Acts from her rebellious period had been exposed, such as her sneaking out of her house during the night. According to the Texas law, an offender was allowed to be set free if proven they had been temporarily insane at the time of the crime. 18: Daughter: Eloise Herring. They even sat in his jeep talking about heaven for a while. . Mack was the one, and without him, life wasnt worth living. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. Dan Sullivan, the lawyer representing Bettys parents, focused heavily on the testimonies given by classmates who had been asked by Betty to murder her. She lived in a small, well-worn frame house on an unpaved street not far from the oil fields west of town, where gas flares burned and drilling-rig lights illuminated the desert at night. . . It was as cold-blooded and premeditated as it could be. She kept saying what it was going to be like in heaven. Then they had walked down to the pond together. He was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, in the Appalachian Mountains. I remember seeing how she struggled with some of the hardships raising my sister and I, he told Richmonds Style Weekly. The ex-marine was known to persuade judges with his dramatic arguments involving Shakespeare and Scripture. The jury never heard the indictment read or learned how the crime was committed. She had hanged herself in the theater. Even after nearly 60 years, Betty Williams is not forgotten in Odessa. In Bettys dresser, he found her diary which contained all of her secrets including the details of her encounters with boys. He became so mixed up and so sick that he felt pulling the trigger was what he should do for her, Grice testified. On January 5, 2019, Mack Herring died at the age of 75. In the Kiss and Kill case, he hatched a plan that he hoped would prevent Mack from ever standing trial for murder, using a defense strategy that had never, to anyones recollection, been used before. She said she would take her own life, except she didn't have the courage. John Mack Herring was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1961 murder of his ex-girlfriend Betty Williams who, its reported, asked him to kill her. Mack Herring was duly charged with the first-degree murder of Betty Williams. I finally talked Mack into killing me, she said. Herring pledged to support Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax if Northam steps down. At Kiss and Kill, John Mack Herring was the primary character. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. Betty Williams was a fast girl from the wrong side of the tracks. [3], Herring was tried for murder but was acquitted. Mack led authorities to a property his father had leased for hunting and fishing. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone! Herring Jr. and wife Mary of Fayetteville; two daughters, Patricia Ann Blanton and husband John of. .Mr. Besides, Bill maintained, the incident had not had much of an effect on Mack. He has since worked part time as custodian for St. Ann School. Custodian. Mother Milanka Ljubicic And Father, Rishi Sunak slams food tsars warning that bringing cakes into the office is like SMOKING, What Happened To Hoshi Dating? MyHeritage Family Trees; Geni World Family Tree; South Carolina, Deaths, 1915-1943; . "Kiss and Kill" refers to the March 20, 1961 homicide of Betty Williams, a teenager from Odessa, Texas, United States. She began making comments to her friends about wishing to die so she could leave this world for a better place. . As a young man, Herring worked to pay his way through college, taking on construction jobs and odd jobs. " Kiss and Kill " refers to the March 20, 1961 homicide of Betty Williams, a teenager from Odessa, Texas, United States. Why dredge it up again? But others refuse to forget. Betty held anti-cultural attitudes while attending Odessa High School. My father overheard a customer at his car wash say, Everyone knew that girl was no good. Wife: Ada Herring. After Betty realized she lacked the courage to commit suicide she began asking her schoolmates if theyd be willing to kill her. He made a quiet life for himself, and he steered clear of trouble with the law. She was miserable, she told him, and she wanted to die. As a result, locals sided with Mack, claiming she had tricked him into committing the crime. Its surprising that after killing someone, he didnt spend a single second in prison. Reportedly, he was the ex-boyfriend of the victim, Betty Williams. Ive never been so humiliated and torn to pieces as I am now, Betty wrote to a friend. The pre-trial did not change anyones opinion on Mack, but peoples perception of Betty worsened. John Williams was a devout Baptist who opposed sinful and immoral acts such as dating. I feel so lonely and deserted I dont care what happens now or ever. He was a WWII veteran having served as a corporal in the Army Air Corps. The oldest of four children, she knew that her parents could not afford to send her away to college, and her part-time job at Woolworths barely paid enough to finance any kind of getaway. 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. Betty disdained conformity and reserved particular contempt for the girls with matching sweater sets and saddle shoes who seemed to look right through her. Mack was brought down to the police station for further questioning, and 45 minutes later, he broke down. When he had dropped Betty off at ten oclock, he said, she had suggested that he return in half an hour and meet her in the alley behind her house. North Carolina. 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. Despite the prosecutions attempt, jurors sided with Burnetts reasoning even after nearly two years since the crime, the prosecution had not determined a motive. Betty was hardly Tri-Hi-Y material; in the high school pecking order, her classmates remember her as a nobody, a nonentity, and someone on the outside looking in. But while she struck an antiestablishment pose, the rejection she felt from the other girls still stung. A second trial was held in Beaumont, Texas, resulting in an acquittal. This has not been a free ride for Mack, says his childhood friend Larry Francell. Heron "Mack" Herrin. He stood near her, holding a 12-gauge shotgun in his hands. If anything, he became more popular than ever even. Herring, 85, of Fayetteville died Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at his residence. But what advantage he gained in being allowed to present his evidence was negated by Burnetts skill and showmanship. Heres what you need to know about Mark Herring: #BreakingNews @Fox5DC: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring calls on Governor Ralph Northam to resign his office. She made no secret of the fact that she was not a prude and that she was willing to prove it. Give me a kiss to remember you by, Mack asked. Herring later said he remembered seeing his mothers struggles, as a single parent raising a family. As word spread around Odessa that afternoon that Mack had been arrested for Bettys murder, the news was greeted with incredulity. Love, Betty. The family settled in North Carolina.Mack's father ran a wholesale grocery, clothing . Interestingly, her cousin, Shelton Williams, assisted in the production of the show. Betty, on the other hand, refused to conform to other peoples views. Her teacher had not seen her potential and Betty was left defeated. Herring wrote, in part, In my independent constitutional judgment, Virginias ban on marriage equality violates the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Even when she began acting more erratically during rehearsals for Winterset, her peers wrote off her overwrought confessions about wanting to die as nothing more than a theater girls high school histrionics. After eleven hours of deliberation, during which jurors asked that Grices expert testimony be read back to them, they determined that Mack had, in fact, been temporarily insane on the night of the murder. Welcome to Palo Pinto, Texass Next State Park, The Photo the Dallas Cowboys Never Wanted the Public to See, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, Please Do Not Touch the Toxic Toupee, a.k.a. Johnson advised him to leave the body, which was still clad in pale-pink pajamas, in the water. Arguing for the state was 32-year-old district attorney Dan Sullivan, an earnest, if not particularly seasoned, lawyer who was out of his depth; in his sixteen months in office, he had prosecuted mostly oil-field theft cases and DWIs. At seventeen, Betty was pretty in an unremarkable way, with sandy-blond hair that brushed her shoulders and big, expressive blue eyes that could feign sincerity when talking to authority figures but were alive with irreverence. Its ruined two lives. Worse, she learned that Mack would be playing one of Wintersets lead roles, a remorseless killer named Trock Estrella. You can read his full statement about that here. I was just showing off. She was deadlike that. He snapped his fingers for emphasis. He was allegedly the ex-boyfriend of the victim, Betty Williams. After Mack broke up with her, Betty spiraled into depression. True Crime and Unbelievably Real Stories; we aim to shine a light on the forgotten and unknown. He sold his 400 acres of land to Atkinson in 1813 for $400. Seems strange to think that this is really all of high school. According to Mack, Betty had been in a good mood on their way there. Moments later, Mack turned to his father and confessed, I killed her. A judge approved Burnetts request to evaluate Macks sanity at the time of the murder in a pre-trial. The Washington Post has said that the woman also approached them with the story, but that they decided not to run it because they couldnt substantiate her allegations. But outside the circle, he is a loving father, husband, and role . ODESSA, TX-- The "Kiss and Kill" killer, John Mack Herring, died on Saturday at the age of 75, CBS 7 reports. A coach, who had known Betty, has reportedly been visited by her in the field house. But the most compelling testimony came from Marvin Grice, an Odessa psychiatrist who had examined Mack three days after the murder. As for Macks case, Burnetts first move was to get Mack out of going to trial by using a law no one had ever resorted to before. In the meantime, he gathered two lead weights, a miners helmet to see in the dark, and a rope. Sullivan put on the best case he could given the extraordinary limitations he was working with. But Mack was careful to be discreet about the time they spent together. He was allegedly the ex-boyfriend of the victim, Betty Williams. A few classmates also confessed that Betty had asked them to kill her. [2], Williams and Herring were both students at Odessa High School. We let Betty know she was the star, Sanchez says. A former principal has even claimed to have seen a glimpse of Betty after hours in the study hall as a result, he refused to ever be in the school alone again. John Mack Herring was the main at Kiss and Kill. The first person Burnett called to the stand was Macks father, O. H. Herring, who told the jury that on the day of his sons arrest, Mack had handed him a letter Betty had written. 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. 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. Heaven must be a nice place, she told junior Howard Sellers. He is survived by his wife Janet Herring of the home, a son, Maxwell Glen Herring, Jr. of Clinton, a daughter, Logan Renee Herring of . During a later renovation, its facade was covered with bricks. As the booms and busts of the oil patch have brought new people to Odessa and taken others away, Mack has faded into the background. I suspect most of us would rather let the thing stay in the past, one Odessa High School alumna wrote me in an e-mail. Betty Williams was put to rest at the Sunset Memorial Gardens. 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. And no, he hadnt waited to see that shed gotten inside safely. Virginia governor Ralph Northam has faced calls to resign ever since his medical school year book surfaced. She informed at least five students working on the play that she wanted to kill herself but didnt have the nerve. Herring read to the jury, held that Betty alone was to blame for her death. While dropping Betty off at home after rehearsal, she asked if he could meet her at 10:30 PM in the alley behind her house. Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) [1] is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. Nonetheless, his reputation around town did not suffer. Mack recounted the event and the next day the whole town knew about the kiss and kill murder. Sometimes I think I am watching someone else. As he sat in the witness chair, he appeared solemn and contrite. She used to participate in sexual activity with a number of men with whom she was not in a relationship. Few of his former classmates still see him; most have moved away or fallen out of touch. Then she told him to just go ahead and do it, which he didnt. The case ran in newspapers throughout the United States. He never took Betty to his neighbor Carol McCutchans house, where the in crowd gathered for dance parties and rounds of spin the bottle. Two days later, on March 22, 1961, the Odessa Police Department received a frantic phone call from Mary Williams, who reported that her daughter was missing. The couple has two children: a 24 year old daughter, Peyton, and a 21 year old son, Tim. She checked Bettys bedroom but she wasnt there. 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. In the meantime, journalists had gathered at the scene. As he got closer, officers saw he was holding onto Bettys feet. The first person Burnett called to the stand was Macks father. Betty Williams body was discovered in a stock pond.https://t.co/Gb2DfQzcOt pic.twitter.com/RQg9pQI3hF. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is also expected to run for governor, although he has not officially announced plans yet. This is pure hell!, Betty was crushed to discover that fall that Odessa Highs new drama teacher did not see much promise in her and had relegated her to the role of stage manager for the spring production of Maxwell Andersons Winterset, a gloomy 1935 play based loosely on the Sacco-Vanzetti case. Some nights, Betty would slip out the back door after her parents had gone to bed and walk the four blocks to Tommys Drive-In, where there were always boys to talk to. His request was granted. More Stories for you I dont [know] what I expected the note to say, but not that. It was the week before Wintersetwas scheduled to premiere, and students were busy running their lines and painting the set as they readied for the final dress rehearsal. She was depressed and desperate to end her suffering. After a legal challenge the Texas Supreme Court stated that the judge lacked the authority to do so. He didnt have an answer. His own neighborhood lacks the gracious lawns and spreading trees of his childhood; the house, which is a bit down at the heels, looks like the province of a man who lives alone. The jury in the trial, held in Winkler County https://t.co/mXzLlq1sfe, Denise Mercado Sanders (@trippingbandit) January 12, 2019. The response was always the same: There goes Betty again, trying to be the center of attention. 19: Daughter: Beatrice Herring. Northams year book page includes a disturbing photograph featuring one person wearing a Klansmans hood and another wearing blackface. I hope our story about Jerry makes it. I remember a teacher taking me aside afterward and asking me, Was Betty pregnant? And I said, No. True Crime Writer catarina.leigh@gmail.com, A Brief History of Electricity: From Ancient Times to Modern Day, How a Boy with Lobster Claws Went From Circus Act To Murder, The Anniversary of the Unsolved Murder of The Black Dahlia. November 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? [4] Herring and Williams went next to a stock tank on his parents' hunting property in Winkler County, 26 miles (42km) from Downtown Odessa. He had parked his Jeep a short distance from the stock tank, and he and Betty had sat there for a while and talked. Mack raised the gun barrel and Betty held it with the back of her hand, pointing it at her left temple. She freely expressed opinions that went against the grain, like her belief that segregation was unjust and that blacks should not have to attend a separate high school across the railroad tracks. If they determined that he had been temporarily insane, he should not have to stand trial for murder. A new trial took place in Beaumont and was once again attended by dozens of people. Burnetts line of reasoning flouted legal precedent; sanity hearings are supposed to take up only the narrow question of whether a defendant is competent to stand trial. If he was going out there to hunt, he was going to kill.. Because of the intense publicity, the second trial was moved nearly six hundred miles away, to Beaumont. The couple regularly fought and Betty was not allowed to meet his parents or go to parties with him. Betty was known to have strong opinions on social issues. But she asked him for one last favor: to kill her. Mack laughed at the absurdity of the idea, and Betty laughed with him. No, I dont think I will, senior Mike Ware said, passing it off as a joke. We have left it as it was originally published, without updating, to maintain a clear historical record. What happened next is important enough to that city of 120,000's sense of itself that, 58 years later, the event still forms an early paragraph of its Wikipedia page: Odessa is well known for its Kiss and Kill Murder in March 1961. Records may include photos, original documents, family history, relatives, specific dates, locations and full names. We should most likely treat her death as a homicide. Mack was born in Sampson Co and moved to Fayetteville as a small boy. (While in custody, Mack reportedly told a deputy sheriff, I feel toward her like a cat lying in a muddy street in the rain.) 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