The Shocking Florida Machete Murder

This week on BuzzFeed Acquitted we take a look at the

machete

murder

of Thalia Pond South Winsley in Florida in our continuing exploration of why Florida is the way it is, it's a unique place from which some funny stories come, they have a magical world. from Harry Potter or is it the Wizarding World, what about Miami Beach, honey, yeah, I'm sure Miami Beach has never been? Yeah, you don't seem like the Miami Beach type anyway, we're here to talk about a

machete

murder

and we've also talked about Florida. In the past we investigated that lady who exploded in her living room.

I loved that lady. You did it. I mean, I didn't know it was the size of a small teaspoon or a teacup. Anyway, let's get into it. I was born into a life of privilege. Adelie for sale Linsley was a former Broadway actress, model, inventor, real estate agent and author. According to her critics in the Orlando Sentinel, she was an aggressive, sharp-tongued woman who, quoted, would not have won any popularity contests. End of quote, in fact, in 1970 in Bally, I ran for Florida Legislature and lost I feel like a mark of true success is when you have detractors, that's a wonderful thing like when you have enemies, oh yeah, that's the old way to say that, yes, yes, yes.

I would love to have some haters, yes I would love to. some haters too, why don't you take a long walk on a short pier? Like, well, that's too general and too hypothetical. I like what you point out, like oh, I hate the stupid round eyes of hers. Rooster, rooster, look at that, a little surf wave. the head of it I'm going to go I'm going to get my little boogie board and surf that morning in 1973 Adalia married James Linsley, a real estate agent and former mayor of St. Augustine Florida, where Italia was living at the time, while they were married in September, by the following January the two were still living in separate houses.

Elia was trying to sell the house he lived in and didn't want to leave it vacant before moving in with her. her new husband's house she never had the chance now it's funny that they are both real estate agents and can't sell their house you know maybe they just aren't that good at their jobs or maybe no one just wants to live in it . Florida, I'm just imagining a bunch of people saying, Do you need to buy a house here? It's like I'm a real estate agent. Do you want to buy a house here? And that's just a big feedback loop. real estate agent who sells real estate to other real estate agencies I know you are scamming me but I already requested it on January 23, 1974 between 6:00 and 6:15 p.m.

Athaliah, 56, is out walking her pet blue jay Clementine is taking her bird for a walk. I loved having a wonderful little bird. I understand we all know you kept your bird in a freezer for two years. The ground was hard. I couldn't bury him yet for two years no it wasn't two years it was just during the harsh Chicago winter when the ground thawed we buried him in the garden we all know you ate that bird we all know you ate a parrot you dated a parrot, she loved him, I already finished talking about how my parrot was not entertained by this on her porch she encountered a man wielding a machete who proceeded to hack her to death when the police arrived, Athelia had been almost decapitated, the head of police Virgil Stewart said quote she was dead when we got there, she had been badly butchered, her head almost cut off and I quote clementine, the blue jay was never seen again, do you think this person was maybe the original owner of clementines and I just wanted the bird back?

I didn't consider it a possibility, actually it's not even in my theories, well, it wouldn't be the first time you overlook things, well, I think it's a leap to say, hey, that's my parrot, I don't think your head is Take a good look at your shoulders so that we know that you are not one of those who jump to conclusions. I'm not arrogant, you use it only if I have some data behind it. a big boy, take a neighbor. A 19 year old lock. McCormick said he could hear a Dahlia screaming. at his house when he went to see Italy he discovered his butchered body he told the police he saw a man between 40 and 60 years old in a white shirt and dark pants walking away from the house a witness reported that there was blood on the grass citing everything around the south side of the house and I quote that at one point a police officer ordered the ambulance attendants to hose off the blood flying on the face as the crime scene investigation this hose everything maybe we'll get this out evidence from here right now could Think clearly, the sheriff offered a $500 reward to anyone with information about the case.

On February 17, 1974, a county mechanic named Dewey Lee said he had searched the swamps about a mile from Linz Lee's house and discovered a machete and a package containing a bloody white shirt. dark pants, a watch and a pair of shoes After Thalia's death, Frances Bemis, a 70-year-old retired department store public relations executive and fashion consultant, told friends she knew something about Bemis' murder. , who was supposedly a friend of Italy. She had been collaborating with a writer on a book about Italy after her death, she didn't seem afraid when Italy turned up murdered and told the st.

Augustine's record quote I think st. Augustine is the safest place I have ever lived. I go for walks at night and will continue to do so. I was out for a walk the same night the murder happened end of quote I don't know what you would think of that if you if this gruesome murder had happened and it will and one woman just proudly proclaimed "well I'm not afraid maybe if she "If I knew her well, it's her way of saying, well, she must have been up to something dirty, baby, that kind of thing doesn't happen in this place." here and let me show you I'm going out for a walk right now, yes, Frances did in fact continue to walk at night, even on November 3, 1974, just over nine months after Italy was assassinated the next day, not far from where Italy was murdered. a man walking his dog found Frances dead in a vacant lot, oh no, what is it, unfortunately, Frances Bemis's old picture app, oh, oh, you know, she died doing what she loved, she died doing what she loved loved and look if you are an old woman and this murderer already killed an old woman with something as simple as a machete this is not the zodiac it is not someone well known pulling a lot of strings and putting a lot of production design into his work it is simply approaching someone with a machete Yes, on the other hand, you will not challenge them, who are you?

You also like to become a big man, yeah, like you, oh, you murdered an old lady with a machete, that's cool, Wow, you must be a really dangerous man. It's not like she murdered Macho Man Randy Savage, she's an old lady, yeah, good for him. I guess she had apparently been hit repeatedly with a stone block. She was half naked and most of her clothes had been ripped off. An autopsy report found no evidence of rape; a New York Daily News account noted that her body had been burned as if a murderer had attempted to destroy her corpse.

Another thing about this one is the attempt to destroy the evidence, destroy the body. Burn it, yeah, and then leave didn't work well, so we could just leave. I guess I'll just be evidence. Well, we already know what they do. What evidence? Police Chief Virgil Stewart did not believe there was a connection between Francis. and the murders of natalia at that time with two women violently killed in st. Augustine Florida in 1974 it's time to dive into the theories. The first theory is that Italia's husband, James Linsley, was responsible for her murder. James was a quiet real estate agent who had served two terms as mayor of St.

Augustine, although they lived in separate houses, James said they had no marital problems. Adalia, however, had sent letters to her sister showing them that they were having problems. From her home there was also gossip among community members that the crime scene was hosed down too much. Heck, James' involvement according to Elizabeth Randall, author of a book detailing the assassination of Italy, James complained about how many rumors were circulating around town. Florida seems like a gossip state, yes. Oh what else are you going to do there? You're trapped by a swamp and Gators, yes, essentially leave you to your own devices.

Yeah, why did you spread some funny rumors? Whisper storm, baby, maybe rumors that are rumors like you ate that bird. don't stop this. I'm going to cut off my head with a machete. I didn't say that in testimony at a dahlia murder trial, although interestingly it's not a trial in which James is being prosecuted. More on that in a moment. James told the jury that he owned a machete similar to the one used to kill his wife, usually kept it in the trunk of his car and used it to cut through brush while looking for properties for his real estate job after the murder of the dahlias handed the machete to the police.

At the time it was common for county residents to have one or two machetes used to fight Florida wildlife. At trial, James was shown the machete he used on his wife. James could not confirm whether he was the one who told the judge. quote all machetes look the same to me end quote I think it's important to say that because I imagine that the people watching this were imagining Jason Voorhees murdering this lady, yes, but in reality everyone had a machete, so it could have been Jim who went to church on Sunday, the priest stands there with a machete, he's using it as a pointer, yes, using it, they're using it, throwing holy water, they're using it to point to items in PowerPoint presentations , everyone has a machete which makes sense according to Randall's book.

There was a gap of about 15 to 25 minutes in James' palaboy that supposedly occurred between the time James drove home from the grocery store where he had been shopping with a Dahlia and the time he drove back to his own home. Randall posits that James had enough time. driving to Italy's house during that period it's unfortunate that if you only have a 20 minute slot in your schedule where no one sees you, suddenly you're open to being a killer, yes that's true, it usually takes me about 20 minutes to cook my dinner normally and that's why I'm a murder, you're a murderer, The second theory is that Italy's neighbor, Allen Stanford, murdered her in the culmination of a months-long dispute, according to the New York Daily News.

Italy loved animals and accepted many, including noisy dogs and even at one point a goat, the noise of these critters often upset their neighbors according to author Elizabeth Randall, both of Italy's neighbors, the Stanfords and the McCormicks, presented public complaints about noise in 1972, resulting in a $50 fine for disturbing the peace. then describes an escalating dispute between neighbors in which Italy outraged the Stanfords by cutting down trees that spanned their property line, according to Randle. Italia also planted bamboo in a city easement at the corner of Stanford's driveway that the Stanfords had the city remove at the time Stanford was the manager of st.

Johns county of which st. Augustine is the county seat. Italia had apparently suggested to the County Commission that Stanford was not qualified for his job. She appeared before the Commission at least four times to complain about him. That's a strained relationship. Yes, they don't want to be like that. to your neighbors, yeah, you don't want to have a little petting zoo in your house, the thing about cutting down their tree, their property is fine, so you would do it legally, you can control their hangovers, you can cut the ones I did. I have a neighbor who had an overhang from a lime tree.

He was great because he could go pick some lime. Have you ever thought about killing your neighbor when he didn't give me limes? Yeah, oh, okay, okay. Dahlia would say Stanford had neglected them. Randle describes a commission meeting in Dahlia publicly accused Stanford of putting sugar in the gas tank of his Cadillac. Most prominent Lee also said on October 9, 1974 that Stanford threatened her saying quote that man threatened my life, threatened to kill me end of quote, sure it seems suspicious, but it also seems incredibly risky to murder your neighbor, especially after That all this has been public, she has complained in public that he is not good at his job, yes. every human being is capable of murder if you push them hard enough, I just don't know if this is enough push, okay, that's right, so yeah, I can, I bet you'd murder me if I pushed you hard enough, yeah, probably according to Randall.

Just hours before the Valley murder, Stanford had been visited by the Florida Department of Professional and Occupational Regulations at the request of Dahlias. Randall says they were investigating to see if Stanford was violating Florida state statutes. That's some fuel for the fire. I don't know if it's enough to push him over the edge. It's certainly not good. Not good. He doesn't look great. Which I still wonder about, but then when people start showing up to size you up, that's true, you might miss it. I guess you can't really like talking about her. She is doing this. make thatit stops.

Yes. Wenlock McCormick first heard the screams of an ax in the belly, looked towards his house and told his grandmother that quote Mr. Stanford is hitting Miss Ponds, end of quote she was in her maiden name of the dahlias. McCormick then explained that he had assumed he was Stanford based on his clothing and the fact that the man was walking back to Stanford's house, but he did not see the man's face. or really know if it was him, the police also noticed a trail of blood leading through his driveway to a concrete wall that demarcated the division between his property and the Stanford well, that's not seen.great, that's not seen well, okay, that's a little more than rumors at that point, yeah, actually, this makes me wonder, let's say you want to murder someone, would it make sense to study it for a long time, you know, see who's in their life and then try to disguise yourself or make it look like you're a different acquaintance of theirs, so if I want this lady dead and I have a fight with her at the Stanford over there, he tends to wear these kinds of things I'll put them on I'll put them on I'll dress like him Wacha thwack runs through his yard yeah he just rolls around in the grass yeah his front yard that blood everywhere of course they are I'll hose it down but it's Florida so you know they'll make sure Bloods is really in the weed, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe it's close to being a perfect crime, but it certainly gives you an advantage as a killer.

It's true, the sheriff took McCormack away. to a hypnotist in hopes of unlocking more memories, but the results were inconclusive, that sounds normal for the research methods course in Florida, what did we get? What does the evidence look like? We hosed everything down, what do you want a hypnotist to bring next? It reminded me of a metronome. Dewey Lee had discovered a package of evidence that included a bloody shirt and a watch while the shirt had been in salt water and mud for too long to conclusively determine if the blood on the shirt was Dalia's blood type.

A forensic expert was eventually able to identify a laundry brand, named Stanford, however it was decided that the brand was too faint and confusing to be conclusive. It just looks like this guy murdered. He doesn't really know who I am. Maybe the fact that the name on the laundromat was there. I found out he was bloody, it was his, that's it, what it is, I just know none of my clothes are lying there, I don't have my name on my lawn, yeah, what is it? Things were different, I don't know or he's Andy. from Toy Story names everything and two, I don't think any item of my clothing is covered in blood, no matter what crime arises.

Shane doesn't have bloody clothes and I don't even have a bloody nose. I was in a church once. It happened on the wall of a church. I do not go to church. I was just with one of my friends and he said he wasn't going to church and I was like, "he's fine, man." I was like 9, so you're telling me at 9." years old you don't go to church the first time you cross the threshold into holy land what expels from your nostrils yeah, they ran out of tissues cleaning that was crazy That sounds wild Most damning for Stanford was the watch that a jeweler identified As Stanford claimed that after the murder he discovered his watch was missing, Stanford was charged with the murder, his friends and churchmates raised $20,000 for his bail and a Defense Fund estimated at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars which would have the same purchasing power of more than 1.3 million dollars today as a brief side note at the time of francis be murder mrs. his friends Stanford mounted a formidable defense Stanford's defense posited that Sheriff Dudley Garrett Dewey Lee and Natalia's husband James Linsley had worked together to frame Stanford quote Isn't it strange that all the officers and trained police officers didn't know what to look for or where to look for it and, without stopping, Lee went straight to the place, walked to the bank and there it was.

I assure you that Dewey Lee published it that morning end of quote the defense posited Dewey Lee as a conman while on the stand a defense attorney asked Dewey: isn't it a fact that you were looking for a place where no one could see that Did you put those things at the end of the swamp? they're desperately grasping at straws, yeah, because if you were trying to frame someone you'd want it to seem like that, yeah, I mean, you'd go overboard, you'd probably try too hard to make it seem too obvious. This is confusing. I have a feeling it will remain unresolved.

We'll see. Key to the defense was the testimony of Adele McLaughlin, a data processing employee and neighbor who was riding by the Dahlias' house at the time Adele testified that she had seen Dewey in a dahlia garden less than two hours before the murder occurred, after two and a half hours of deliberation. On February 3, 1975, the jury found Stanford not guilty, then Sheriff Garrett told reporters: Yes, I think Stanford did it. I signed the complaint against him. and I don't agree with the verdict and I quote, there's something strange to say about a town that believes so much that this man didn't do it, they literally raised $250,000 and the jury only deliberated for two and a half hours before they said yes, he He didn't do it if I murdered someone in the whole city it was like no he didn't do it how do you like it this is this rule he earned enough goodwill tickets yeah to cash that card like I have done. a great guy my whole life and then you get the 10th hit and it's like everything is fine here's your freezer Shetty it's your f-1 murder machete you get one for free in 1974 in a span of less than 10 months two women were violently murdered by hand in the same Florida community, the person responsible for one or even both deaths is a mystery.

Could it have been a disgruntled husband, a fed-up neighbor, a scheming mechanic, or someone else entirely? The answer remains unresolved. I think he was the neighbor. Look. I am a simple man. I see a trail of blood going to someone's house, even if they didn't do it. Come on, you're going to jail. I think he might have been a random person. Okay, it seems too obvious. Okay, there is a document. The trail of enmity from him Why on earth would that foolish anger be? You know, lust, rage, rage, it's just building up, bursting out. Well, I've never been so angry.

I really don't have that ability. It is building within you. See, that's great, oh man, I can't wait for Krakatoa, then I'll cringe, I hope no one is in the way.