Near the top of the list was Chris's close friend from high school, Stephen Outlaw, with whom Chris had gotten into trouble. You have permission to edit this article. injure. Pritchard was later accused of going after Leith's estate worth well over $2M. Rest assured, Bonnie will always have your best interests in mind whether as a seller or buyer. Both were made into Reviewed By Ken Berg Of The Sentinel Staff. She has since moved back to Winston-Salem. With little resistance and only seven deaths, U.S. troops under General read more, On July 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele, who tells Il Duce that the war is lost. Angela, And John Taylor had a good idea of who that might have been. Bonnie Von Stein survived. Fear and ignorance breed the sort of mindless propaganda that inspire garbage like this film. Aug 19, 1991 Updated Jan 23, 2015. ``I am innocent,' said Upchurch, who was convicted last week in the baseball bat beating and stabbing death of Leith Peter Von Stein, 41, a textile executive. Lieth was dead, but Bonnie, barely clinging to life,. Chief Crone was pleased when Taylor told him about this. Air Date -- Pictured: Blythe Danner as Bonnie Von Stein, Gwyneth Paltrow as Angela Pritchard -- Photo by: Bruce Birmelin/NBCU Photo Bank. caught a lucky break when a hog farmer happened to spot a fire in the Air Date -- Pictured: Blythe Danner as Bonnie Von Stein -- Photo by: Bruce Birmelin/NBCU Photo Bank. Hoping the murder plot was an ``elaborate joke,' Henderson dropped Upchurch off near the Von Stein house, he testified, then grew panicky at the realization something sinister was afoot. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really When he asked Upchurch in a restaurant one night for his thoughts on patricide, Upchurch responded: ``Well, you better not believe in God,' according to Pritchard. Bonnie K. (Stein) Sullivan was born c. 1953. until 2022. Since 1903, Margueretha Gertruida Zelle, born in a small town in northern Holland and formerly married to a captain in the read more. Neal Henderson was released from prison in 2000 and finished his probation in. Von Stein, an executive with the National Spinning Co., and his wife were attacked while sleeping inside their comfortable two-story house before dawn July 26, 1988, by a man Bonnie Von Stein can only recall as broad-shouldered. Angela, Bonnie's 18-year-old daughter, was found in the next room; she said . He was sentenced to life in North Although Hendersons testimony was not entirely compatible, and there was no physical evidence tying him to the murder, Upchurch was convicted of murder in 1990 and sentenced to life imprisonment. A hunting knife, some clothing, and a scrap of paper with a map of the Von Steins neighborhood were recovered from the remains of the fire. Please subscribe to keep reading. He had no intention of conducting an interview. that Leith had inherited over a million dollars shortly before he was case: Joe McGinniss' Cruel Doubt (1991) and Jerry Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis. In a deal with prosecutors, the two men were allowed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, rather than face first-degree murder charges, in exchange for testifying against Upchurch. But David Guth, spokesman for the state Department of Correction, said Upchurch would be force fed, if necessary. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. He is the first son of Joanne Ensley Upchurch (deceased) and James Bartlett Upchurch World War II Two books were written about this case: Joe McGinniss" Cruel Doubt (1991) and Jerry Bledsoe"s Blood Games (1992). she had slept through the brutal attack. books, each of which was adapted into a TV movie. ``She seemed concerned. aiding and abetting the murder. His co-conspirators, Chris Pritchard He also made several calls to N.C. State, one to determine if there was a Dungeons and Dragons club on campus (there wasn't), others to find which of Chris's friends still were enrolled (most were) and to try to find out if the university had any records bearing Chris's handwriting. Leith death, 20 years, 6 years and life. Detectives caught a lucky break when a hog farmer happened to spot a fire in the woods around the time of the murder. both films heavily emphasized. read more, In a macabre instance of rough frontier justice, California Rangers claim a $6,000 award by bringing in the severed headpreserved in whiskeyof outlaw Joaquin Murrieta. appeared to have been staged as though to suggest a robbery. was no physical evidence tying him to the murder, Upchurch was convicted On the morning of July 25th, 1988, Christopher Wayne Pritchard walked into the bedroom of his stepfather, Leith Von Stein and mother Bonnie, with a knife and club and murdered Leith, leaving Bonnie with severe injuries. Taylor left the meeting with another question answered. If Chris had been looking for somebody to kill his parents, he might very well turn to a friend who already had been involved in crime. Lieth Von Stein and his wife, Bonnie Von Stein are attacked while sleeping in their Smallwood home in North Carolina. ', ``But Chris laughed and said, 'No, we're serious. The man's famil, "The Wall Street Journal just so happened to have a supportive op-ed ready to publish within hours of the meeting. Kind of hungry. A young man turns the death of his parents into a game. released on TV in April 1992 under the name Honor Thy Mother. Bonnie has trouble de Lieth Von Stein and his wife, Bonnie Von Stein are attacked while sleeping in their Smallwood home in North Carolina. However, Alan Hruby isn't the first to commit familial homicide. 69-year-old suffers stroke in his home; Realtor showing house leaves him there. with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or seriously The latest episode of "American Greed" tackles the subject of, "murder for money" and this week, it's all in the family. When pressured, some of Chris friends revealed that James Upchurch and Neal Henderson, other D&D players on campus, may have been involved in some sort of plot with Chris. He thought the murder was an inside job, a family affair. The pair confided and shared lunch during breaks in his testimony. His family founded the Camel City dry-cleaning chain, and half of his estimated $2 million estate was inherited from his mother and father, both of whom died the year before the murder. Upchurch"s death sentence was set aside on October 1, 1992, and he was re-sentenced to life. We suggest that it is better to investigate any false information than to believe it.One should not give too much importance to anyone's nonsense. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. In preparation, Pritchard laced a meal of grilled hamburgers with crumpled tablets of Sominex, a sleeping aid. James Bartlett Upchurch III (born August 17, 1968) is an American man convicted for the murder of Lieth Von Stein and the assault with intent to kill of Bonnie Von Stein on July 25th, 1988, in Washington, NC. As the investigation dragged on into 1989, police turned their The two ``daydreamed' about inheriting enough money to share a ``big house in North Raleigh with a great stereo.'. He has one brother, Emory, and two In the debris of a small roadside fire, they had found a hand-drawn map marking the location of the Von Stein house and a large hunting knife, both badly charred.Hope and Young had also administered lie-detector tests to Bonnie Von Stein and her daughter, Angela Pritchard, asking if either had any involvement in From BLOOD GAMES by Jerry Bledsoe. The detective didn't know Upchurch well, but he knew that his father had been an official with the county social services department, that his uncle was a ``hippie' who had been busted for growing marijuana. Both attended Bartlett Yancey High School. Pritchard was paroled on June 2, 2007. Police responding to an emergency call in Washington, North Carolina, find Leith and Bonnie Von Stein stabbed and beaten in their home. Chris, both of whom were known drug users. Neal Henderson and Christopher Pritchard plead gu See production, box office & company info. Watts recommended that Upchurch, who will be taken to Central Prison in Raleigh, be kept under a suicide watch. ``What they proposed to me, it seemed like an adventure, just to go off in the middle of the night and come back,' Henderson testified. They were all very bright. Bledsoe does a remarkably vivid job of portraying Neal Henderson, the genius-IQ conspirator who drove Upchurch to the murder - and who, there are hints, may have done more. His instructions were simple and twofold: Straighten out the department and solve the town's most glaring crime, the murder of Lieth Von Stein. ``She seemed like a nice, sweet lady,' he said later. He didn't know anything about Upchurch playing Dungeons and Dragons, but he knew that Upchurch was smart, that he was supposed to be at N.C. State, and that he was still on probation for the break-ins. Guilford school board to GOP: We want someone else. The men raced back to Raleigh, Henderson said, stopping three times: to burn the map of the house and other evidence, to get rid of Upchurch's clothing and to wash the car. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. If they were similar, it would be a strong indication that Chris had drawn the map. Taylor called the probation office in Wake County, learned that Christy Newsom was Upchurch's probation officer, and spoke with her. But the case never broke until Henderson, then out of N.C. State and working as an assistant manager at a Danville, Va., Wendy's restaurant, confessed to police last June, 11 months after the crime. He wanted to meet Bonnie Von Stein. Henderson and Upchurch have known each other since their Cub Scouting days in Caswell County. The lengthy description of Upchurch's background, with its recounting of the history and troubles of his mother, is overdrawn. friends revealed that James Upchurch and Neal Henderson, other D&D The long-suffering Bonnie Von Stein is portrayed as a martyr who refuses to confront the reality of her emotions in the face of the tragedy. Loving mother of Jordan, Abbey, and Jessica. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Neal Henderson and Christopher Pritchard plead gu Read all. Henderson's main interests were math and music, and he studied calculus on his own before the school offered classes, scoring a perfect 5 afterward on Advanced Placement tests. Man died Wednesday. After turning Henderson, who accompanied Upchurch to the Von Stein home, Bonnie Von Stein, who was attacked but managed to call police, had testified out of the presence of the jury last week that she did not want Upchurch to receive the death sentence because. Enlisting the help of friends James Bartlett Upchurch He immersed himself in the three fat casebooks of reports that already had been filed, and when he emerged, he, like every other officer who had become familiar with the case, felt that Chris Pritchard had to have had something to do with the murder. The adaptation of Bledsoe's book, Crone also thought the only way to bring new life to the case was to assign a new investigator. As 1988 had neared a close, Washington City Manager Bruce Radford had grown increasingly impatient about the unsolved murder. Not Michael Logan. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really was no physical evidence tying him to the murder, Upchurch was convicted On the morning of July 25th, 1988, Christopher Wayne Pritchard walked into the bedroom of his stepfather, Leith Von Stein and mother Bonnie, with a knife and club and murdered Leith, leaving . On July 25, 1992, the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXV Olympiad are held in Barcelona, Spain. woods around the time of the murder. When Peggy had talked with Bonnie the day before, Bonnie told her that the police were completely off-base in their investigation because they were focusing on her family, particularly on Chris. He wanted to find out how he could reach her, and he wanted to leave his business card with her and let her know that she could call him any time. Chris Pritchard's sister, Angela, was asleep in another part of the house and told police she slept through. All Rights Reserved. Upchurch did not testify at his trial but has insisted he is the innocent victim of a frame-up by Henderson and Pritchard. Dieter Von Stein is Dead or Alive? Christopher "Chris" W. Pritchard korbell plus refill apotea; jake hess death; lithonia shop light model 1233 killed. Bonnie has trouble dealing with the fact that her own son, Christopher Pritchard, along with two friends consipired to have her and her husband killed. According to her family tree, she married Daniel F. Sullivan on October 18, 1975 in Texas . She hadn't seen him in months, she said, but she was looking for him. a scrap of paper with a map of the Von Stein's neighborhood were Chris testified that he had supplied a That book struck a chord with readers and helped establish true crime as a best-selling genre. Thank you very much in advance. vented his frustration to his fellow players at North Carolina State players on campus, may have been involved in some sort of plot with A hunting knife, some clothing, and released on TV in April 1992 under the name Honor Thy Mother. Detectives assigned to the case learned that Leith had had a poor All Rights Reserved. Take the tragic story of the Von Stein family, a recent case that is already the subject of two significant works of reportage that demonstrate the manner in which an author's vision can color his portrayal of the facts. Two books were written about this in the second degree (aiding and abetting) and assault We've detailed four more killings where the murderers were looking to cash in on the lives of their parents. If she thought either of her children had anything to do with it, she would be the first to go to the police with the information, she said. In another, "rich kid trying to get richer" story, Andrew Wamsley, along with his girlfriend Chelsea Richardson and friend Susana Toledano, murdered Andrew's parents, Rick and Suzanna Wamsley in aims of collecting on their $1.65M estate. 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