacuum or saying

Stephanie 23:58

you're bullshitting or you know He's he's gonna be the powerful one in the conversation and it's a very precarious Situation to be in.

Dani 24:07

I didn't even think about that. Scary. Back to 1991. In October, the trial begins. The star witness for the prosecution is Cindy Wells, his wife. She tells of how he came home in the early morning hours after the murders cold and wet. And later in the day, she discovered bloodstains on the pants he wore that night.

Stephanie 24:46

That's gotta be a not good feeling, especially knowing that he's been violent with you and

Dani 24:52

And there's no secret. She knows he's been in and out of jail, like, and his violent behavior and

Stephanie 25:00

She's probably hoping, maybe he just got in a bar fight. Maybe it's his blood. We don't know whose blood it is. Maybe he fell somewhere. You're just trying to rationalize, I can imagine. But she was

Dani 25:11

super

Stephanie 25:11

suspicious.

Dani 25:14

So the authorities were alerted through a friend of cindy because she had been talking to some friends worried. Yeah and So she I don't know she couldn't bring it upon herself to actually call the cops But the friend was like dude,

Stephanie 25:30

not good.

Dani 25:31

I'm calling

Stephanie 25:32

well, and there's a level of fear especially if you've been choked out by someone of How would I even do this? And what if he found out that I told and she's living with him Threatened by dynamite. Weird. Well, thank you, friend, for sounding the alarm on that one.

Dani 25:51

A pub regular, Donald Crist, found Brandy and John just after midnight. The bar had been busy that night with a pool tournament earlier in the evening. But it quieted it down quickly after it was over fucking nailed that word. Thank you Brandy had opted to close early that night John who service bar taps for a living Frequently acted as an early morning escort for female bartenders

Stephanie 26:21

That's really sweet because as women we know, you never walk, you never walk late at night, especially from bar areas, feeling a hundred percent awesome. About your surroundings.

Dani 26:34

No, so he's a nice guy. That's what I was talking about earlier Like he knew her like we were talking about like a regular and he's like, I'm just gonna hang out You know help you take care of this stuff. They work trying to close early Yeah, Donald Chris said it was too quiet when he walked into the bar, But he heard groans coming from a rear hallway And found Brandy laying on the floor. That had to be terrible. I can't even imagine. Donald then peered into a nearby storage room where he found John laying in a pool of blood. Not knowing if the attacker was still in the building, he fled to his car and drove to another bar around the corner and then called the authorities.

Stephanie 27:24

Same. You don't know if someone has a gun. What happened? Did they beat, were they beating each other somehow? Is that, you know, who's the bad guy in this situation? So I can understand of, you don't know this place.

Dani 27:40

And I, I also think the brutality of the crime, that it wasn't, It wasn't like somebody had broken a leg and he could help them. Like, I think he looked at these two and was like, Oh shit. It must

Stephanie 27:54

have been very brutal.

Dani 27:55

Yeah, so and he did the right thing. Jammed out.

Stephanie 27:59

Yeah, he didn't go home.

Dani 28:01

No. You know what?

Stephanie 28:02

I guess I'm not having a beer tonight.

Dani 28:04

Yeah, I guess,

Stephanie 28:05

well,

Dani 28:06

yeah. other testimony presented stated that Wells had taken John's wallet and about 450 from the bar. Well testifies in his own defense. Oh. On the witness stand, he said he was drinking with two other men at the bar that were the real killers. Of course. Oh my gosh. Of course. He can't reveal their identities for the fear that his wife and children would be targets for revenge.

Stephanie 28:36

You're already beating the shit out of your wife by your own self, so how worried are you? You wanted to blow up your unborn baby with a dynamite, sir. But yeah, cool story. What else?

Dani 28:49

He said he had to confess to the murders. Or the mystery man would harm his family. The jury came back with a guilty verdict on both counts.

Stephanie 29:00

That's a shocker. Wow. Wow. Thanks, Durie, for seeing right through that

Dani 29:06

bullshit. During the sentencing hearing in January of 1992, the defense is asking for life in prison. They said Wells has already spent most of his adult life in prison and would do well. I just feel like that's not a good Defense argument. That's strange to me. 30 is to

Stephanie 29:26

be in locked up. He'll be fine. He's got, if you look at his resume, the dates that he's been in prison throughout his life really stand out. He's got great experience for this role. And he'll do well. Hire him for life in prison. That's such a weird argument. I thought so. He's been there before. He's cool with it.

Dani 29:45

He'll be good. He tried to strangle his wife while in jail. Like, what? Just no visitation, maybe. Glass visitation. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Wells attempted suicide while waiting for his sentence. He had saved several days worth of medication and took it all at once. We've seen this before. Mm

Stephanie 30:04

hmm.

Dani 30:05

Wells was taken to the hospital where he was placed on a breathing machine and listed in critical condition. This was no, um, Creech, slicey dicey, Like, a faux

Stephanie 30:17

attempt. Right. This was a real attempt. It was. He was trying to get her dead.

Dani 30:24

When back in court for sentencing, Wells gave a tearful but brief statement to the court. He apologized for telling the police that Brandi and John were involved in drugs, but insists he did not commit the murders.

Stephanie 30:38

What a strange, if you're trying to do the right thing now, just do the full right thing.

Dani 30:45

Exactly.

Stephanie 30:46

He's trying to, give them breadcrumbs, see, I'm, I'm a good guy. I'm, I'm willing to own up for my mistakes. I'm not trying to ruin

Dani 30:53

their reputation. They were, They were not those people. That was rude of

Stephanie 30:56

me to say they owed me 3k in cocaine.

Dani 30:59

But, and, and that the, uh, drug dealer, uh, were, you know, you know.

Stephanie 31:05

Also doing it, or two other patrons in the bar, like, just giving one little, Okay, yeah, I might have lied about cocaine being involved. But it also, Still wasn't me. Didn't kill him.

Dani 31:18

Judge Schroeder gave Wells the maximum sentence of death. He was not playing around. I think at this time after he was convicted, there's like 22 people on death row in Idaho. It's getting crowded. It's busy.

Stephanie 31:35

They're just hanging out willy nilly. It's not even a VIP club. They're letting everyone in. Idaho is just going.

Dani 31:46

In October of 1993, so of course, you know, we have a pills, a pills, a pills, a pills. Mm hmm. but in October of 1993, Wells asked the state and the federal courts to execute him. He is asking that they rule against him in his automatic appeal and that he wants to withdraw his post conviction relief petition.

Stephanie 32:09

Wow. He's saying pull out all the stops, all the other built in, because that's kind of like a built in thing with the death penalty. You have an automatic appeal. Right. He said, you know what? We don't need to do any of that. Nope. And he said, pull my

Dani 32:22

post conviction relief petition, because that's That also is done in short order after you get the death penalty,

Stephanie 32:30

which I think is a good check and balance It's never perfect But at least if it's that kind of case, you know that you have one that you can at least rely on His attorneys

Dani 32:42

John Adams and Ralph Keene Who I feel like has been the attorney for every death case, penalty, the death case that we've covered.

Stephanie 32:51

Well, they keep serving up these people. He's, he's booked and busy. He's a boss babe.

Dani 32:58

Uh, well, Keane, are trying to talk Wells out of this decision. As they should. That's what they do. Document it fully. The judge orders Wells to have a psychiatric evaluation to make sure that he is competent. Wells writes a letter to confirm his intentions. I'm gonna read the letter. Okay. It's long. And just to emphasize, I'm going to tell you where there's exclamation points. It's good for us to know.

Stephanie 33:29

What he was trying to emphasize here. Yes, it states to whomever it may concern. I Keith, Eugene Wells do hereby declare and avow before God and a notary public for the state of Idaho, that I am of sound mind. I am not under the influence of any medication that may impair my judgment. And I will submit to any psychological testing necessary to relieve any questions. As to my state of mind, I petition all involved to carry out my sentence of death as soon as possible. Exclamation point. And to cease all proceeding of appeal in a case on my behalf. Case number 18041. It is not my intention to cause any more pain or grief for anyone. And I feel that prolonging my life through the years of appeals will only serve to prolong the pain and grief of not only my family members and loved ones, but that of the victim's families and loved ones as well. The suffering must, the suffering capital must stop so the healing can begin exclamation exclamation. To reiterate, so there's no mistake of misunderstanding dot dot dot. I wish to dismiss my attorney, discontinue any and all appellate proceedings regarding my conviction or sentence, and furthermore, capital, I demand that my execution proceed Thank you. As prescribed by the Idaho state law, I ask for summary judgment of the Idaho state Supreme Court on my initial automatic compel the cost both in monetary and emotional well being for all it concerns taxpayers, family, friends, and victims alike for keeping me confined in a seven day By 14 foot concrete and steel box year after year is a wasted and irresponsible one, especially when all that money and energy can be better spent on things that really mean something dot, dot, dot, i. e hunger, poverty, drug addiction, treatment, et cetera, et cetera. This petition is Capital not a request. It is a sincere capital demand That my sentence of death be carried out as soon as feasibly possible exclamation exclamation Thank you for your time and consideration, exclamation, Keith E. Wells. I'm glad that you read that because that was a big shock to me. Can I give you my thoughts on it? Absolutely. I want to know. I was like, do I include this? Because it's a lot of his words. But also I'm like, this is a different term. So I would love to know. This is shocking. So my observations, it was extremely formal. He was trying to cover all his bases. It was very specific. it almost seems like his, maybe he asked his lawyers for help with this. Cause he's like, I'm asking for a summary, yada, yada, yada, to be clear. So I'm perfectly clear. He had some legal speak in there, which maybe he was in the law books in the library or maybe he asked his lawyers, this is what I want. I want you to help me by showing me how to ask for that. And then the most shocking part was the moral clarity that it would require to be even concerned with the taxpayer dollars going towards drug addiction, homelessness, when this is someone who has admittedly. harmed people and not cared or had any empathy for others at all. So this glimpse of, you know what, I want it to be over. And also, I want the money to be spent helping people. When it's like, it doesn't seem like you gave much thought to anyone else. Most of your life. This is weird for me. And it could be a realization that it's over for him. There's no, he knows he's never going to get out of prison and that he, I also really do think he has that backing of his LDS religion that is full of, I mean, morals, like that is just his family. And so I wonder if, because maybe he was. Sober, and not, with, sober with no anticipation of getting out. Yeah, and no anticipation of how do I scheme to get high again. possibly, that's what he was thinking, or, he wanted to go out, being, with a bang. With a bang. He's like, he's like, give me the dynamite. Yeah, let's go. We could do that. So, I, that's the other thought I thought of. He's like. Because there is a lot, there's some, there's some legal stuff in there, but also, I do believe this was a handwritten note. It was printed in the newspaper as print, but the dot, dot, dot exclamations. Yeah. Uh, I, I do believe that he wrote it himself. He might have had a little, the attorneys might say, you have to put at least this in here. but he, he either was sincere or he said, fuck y'all. Let's go. I don't give a fuck. One of the two. I'm just so surprised. I You didn't see that one coming, did you? I did not. We've seen some letters to the judge. We saw Creech who wanted, who sent a letter and then wanted to, what is it? He wanted to be like, can you just ignore that before you read it, please? Nevermind. If you see a letter from me, no, you didn't. Toss that one, bye. Unsend, recall, please. so this will be the first execution in Idaho since 1957. So it was a long period without any, okay. But Wells has one more battle with the Idaho Supreme Court on the automatic review. Which is required by law. That is, that isn't a choice. it is still required. Yeah, and Idaho's finding out that they have to actually follow the law themselves as well. They're like, I thought we just, I thought we just enforced the law. We got to follow this. Damn it! Now all these consequences are coming. Okay. but in December the court cleared the way for Wells execution by upholding his death sentence. They saw the letter, basically is what happened. They said they're not fighting, there isn't, you know, anything glaring in the court case that would Results in a stay or whatever it is. Welles mother, Laurel Welles, said that he is not only doing this for himself, but for his parents as well. Well, she said he cannot spend his life in prison. Quote. He believes the healing process can never really begin until he gets what they gave him. His parents support, his decision and remember the good times before he started getting in trouble at the age of 14 or 15. And this blows my, it's just blowing my mind. There's, it's so unexpected. You do not hear stuff like this of, yeah, this is rare. I don't, I don't know if I've heard one like this. Wells asks for people who are against the death penalty to leave him alone. Because there's, groups that advocate and I think they're not bad because there's some people that are wrongfully convicted or maybe shouldn't have been sentenced to death that are just trying to help people make the legal system work better for them. But he's like, no, please don't contact me. In an interview with the Idaho Statesman. He still maintains his innocence. Quote, they said I had to die and I said fine do it. That's the bottom line Well said he is bitter that some church leaders want to halt the execution Quote, I want to get a message across to the religious people number one that if they say they stand with God Where do they get off saying they're the judge or jury on whether or not I should die. It's not their decision. It's God It's got them there because they had several religious leaders calling,

Dani 42:23

for the death penalty to not be carried out and, and, and such so, but also there's a group of 67 defense attorneys that file with the Idaho Supreme Court to try to stop the execution. They just

Stephanie 42:38

want to jump on this. They're like,

Dani 42:40

well, let me have a go at it. I think from, I, I think I can understand a little bit. So let me read you a little bit more here. in a later December interview with the Idaho Statesman, Wells finally admitted to

Stephanie 42:57

murdering Brandy and John. Okay, which I'm like, come on. Right. Especially if you're feeling that you should be executed. You know you did something very bad. Stop trying to say you're innocent. So I'm glad that he did admit it to the statesman.

Dani 43:13

He said that he killed the pair with a baseball bat and later burned it in his fireplace. Because the police this whole time have been unsure. They thought it could possibly be a bat. They also thought it could be the leg of a chair from the bar. Some type of blunt object. Yeah, they had no idea. He also stated, quote, It was more like a predator on the prowl for prey. When I left home that night, I knew that someone was going to die. I died that night, too. I, I just don't know. I mean, I believe, I want to believe that he's telling the truth, but I also think that The reason that he's coming out, that he finally is confessing, whether it be the all truth or not, is because he does want his execution carried out, and he's really worried about these religious leaders and these attorneys filing appeals for him. He's like, stop fighting on my

Stephanie 44:15

behalf. So he had to admit it. I think that you're onto something there. But it is, you know, when you hear about someone with similar crimes and, you know, through their childhood and stuff, a lot of times, you know, they seem a little sociopathic or something, and some of these statements He's, maybe it's just manipulative and he's really good at manipulating, but saying I died that night too. That is, I was not expecting that. Like to be like, yeah, my life was spiraling and then I realized, huh, maybe I'm not built for this life. Like

Dani 44:57

he just didn't have to take Brandy and John with him. Yeah. You fucking dick.

Stephanie 45:03

I, it's just surprising. So it makes you like, are you manipulating or is this, are you manipulating

Dani 45:08

the public? Are you really this sincere? Yeah. Are you just I, I do think that he is sincere when he says that he wants to die.

Stephanie 45:18

Yes. Well, I mean, he had a real attempt that was Yeah.

Dani 45:22

That he was, ended up in the ICU for, so

Stephanie 45:25

So here's my question. Why didn't you just find Creech? Truly, Creech would be like You want to help me fix the electrical socket over there? Need a

Dani 45:35

toothbrush and a razor blade?

Stephanie 45:38

Guards, guards, get me my toothbrush, razor. Remember when I backed you up and said you were playing Christmas music? I'm going to do everyone a favor.

Dani 45:45

Do you remember that? Oh, I went into the timeline. No, that was later.

Stephanie 45:49

Okay.

Dani 45:50

Damn! That was good. Damn. You were on a roll.

Stephanie 45:52

I'm

Dani 45:52

like, wait, timeline. He,

Stephanie 45:54

Creech was in there for so long, I'm like, he's basically been

Dani 45:57

in there

Stephanie 45:57

for

Dani 45:57

He knows everybody. He knows everything about everybody. And he definitely knows where the plug ins are.

Stephanie 46:04

He knows. And he knows how to slice he dice, so give him a sock full of batteries, get her done. That was very callous sounding, but I'm just saying, with the things that Creech was allowed to get away with. If you wanted to die that bad and you were in there the same time as Creech, if that did happen, be like, yo, Creech.

Dani 46:25

Well, they were definitely in there together. They knew us. Welles was a regular at the bar, and he said he knew Brandy.

Stephanie 46:44

So, I feel like this was now a little bit more personal as well.

Dani 46:47

Well, he probably knew Brandy just as his bartender. I don't, I don't know the extent of their relationship. But, you know, you go into a regular place all the time. They're gonna trust you and have their guard down. He said that he did not know John though. He brought the bat into the bar and set it in the back after arriving. Well said Neither John or Brandy provoked him. Quote, all I know is that at one certain point in time. I knew it was time for them to die. John just got up and went back to the bathroom area and I followed him back there. And when he came out of the bathroom, I knocked him out. There was a little bit of a scuffle between him and I that got Brandy's attention and she came back to the bathroom area and when I turned around, she was just standing there frozen. We're still quoting, we're still quoting, but I can see it going down like this. She didn't say a word. She didn't scream. She just stood there. She didn't try to flee. Nothing. Frozen. Then I attacked her.

Stephanie 48:01

That is so terrifying because she's trying to gauge and I mean bartenders are pretty If you've worked in a bar, you've seen many fights. You're pretty good on your feet of like judging what to do. So it must have been so bad what she saw for it to completely. I don't know if that's the truth for it to freeze her.

Dani 48:22

I, yeah. how do you, she was still trying to process what she was.

Stephanie 48:27

Yeah. What direction do I take? You're doing all these calculations in your head of your chances of what. Can't even fucking imagine. Oh

Dani 48:36

my God. Miles said he killed her because she was a witness. Dick, and actually, he quote, this is what he quoted, dead people don't talk, unquote. It's just amazing that he would say shit like this after, you know, he's like, I just want to do better and, you know, don't waste your money. Showing

Stephanie 49:04

some emotional maturity and then saying something like that. And then just like, oh, this is a tough one, Danny.

Dani 49:11

You didn't see this one coming.

Stephanie 49:12

No. Confusing. Well stated,

Dani 49:17

the robbery was after the fact and that was not the reason for the murders. Just

Stephanie 49:21

for fun, you may as

Dani 49:21

well.

Stephanie 49:22

Just

Dani 49:22

while I'm here. You have some money in the till. He also said that if he didn't go to the bar that night, he would have stayed home and violated his parole by not attending an AA meeting.

Stephanie 49:34

Either I don't go to my AA meeting or I kill two people. You know what? Fuck it.

Dani 49:39

He knew he's gonna go back to jail by not going. So let's

Stephanie 49:43

make it worth it. How fucking weird is that? That's the thing.

Dani 49:47

That thought process.

Stephanie 49:49

Yes, and just the not caring about any consequences. I bet he had something that was not diagnosed, not to excuse it. Well, there was

Dani 49:59

the typical

Stephanie 50:00

anti

Dani 50:01

social disorder and that kind of bullshit. But most

Stephanie 50:03

people for self preservation Don't want to get caught. They have some of that for something but to want to be caught as he has kind of shown Like this is just a strange one

Dani 50:18

So he said, well said quote, I've known for many many years sooner or later I would end up killing someone. To have that kind of self reflection. Yeah, whether he's trying to be a badass or not is still very I don't know.

Stephanie 50:32

It's just just to be able to view yourself that way and actually admit it because most killers have a little bit more of that like narcissism stuff and want to explain it away so that they're always the good guy or the victim or they had to and Because they can't reconcile themselves with doing that but for him to just be like I was gonna kill someone

Dani 50:55

It was gonna happen. Many religious leaders are still protesting the execution. The Idaho Supreme Court rejects the bid of the 67 attorneys and the Idaho Attorney for Criminal Justice group. And this is why. They believe the case was not adequately reviewed. Which if you're a defense attorney, you don't want your depressed Guilty. I Understand. You're trying to

Stephanie 51:24

fight for them. Right like saying

Dani 51:26

just just kill me They they're trying to prevent that so that everything is properly reviewed.

Stephanie 51:32

So you exhaust all your options, right?

Dani 51:35

So I get it. I mean I get it but still Wells is like

Stephanie 51:39

Shut the fuck up. And he was so very clear about it in his letter and never said, never did the, oh, takesy backsies like Creech did. So he was like, no, I'm going to spell this out. So there's no question. I'm not going to change. I'm going to give you guys more information. To hopefully encourage you to do this to me, which what I think is funny about this is that how mind bending it is How with the death penalty if someone wants it, they're like, oh, no, you don't if you want it Then then it's that doesn't that's not that defeats the purpose We want you to not want it so that we can kill you and you don't want it. It's weird It's what a mindfuck that one is. Well, if you want it, then maybe we won't kill you

Dani 52:27

Sorry about your luck. We were

Stephanie 52:28

gonna fight for you even harder.

Dani 52:29

7 by 14 sell forever. Isn't it weird? Yeah. the petition was denied.

Stephanie 52:37

Okay.

Dani 52:38

Yeah, they're like, nope. so we are in 1994. Wells last meal was prime rib and lobster.

Stephanie 52:49

That's a good choice, great choice. And he

Dani 52:51

had some ice cream and some other good stuff, but I mean really. He gulched. Prime Ribbon Lobsters, like I didn't need to even continue with the fried potatoes and all the other goodies. on January 6, Wells 31 is the first in Idaho to be put to death by lethal injection.

Stephanie 53:14

And that just seems young because he started so young and did this. compared to what the other death row ones that we've seen eventually executed, I can say. Or

Dani 53:23

never executed. Creech held, 70s?

Stephanie 53:28

Late 60s? And he was, he's been in jail forever. So it's weird to see that young of a number for a more recent Idaho case. Execution.

Dani 53:42

My mouth was like.

Stephanie 53:43

I say more recent because I think that 1990 was ten years ago.

Dani 53:46

You know

Stephanie 53:48

just ten years ago, 1990. It's not that recent. I wouldn't have to dream about getting

Dani 53:53

my Botox.

Stephanie 53:57

Oh, so this nature versus nurture, what do you think? I don't, it's just,

Dani 54:05

I really think there was something that flipped in him and that, and I also, I I think sometimes these families that are so large, a kid can get lost.

Stephanie 54:18

They don't get all the attention and don't notice. And

Dani 54:21

it's not that they're, I don't think that the parents are purposely doing it. They're trying to fucking work and pay bills and manage a large family.

Stephanie 54:30

There's only so many eyes.

Dani 54:31

Um, and, you know, typically, traditionally, in, the Mormon religion, when you have that large of a family, you have a full time stay at home mom. That was not the case with him.

Stephanie 54:44

Really? Because

Dani 54:44

they were poor. Yeah. They traveled a lot.

Stephanie 54:47

Moving, all the moving as well, the chaotic, not being able to set down roots, and, gosh, moving is a nightmare regardless, but imagine how little, how much less you're bandwidth you have to deal with a child that's struggling.

Dani 55:04

and I also think being a younger child that, Mom and dad might have been just burnt out on raising all these damn kids, and they're just like, ehhh. Do you know what I mean? Like, no,

Stephanie 55:15

and that happens in a lot of large families. You'll hear, you'll hear about the elder siblings being like, I was the parent because they were not parenting anyone. Really? and so I was the parent and you know, they were bringing in the money to keep the roof over the head maybe making the meals, but as far as the Wrangling of the children and the changing of the diapers and this and that like like I've worked all day Go

Dani 55:41

change your brother's diaper. Would you get him a bottle? blah blah blah like I could

Stephanie 55:45

I could tell it's a fine line because there's one point of Teaching a kid to care for someone and changing a diaper here or there or helping You You know, play with the kids or whatever. There is a point in some families where it goes to no, you are almost the full time parent or the nanny, essentially.

Dani 56:05

If I was working full time and had to come home and feed eight mouths, I, I couldn't do it. It's just so many dishes for one. Dinner would be like a fucking three hour ordeal. Never mind laundry and vacuuming and getting kids to bed and making sure that, you know, they brush their teeth. Oh, and homework was done. It's, I

Stephanie 56:30

imagine the grocery shopping. I have an aunt who has a lot of kids and she's their family is wonderful and they did it so beautifully It's almost weird, but they had to have the industrial sized fridge They had to have the huge ass van to cart everyone around in their grocery order I don't even want to know what that looked like Kudos to

Dani 56:51

parents that can pull that off. I'm just personally I would be like I would be sitting in a corner rocking and sucking my thumb. Yeah

Stephanie 56:59

call. Give me a 51

Dani 57:00

50 asap, please, please So, kudos to parents that can pull that off. Yeah, there are people that can do it. But, I just, I don't know how I feel about, it's weird. It's just, it was a weird case to me. I'm going to ponder it, but it's interesting that somebody is like, hey, just fucking knock it off. I'm done.

Stephanie 57:22

Generally for me, when it comes to the nature or nurture, I do think it is both because I think that there are folks that have issues psychologically, but there wasn't ever any trigger or they were able to manage it for certain reasons. there's people that don't have any issues, but for some reason through a really difficult childhood or things that happened to them, they grow the worst type of coping mechanisms. So I think that it can go either way. I mean, it seems like a pretty positive environment. I think there was some problems there for how it escalated though. That trigger warning, rape by three people.

Dani 58:08

But also he had that drug addiction, 200. I mean, no, that's a valid, that could fuck you up, but he was already doing a lot of drugs at

Stephanie 58:19

a young age. Which that is so, if addiction doesn't run in the family and there isn't a lot of those types of influences around. You know

Dani 58:27

they were going to church every Sunday. Yeah.

Stephanie 58:29

You know they absolutely were. It would be so hard to be addicted to drugs and keep it going.

Dani 58:35

Yeah. He would have to find the people with the drugs anyway.

Stephanie 58:41

Interesting one. We want to know your thoughts because this one kind of threw me for a loop. So please let us know what you think. What are your opinions on this case and, and how his behavior was, you know, we want to hear about it.

Dani 58:55

well, thanks for tuning in. Like, subscribe, hit all the buttons, follow, Apologies to Risa for our language. Risa, there

Stephanie 59:05

was, again, the language was off the charts. I was really trying this time. I did censor myself a few times. I hope that you caught that. I know you said you'd never listen again, but maybe, maybe one day. We'll have a clean episode and I'll send it to you. Love you. Also, one of our top listeners, Adam, we have a top listener, Adam, that can just immediately re quote so many lines that he liked. And we love that stuff.

Dani 59:34

Alrighty guys, hit us up if you, uh, have any suggestions at thelethalibraryatgmail. com and we will see you next week.

Stephanie 59:44

Thank you for listening. 10 4, rubber ducky. Fuck

Dani 59:47

yeah!

59:49

You