A judge approved Burnetts request to evaluate Macks sanity at the time of the murder in a pre-trial. When football season ended and there was nothing much to do on Friday nights except drink beer and stare up at the wide-open sky, teenagers used to park their pickups across the street from Odessa High School and wait to see the ghost they called Betty. The entire proceeding was a perversion of the law, says Sullivan, who is still a practicing lawyer in the nearby town of Andrews. No other event in my life impacted me the way this did, he says. This story is from Texas Monthlys archives. The two teenagers had parked in the alley for a while, but they had been startled to see headlights coming toward them. Interestingly, her cousin, Shelton Williams, assisted in the production of the show. 6/12: Not the Mack Herring . Ive done a lot of things, I know, that were bad and cheap, but I swear before God that I didnt mean them to be like that. In the middle of the chaos, Betty spotted Mike. He never took Betty to his neighbor Carol McCutchans house, where the in crowd gathered for dance parties and rounds of spin the bottle. Love, Betty. Burial in Port Hudson National Cemetery. When you think of me try to think of the good times we had and not of this. November 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? He was still invited to parties at Carol McCutchans house and was welcome at Tommys Drive-In. She kept saying what it was going to be like in heaven. Then they had walked down to the pond together. The letter, which the Texas Department of Public Safety had authenticated and which Mr. John Mack Herring was the main at Kiss and Kill. Judge Olsen had denied his motion to have Mack evaluated by a psychiatrist for the state, having agreed with Burnett that the defendants current state of mind was irrelevant. A sophomore, Jim Mercer, also deflected the invitation. The Tennessee native & Virginia resident since he moved with his family as a child admitted he wore blackface during a college party in the 80s, In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song, Herring said. None of the facts of the case came out., Moments after Sullivan rested his case, Burnett rose from his seat and thundered across the crowded courtroom, Stand up, Mack Herring! Mary thought it was weird that her daughter hadnt come downstairs for breakfast. According to Ike, she was surprised to see Mack there. Who Are Ana Walshe Parents And Family? So rather than admit defeat Im going to beat a quick retreat into the no mans land of death. Genealogy profile for Alfred Mack Herring Alfred Mack Herring (1890 - 1962) - Genealogy Genealogy for Alfred Mack Herring (1890 - 1962) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. However, no one took her request seriously and shrug it off as attention seeking. [3], Shelton Williams, a cousin of the homicide victim and an alumnus of Permian High School who played against Herring in American football games, wrote the book Washed in the Blood, published in 2006. He was a lifetime member of Person St. UMC; was a. Betty Williams was a 17 year old girl who was murdered via shotgun to the head by her football player ex-boyfriend in March of 1961. He didnt have an answer. McAlpine also felt sure that Betty would not have wanted to sneak back into the house through the front door. He was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, in the Appalachian Mountains. . Wife: Ada Herring. As she turned to go, she said to Ike, Ive got to call his bluff, even if he kills me.. At the end of an evening at Tommys, it was not unusual for her to end up parked in a secluded spot somewhere with a football playerafter, of course, he had taken his girlfriend home to meet her curfew. He has vowed not to step down as governor. I will always remember you for that. Then she said, Now. I raised the gun barrel up, and she took ahold of it with the back of her hand and held it up [to her temple]. After 11 hours of deliberation, Mack was deemed to have been insane at the time of pulling the trigger. Mack was brought down to the police station for further questioning, and 45 minutes later, he broke down. Did Maxine Die In Hollyoaks? Rose told him about the incident and Mack promptly broke up with Betty. When her father lived with my parents, he used to threaten to kill himself in the middle of the night, says Shelton. On the drive out to the hunting lease, she was cheerful and chatted about how happy she was going to be when she was dead, Mack explained. Herring tied the knot on August 12, 1989, and have two children; daughter Peyton E. Herring, 26, and son Timothy R. Herring, 22. In bedrock-conservative, blue-collar Odessawhere the John Birch Societys crusade against communism and other un-American influences had struck a chordshe was seen as an oddball. Betty had begged him to kill her, he told McAlpine; all he had done was carry out her wishes. Betty and John later became a couple, although their relationship didnt last long. The two then walked to the pond, Betty removed her shoes and kneeled on a blanket that Mack had already laid out. Few of his former classmates still see him; most have moved away or fallen out of touch. He died on January 5, 2019, at the age of 75, according to CBS. At Kiss and Kill, John Mack Herring was the primary character. Sullivan tried to establish jealousy as a motive by calling to the stand Bill Rose, the popular football player whom Betty had parked with when she was dating Mack. It didnt move him when he pulled her body out of the water or when he said that hed put a shotgun to her head, remembers retired highway patrolman E. C. Locklear. Moments later, Mack turned to his father and confessed, I killed her. I cant explain. He had difficulty understanding it all himself, he told the jury in a halting voice. I mean, the defendant had admitted he kissed the girl, then blew her away, weighted her body, and buried it in the pond: What else did the state need? So King was confounded when his good friend Warren Burnett, an Odessa defense attorney, decided to take the case. died Sunday at his home. After an hour, his father was allowed to sit beside him in the interrogation room. The teenagers who pass down stories about Betty are too young to remember the Kiss and Kill Murder, as it was christened by the press in 1961, but it was the most sensational crime in West Texas in its day. " Kiss and Kill " refers to the March 20, 1961 homicide of Betty Williams, a teenager from Odessa, Texas, United States. Beside the water, the ground was spattered with blood. O.H. "Mac" was born June 12, 1962 in Charlotte, to Ralph Distraught, Betty confided in a friend that he had found her diary, in which she had detailed her experiences with boys. She used to participate in sexual activity with a number of men with whom she was not in a relationship. I hear her name on a daily basis, says theater arts teacher Carl Moore, who has taught at Odessa High for four years. She loved the thrill of the spotlight and was gifted enough that she landed parts in three school plays when she was just a sophomore. Read more here about our archive digitization project. She confessed to having climbed the auditoriums rafters but couldnt bring herself to jump. She had roped him into doing it. He has attracted growing attention in recent days, because of the growing scandals engulfing both the governor and the lieutenant governor of Virginia. Mack Herring was duly charged with the first-degree murder of Betty Williams. He and his wife were pleased to send both of their children to St. Ann School. Because of the intense publicity, the second trial was moved nearly six hundred miles away, to Beaumont. But if she did it with someone who wasnt her boyfriend, then she was a pariah. Betty chose to disregard the rules, and if she had earned herself a reputation, she hardly seemed to care. He showed them where his and Bettys footprintshis large, hers smallled down a steep incline to a stock tank. Kiss and Kill Murder Victim Betty Williams Still Haunts the High School in Odessa, #Texas https://t.co/SA1o0Mtj0k. Bettys parents slipped through the exuberant crowd and out of the courtroom before reporters could reach them for comment. Wikipedia & Age Details. Maybe especiallywhen it choked her.. My mother would sit up with him and try to talk him out of it, until he did it one too many times. [2], Last edited on 14 November 2022, at 05:36, OBITUARY John Mack Herring September 23, 1943 January 5, 2019, "FIRST ON CBS7: "Kiss and Kill" killer has died", "Prosecution Rests Case in Kiss-and-Kill Trial", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kiss_and_Kill&oldid=1121797351, This page was last edited on 14 November 2022, at 05:36. He married twice, and both ended in divorce. Well, the bell is about to ring so Ill write more later. The couple has two children: a 24 year old daughter, Peyton, and a 21 year old son, Tim. Mack told him that he had dropped Betty off at home at midnight and not heard from her since. I know its much too late with you, Mack, but I swear that another boy wont get the chance to say what you said to me. Herring pledged to support Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax if Northam steps down. Ever since Tom Selleck and Jillie Mack got married, they have both been extremely devoted to the family they've built together. Then she told him to just go ahead and do it, which he didnt. Mack, in effect, would have a chance at acquittal before his murder trial had even begun. [2] Herring did not lose social status from the event, and instead town gossip maligned Williams, accusing her of leading him astray. A second trial was held in Beaumont, Texas, resulting in an acquittal. . She may have been shunned at the time, but many of the girls who knew her were inspired to become school counselors, her death having had a profound effect on them. During her junior year, when the speech team performed the balcony scene from Romeo and Julietat the University Interscholastic League competition, Betty played the doomed, lovesick heroine. Think of me once in a while and know that Im glad we met.Gayle . While she aspired to one day appear on the Broadway stage, in the meantime she planned to live at home after graduation and attend Odessa College, just up the street. Nevertheless, students and teachers still claim to hear weird noises, including footsteps and see flickering lights and moving objects. She said she wanted to die if she couldnt be with Mack, remembers her cousin Shelton, who was a year her junior at Odessas Permian High School. She was happy, he recalled. .Mr. In terms of his romantic life, he was married twice, both of which ended in divorce. We get our Senior rings Wednesday. She was miserable, she told him, and she wanted to die. The verdict deemed Mack was innocent for a second time and the crowd broke into applause. Ill not waste time saying that I didnt deserve it because I guess I did. Northams year book page includes a disturbing photograph featuring one person wearing a Klansmans hood and another wearing blackface. In October an Odessa College student named Sammi Sanchez, who was researching a paper she had to present to her speech class on the best place to spend Halloween, received permission to spend the night in the high schools auditorium. is a common question for English actress, What Illness Did Gino Odjick Have? It was like he was talking about shooting a dog.. But inconsistencies in his account led McAlpine to believe that the seventeen-year-old knew more than he was letting on. [4], Odessa High students reported ghost sightings and paranormal phenomena at the school for decades, up to 2006, centering around Betty Williams. Mrs. As I have only the will and not the fortitude necessary, a friend of mine, seeing how great is my torment, has graciously consented to look after the details.His name is Mack Herring and I pray that he will not have to suffer for what he is doing for my sake. Citing this statute, Burnett argued before district court judge G. C. Olsen that before any trial was to take place, jurors should first have to evaluate Macks sanity at the time he pulled the trigger. Betty had enlisted himthis worthy young manto do what she didnt have the courage to do herself. Betty Williams was a high school student from Odessa, Texas. She claimed to have halfheartedly tried to kill herself by taking four aspirin. She made no secret of the fact that she was not a prude and that she was willing to prove it. 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