#70 - Darlene Gentry *

The bubbly and beautiful Darlene Gentry was a real-live Texas homecoming queen. After high school, she became a dental assistant and married Keith, a hunky, good-natured, local boy who worked as an electrical engineering assistant. The couple had 3 children and, to many at least, seemed to have the perfect life.

Then she shot him. It was staged as a robbery, but the cops were suspicious from the get-go. After her frantic 911 call, Darlene seemed preternaturally calm and composed, even laughing and joking at Keith’s funeral.

Hidden strains in the marriage (including major debt, run up by Darlene) and almost a million in insurance money didn’t make Darlene look any more innocent. She sealed the deal, for the cops when she was taped trying to retrieve & move the murder weapon.

Darlene's case was depicted in the TV show Deadly Women.

#71 - Amanda Hayes *

Our first movie star! Sure enough, you can find Amanda Hayes under IMdB. It looks, though, as if she’s only got 1 credit to her name. It’s a big one though. She was, in fact, one of the Stepford Wives. Which is kind of ironic, when you consider the rest of her story.

Amanda was married to Grant Hayes, a musician, with whom she had a daughter. Grant also had 2 boys with an ex girlfriend, Laura Ackerson.

Grant, however, wanted full-time custody of the 2. Inviting Laura over to discuss child support, he strangled & stabbed her, then cut her up with an electric saw.

Amanda dutifully helped him pack up the parts, then drive from NC to Texas, where they threw what was left of Laura into an alligator-infested bayou (after first trying to dissolve them with acid). Amanda would later claim that she was forced to do all this by Grant, with him threatening to slit her throat.

In court in NC, Amanda would admit to helping with the clean-up, but was adamant that she had nothing to do with the murder itself. She was convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to 13-16 years. Grant got life.

Texas, though, thought she deserved more, and extradited her. Facing charges of tampering with a corpse there, she would get 20 years on top of her previous sentence. Not too surprisingly, she’s still in the pokey there. In fact, she’ll be there until she’s 82.

2011, NC & Texas

#72 - Vonlee Titlow †*

And now for something completely different …

Namely, Vonlee’s actually a guy. The former stripper and escort was, though, just one final sex change operation away from making the full switch.

And that’s where the murder comes in. Seems Vonlee’s aunt, Billie Rogers, needed some help in getting rid of her millionaire husband, Don. And Billie was willing to give Vonlee $100,000 for just that help.

Seems like Billie had a little gambling problem. In fact, it was enough of a problem that Don threatened to leave her … and Billie to seriously consider getting rid of him.

As for the actual act, Don first passed out from drinking (a regular happening for the notorious alcoholic). Vonlee then poured vodka down his throat to get him to a nice .44 blood level reading. Finally, Billie smothered him with a pillow.

All was good until Vonlee confided in her sometime boyfriend about the crime (as well as her being trans - he didn't know). He would subsequently go to the police. 

Questioned, Vonlee sang, turning state’s evidence against Billie for a reduced sentence. Things got a little weird, however, with Billie getting off (but rather quickly dying of cancer) and Vonlee getting 20 to 40 years. Things got so screwed up, in fact, that the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. I’m afraid I’m not enough of a legal scholar to explain it here, unfortunately, so just Google “Burt vs. Titlow” for all the gory details.

Vonlee would end up in a men’s prison, where she was refused hormone therapy. And that resulted in major trouble with her breasts, which were then removed in a double mastectomy. She has been since transferred to a prison with some history of treating transgender prisoners, where she resides to this day.

Hard to believe, but you can find Vonlee out there on Facebook. Just look her up.

Michigan, 2000