#97 - Laura Hall *

This one’s still a bit of a mystery …

Jennifer Cave was a 21-year-old college dropout, working as a waitress in Austin. She had, though, just landed a much more fulfilling job as a legal assistant, and was out celebrating with friends.

The victim

One of those friends was Colton Pitonyak, a finance major & scholarship student at the University of Texas. It doesn’t appear the two were in a relationship. They may have simply been friends, though there were also hints that Cave was Pitonyak’s dealer. Indeed, the two were both druggies, with Pitonyak having been previously busted for drugs and spending some time in rehab. Anyhoo, the two wrapped up the night by returning to Pitonyak’s apartment. 

When Cave didn’t report to her new job the next day, though, she was listed as missing. This caused her parents to come to Austin, where they would then play detective. Hearing that she had been with Pitonyak, they next discovered her car at his apartment. 

Informing the police, but getting nowhere, Cave’s stepfather decided to break into Pitonyak’s place. There, he found his stepdaughter’s dismembered corpse in the bathtub. 

Now, how she got that way is the big mystery. It appeared that Pitonyak had shot Cave in the arm, with the bullet ultimately making its way through her chest and into her heart. He was so wasted, though, that he doesn’t remember pulling the trigger.

As for the dismemberment, though it could have been Pitonyak, it could also have been a girl he was seeing at the time, Laura Hall. The 25-year-old was a student at UT, and appeared to be obsessed with him.

Before the police could apprehend them, though, Pitonyak and Hall fled in Hall’s car to Mexico. There, a Mexican SWAT team, tipped off by some crimestoppers show, found the pair. They subsequently sent Pitonyak back to the US for trial and Hall back home on her own recognizance.

Pitonyak would be tried and convicted of murder, getting a 55-year sentence. Hall would be sentenced to 5 years for tampering with evidence (i.e., taking part in the dismemberment) & abetting Pitonyak’s escape. She got out in 2018.

What exactly may have happened in Pitonyak’s apartment, though, may never be totally known.

The two have been featured on Killer Couples.

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#98 - Diane Zamora *

You do some crazy stuff when you’re 17.

Diane Zamora and David Graham were honors student at high schools just south of Forth Worth. Meeting in the Civil Air Patrol, the two started dating and eventually became engaged. They had similar ambitions – Graham wanted to be a pilot and Zamora an astronaut – and were both very high achievers. They were able to pursue their dreams at, respectively, the Air Force Academy & the Naval Academy.

It was at the latter, though, that Diane spilled the beans. And, believe me, it was quite the story.

Turns out David had a confession of his own to make. While they were dating in high school, he had hooked up with a friend, Adrianne Jones. Zamora freaked out, insisting that Graham kill Jones to prove his love.

With Zamora in the trunk of the car, Graham lured Jones to a local lake. Popping out, Zamora harangued Jones, then hit her over the head with a dumbbell. When Jones fled, and fell, Graham pumped her with two slugs from a 9mm, one right between the eyes.

The victim (her Glamour Shot, I would presume)

Both would eventually confess to the police. Ironically, Graham’s confession of having sex with Jones turned out to be most likely made up – a ploy to make Zamora jealous. 

Not too surprisingly, the trial was a sensation, getting some of Court TV’s top ratings. Zamora would eventually get death, though the Jones family’s beliefs against capital punishment would net her life instead. Graham also got life. 

The two have been busy in prison. Zamora got married, to another con that she met through the mail. Graham, meanwhile, is studying to be a minister.

The case has resulted in a couple of books, a made-for-television movie & several TV documentaries.

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#99 - Sandra Bridewell *

Our first black widow!  

Sandra Bridewell liked to spend money. Not having any herself, she solved that particular problem by going after guys who did. Three of them, to be exact. 

Her first husband, dentist David Stegall, shot himself. Supposedly, he was distraught because Sarah’s spending had bankrupted him. She was more than happy to cash the insurance check. 

Her third husband, Alan Rehrig, turned up murdered. The two had separated, but Sandra had asked Alan to meet her at a storage facility they owned. Next thing we know, Alan is found in another state, slumped over the wheel of his Bronco, with gunshot wounds in his head and chest. Ka-ching on that insurance policy.

The second husband? Developer Bobby Bridewell died of cancer. Can’t implicate Sandra for that one.

Oh, and then there’s that friend. Betsy Bagwell took Sandra to the airport so she could rent a car when hers gave up the ghost. Next thing we know, Betsy’s slumped over the wheel of her Mercedes in the airport parking lot, with a GSW in her head, and an unknown gun in her hand. Another suicide?

Somehow or other, Sandra managed to escape charges for any of these incidents. After she appeared in an expose in a local (Dallas) magazine, though, she effectively went on the lam. 

In San Francisco, she milked two suitors for a total of $100.000. She did something similar in Boston, Connecticut, Alabama, Georgia, and Hawaii. She even went so far as to max out her three kids’ credit card accounts.

Things finally caught up with her, however, in North Carolina. As Camille Bowers, Sandra had met up with an old lady she met at church, then proceeded to rob her blind. The woman’s son helped the police set up a sting operation, and Sandra/Camille was finally behind bars.

Here's some weird thing on the Interweb that somebody came up with for Sandra:

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