1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: This story contains adult content and language. Listener discretion is advised. 2 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 2: And now from the files of the Texas Rangers the 3 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 2: case called three Victims. I've been thinking about it. 4 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 3: If Henry was lying, there's only one answer I can see. 5 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 2: He's the one who killed his parents. 6 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 3: What could ever make a boy hat he's poking up 7 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 3: to shoot him down in cold blood? Hello Henry, Hello Ranger. 8 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 3: Sure Henry, your mother and father took you out of 9 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 3: school last year. Didn't think, Yeah, my father wanted me 10 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 3: to work. I shouldn't have left school. I owe it 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 3: to the world to finish my education. What were You're studying? Physics? 12 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 3: Everybody in the university admired professor has said that I'd 13 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 3: be the world's most brilliant scientist someday. 14 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: It seemed almost inevitable that Howard Pearson's case would be 15 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: adapted into one of those old dramatic radio stories from 16 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties. This nineteen fifty two radio show was 17 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: called Tales of the Texas Rangers, and the episode was 18 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: titled Three Victims. 19 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 3: Our lab proved that the bullet he found in the 20 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 3: tree up there had to be shot from where we're 21 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 3: standing right now. A lot that moves that nobody's shot 22 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 3: at you. I don't know what you do. Who killed 23 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 3: your parents? Henry? Now, didn't you? 24 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 2: Didn't you? Henry? 25 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you. I had to do it. Hey, they 26 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 4: took me on his school. 27 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,559 Speaker 1: That's not how the real case of the murdered judge 28 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: and his wife would end. After nine hours of pressure, 29 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: Howard Pearson finally snapped. 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 5: Will and Lena. 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: Pearson's youngest child, told police in Austin, Texas, that he 32 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: had killed his parents in April of nineteen thirty five. 33 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: The judge was tired of slipping into debt, so he 34 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: had refused to pay tuition for the twenty one year 35 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: old's engineering classes at the University of Texas, and now 36 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: Howard Pearson would unravel the story of how it all happened, 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: every cold detail. In some cases, investigators never get a confession, 38 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: no matter how many hours they interrogate suspects. That wasn't 39 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: the problem here. The DA knew that he really had 40 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: to sort out a motive in order for the jury 41 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: to convict Howard Pearson. Juries want motives, don't we all. 42 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: I mean, I've spent hours and hours on cases trying 43 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: to understand why one person kills another person. 44 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 5: The DA didn't believe. 45 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: Howard's mental illness defense, so he ordered detectives to interrogate 46 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: Howard about his real motive. As he sat in the 47 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: room with investigators, Howard explained that his plan began about 48 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: five months earlier. In November of nineteen thirty four, the 49 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: twenty one year old was working at an East Texas 50 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: oil field in a difficult job that covered him daily 51 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: and sweat and dirt. That was the first place where 52 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: he had been hired, but he would be laid. 53 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 5: Off within a year. 54 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: As Howard hauled around machinery and avoided other workers, he seethed. 55 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: He thought about how much easier his life would be 56 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: if his parents were dead. He was absolutely miserable in 57 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: the hot oil fields. He wanted to be back in 58 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: school with other students, and most of all, he wanted 59 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: to finally fulfill his destiny of being a world famous scientist. 60 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: His father, the judge, was standing in his way. The 61 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: longer that Howard was away from Austin and his life 62 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: as a college student, the more unstable he was becoming. 63 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: There were clear science that he was beginning to unravel. 64 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: Howard was lonely. He told a longtime friend that he 65 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: was unhappy with his sex life, and maybe that's not 66 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: so unusual for a young man who had been working 67 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: with just men for months. But soon his comments about 68 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: his life became darker, and Howard said that he had 69 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: made a decision. Howard told the friend, I'm contemplating murder. 70 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,479 Speaker 1: The friend was shocked as Howard said, guess who your father. 71 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: The friend joked, yes, my father, Howard replied, suicide. Note 72 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: the friend told his own father the whole story, and 73 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: he's the one who told the police. He asked his 74 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: son to not be publicly identified. That's why we don't 75 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: hear his name. Author Gary Laverne says Howard seemed to 76 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 1: have several different motives. 77 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 4: The only way he could ever become this great scientist 78 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 4: that he was convinced he was destined to be would 79 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 4: be to murder his father and inherit the money so 80 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 4: that he could finance his own education. But he was 81 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 4: lucid enough to explain that he had to murder his 82 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 4: mother too, because if he murdered only his father, the 83 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 4: mother would get the money and not him. 84 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: So delusional and calculating at the same time. 85 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 4: It's one of the most baffling things in all of 86 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 4: criminal justice. 87 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: The friend had heard all of this that definitely would 88 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: have alarmed me. But then I didn't know Howard Pearson. 89 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: At best. He was quirky, and no one seemed to 90 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: take him seriously. He had never been violent, at least 91 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: no one knew if he had ever been violent. For 92 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: a long time, the friend didn't tell anyone, even his 93 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: own father, for a simple reason. 94 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 4: Well, the friend didn't go to the police until after 95 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 4: the murders because you know, a lot of people knew 96 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 4: how and a lot of people knew Howard was quote 97 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 4: unquote and not right. They thought he was strange, but 98 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 4: the idea that he would murder his parents is not 99 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 4: something anybody considered remotely possible. 100 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: After their first conversation, Howard's friends said that he began 101 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: talking a lot about killing his own father just about 102 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: every time they saw each other, and his friend thought 103 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:33,359 Speaker 1: something else was odd. Howard routinely called his father the 104 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: judge to his friend, just like he did with the police. 105 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: He talked a lot about feeling slighted by his parents. 106 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: He griped about Will Pearson's willingness to educate Bill and 107 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: Alice but not him Howard complained, he does not want 108 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: me to be educated. 109 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 5: He doesn't think I'm capable of it. He said that the. 110 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: Judge promised to send him back to ut if he 111 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: would work in East Texas and grow physically stronger, but 112 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: now it sounded like his father was not planning to 113 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: honor that promise at all, and that would be a 114 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: fatal mistake. The friend listened is Howard ranted about both 115 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: of his parents. Remember how I had wondered why two 116 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: robbers would kill Lena Pearson so brutally. Her body had 117 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: been run over by a car. Howard very calmly explained 118 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: to his friend that he would have to kill his 119 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: mother too, or she would receive all of the insurance money. 120 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: The judge had thousands of dollars in life insurance, and 121 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: if Lena were no longer alive, the funds would be 122 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: split between their three children, and Howard could use that 123 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: money to. 124 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 5: Go back to ut. 125 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: And of course, this wouldn't be the first time that 126 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: children have killed their parents for money. Lyle and Eric 127 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: Menindez were both convicted in nineteen ninety six of murdering 128 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: their wealthy parents in California. In nineteen eighty nine, police 129 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: were suspicious when the brothers went on a spending spree, 130 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: so money was a motivator. Even though Lyle and Eric 131 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: later claimed that they were the victims of domestic violence, 132 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: it was clear that they had benefited financially from the 133 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: deaths of their parents. Perhaps this was also Howard's motive. 134 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: Back in nineteen thirty five, Howard was certain that he 135 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: could make the murder that he was planning look like 136 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: a robbery. So he started to make a plan, but 137 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 1: first he needed a weapon. 138 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 4: Right about the time, he had these conversations with this 139 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 4: friend about how you know, if he killed his father, 140 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 4: he had to kill his mother too, and so forth. 141 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 4: He was on a rig just south of Beaumont when 142 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 4: it was time for him to come home to Austin, 143 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 4: and instead of coming straight home from Beaumont, he went 144 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 4: to Galveston, where he bought a pistol and took that 145 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 4: pistol back home with him to Austin. 146 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: In the meantime, Howard's plaints about his job on the 147 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: oil field continued. His duties were difficult and tedious, it 148 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,319 Speaker 1: might drive him mad if he had to stay there 149 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: too much longer, and his father seemed to have no sympathy. 150 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: The judge kept emphasizing the importance of real world experience 151 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: of hard work at a challenging job using his hands. 152 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: One day, Howard pulled something from his pocket to show 153 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: his friend, an old thirty eight caliber pistol, the same 154 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: weapon he bought in Galveston using a fake name more 155 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: than five months earlier. 156 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,079 Speaker 5: That's how long he had been thinking about this. Five months. 157 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: Howard had considered other crimes before. He had planned to 158 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:46,719 Speaker 1: rob a bank. 159 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 5: But feared he'd get caught. 160 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: Now, what he really had in mind was a higher 161 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 1: stakes crime with a very personal motivation and completely different plans. 162 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: They were all very violent. He could bludgeon his parents 163 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: to death and then pretend that their fatal injuries were 164 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: a result of a car accident. He thought about poisoning them, 165 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: but it would be easily detected during an autopsy. And 166 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: then he finally settled on shooting them and blaming highway robbers. 167 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: All of these terrible details, and yet the friend still 168 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: did nothing, because Howard just seemed so harmless. 169 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 5: How could that have happened? 170 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: His friend assumed that all of this was actually one 171 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: of Howard's jokes. He was afraid that if he did 172 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,839 Speaker 1: go to the police and report the conversations that all 173 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: this would backfire, Howard would make him look like a fool. 174 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: The plans just seemed improbable and crazy, and the friend 175 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: wasn't the only person who didn't take Howard seriously. 176 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 4: Everyone who had contact with Howard would be asked, in 177 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 4: a very impolite way, how could you not have seen 178 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 4: that this was going to happen? You know, you're a professor. 179 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 4: If one of your students were to do that, it 180 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 4: would not surprise me at all that you wouldn't be 181 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 4: attacked as someone who should have known. You should have 182 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 4: connected those dots. 183 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: So Gary might be right, and I would probably think 184 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: back to every conversation with my student, I think any 185 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: professor would. On that April evening in nineteen thirty five, 186 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 1: just hours after he'd finally carried out his deadly plan, 187 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: and while he sat in the hospital bed, Howard slowly, 188 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: matter of factly detailed to investigators exactly what happened that night. 189 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: We know some of this already. It started at dusk, 190 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: sometime after dinner, Howard had asked his parents to join 191 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,319 Speaker 1: him on a drive to the hill country. He had 192 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: discovered a genuine Native American artifact in the woods, a 193 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: grindstone used to grind corn. Journalist Michael Barnes says it 194 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: would have been very difficult to find this particular trail. 195 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: Clearly Howard had gone there before to stake it out. 196 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 2: There was a road along that area to get to 197 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 2: the Bull Creek area, and so there would have been 198 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: a road out there. 199 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: It was growing darker in the woods and very quiet. 200 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: Lena and will had both been raised in rural towns, 201 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: so the setting was likely pretty familiar, maybe even comforting. 202 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 1: Howard told his parents that they would have to walk 203 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: a bit to find the grindstone, and they agreed. 204 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 4: And when he got out, the judge got out and 205 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:49,119 Speaker 4: the mother apparently followed. 206 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: Howard watched them both walk a few hundred yards ahead 207 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:56,959 Speaker 1: of him. They were completely unaware of what was about 208 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: to happen. Howard walked over to them from behind. He 209 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 1: raised the gun. 210 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 4: He killed his mother first by shooting her through the head, 211 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 4: and his statement was that he killed her first because 212 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,079 Speaker 4: she was closer to him. 213 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,439 Speaker 1: Lena Pearson screamed as she felt the pain and collapsed. 214 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:23,840 Speaker 1: She wasn't physically strong, she couldn't fight back. Howard fired 215 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: at his mother again, hitting her in the neck and 216 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,320 Speaker 1: the thigh. 217 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 4: The father, who had been a living further away, apparently 218 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 4: had walked down away from the car a little bit, 219 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 4: turned around and said, what are you doing? And then 220 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 4: he shot his father. 221 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: He shot the judge and the hand and the shoulder. 222 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: Howard walked over to his parents. He told the police, 223 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: after they were both down, I was still afraid that 224 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:55,960 Speaker 1: they might not be dead, so I shot them through 225 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: the temple. What a horrible admission. Was so calm as 226 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: he retold this story, so cold and so detailed. He 227 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: dragged their bodies closer to the road, and then Howard 228 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: did something really repulsive, frankly. 229 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 4: And then he drugged his mother a short distance and 230 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 4: then ran over her body with his car. 231 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 1: Lena Pearson's limp body lay in the deep tire tracks 232 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: made by her own car. The woods were still quiet 233 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: as Howard surveyed the area. There was still work to 234 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: be done to conceal the crime, but Howard had planned 235 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: this well. He picked up the pistol in his right 236 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 1: hand and turned it toward his left forearm. 237 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 4: And before leaving the wooded area, apparently he decided that 238 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 4: he needed an alibi or an explanation of some sort, 239 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 4: so he shot himself in the arm. 240 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 5: I'm not sure how anyone could do that. 241 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: I can't imagine that turning a gun on himself was 242 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: easy for him to intentionally hurt himself when he didn't 243 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: have a history of self harm, But it was all 244 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: part of his plan. Howard took his father's wallet and watch, 245 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: along with his mother's handbag, and placed them in the 246 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: passenger seat of the car. He took one last look 247 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: at his parents' bodies as they lay in their own blood. 248 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: It was slowly dripping onto the dirt of the trail. 249 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: He drove about two miles away before tossing the items 250 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: and his pistol into some bushes. 251 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 5: So that was how he murdered his. 252 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: Parents, according to Howard Pearson, and he told the story 253 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: of gutting down will and Lina and then driving over 254 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: his mother's body as if he were recalling a trip 255 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: to the grocer. It was unemotional. Austin police were stunned 256 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: and I'm actually a little confused. So Howard needed to 257 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: kill his mother because he wouldn't receive the assurance money 258 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: if he didn't, Well, why would he run her down 259 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: with a car. 260 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 4: I think in his mind he had to make it 261 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 4: so brutal that people wouldn't suspect him. Again, I think 262 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 4: he was conscious of the fact that no one would 263 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 4: suspect him or believe that he could even do such 264 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 4: a thing. I think he was conscious of that. And 265 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 4: if you don't think that he's capable of murdering his parents, 266 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 4: you surely don't think he's going to get in a 267 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 4: car and run over our corpse. So I think he 268 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 4: intended it to be as brutal and as outlandish as possible. 269 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: That actually makes sense to me. He was that calculating. Still, 270 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: running over his mother seemed so excessive. Howard was sullen 271 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: by the time he came to the end of his confession. 272 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: He was pale, even more than usual. The detectives asked him, 273 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: why did you do it? He replied, revenge. They suppressed 274 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: me all my life, and. 275 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:58,119 Speaker 5: Now i'm even. 276 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: Although Howard denied that there had ever been a struggle, 277 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: the police suspected that he and his father had fought 278 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 1: before Howard finally managed to shoot him. The judge was 279 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: sixty four years old and physically weak from chronic illness, 280 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:24,119 Speaker 1: so he was probably overpowered easily. Howard also refused to 281 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: admit that his share of the life insurance money was 282 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: a motive. He insisted that he was angry at his 283 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: father's refusal to allow him to return to college. This 284 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: wasn't about money. The police loaded Howard back into their 285 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,640 Speaker 1: car and followed his directions to where he hid the wallet, 286 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: the handbag, and the pistol. Howard dug into the brush 287 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,680 Speaker 1: and handed them over. He then strolled around the crime scene. 288 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 1: He pointed to where his parents had died as investigators 289 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 1: took notes, and then Howard spent the rest of the 290 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: night in the Travis County jail while prosecutors settled on 291 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,399 Speaker 1: criminal charges. He was held without bond and indicted the 292 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: following morning on murder charges. The next day, he calmly 293 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: retold the story to newspaper reporters as he posed for pictures. 294 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: Howard had never received much attention before, so this was 295 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: all startling to him. He never looked comfortable even as 296 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: he casually walked to court. I guess who would be 297 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 1: comfortable if you were facing murder charges. His brother and 298 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: sister sat down with the District Attorney. Villa and Alice 299 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,719 Speaker 1: pleaded with the DA to not charge him with murder. 300 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,119 Speaker 1: They said that Howard wasn't normally a violent man, just 301 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: mentally unbalanced, and everyone knew it. Putting him on trial 302 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: would be almost cruel. Prison was the wrong place for 303 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: someone like Howard Pearson. Even though their brother had killed 304 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: their parents, Villa and Alice were steadfast in his defense. 305 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: Howard was clearly delusional. He always had been. The judge 306 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: and his mother might have derailed his career plans, but 307 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: his parents still loved him and supported him, and know 308 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: he did not care about the life insurance money. Obviously 309 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: he was insane. There was no other explanation. How could 310 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: the district attorney not see that. 311 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 4: For his entire life they knew something was wrong. Maybe 312 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 4: they decided, in order to support Howard that they should 313 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 4: not provide evidence of his sanity or of something other 314 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 4: than the fact that something was not right. 315 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:36,720 Speaker 1: The district attorney listened closely to Bill and Ellis. He 316 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,880 Speaker 1: carefully thumbed through the case file and all of those 317 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: horrible details about the murder of a judge and his wife, 318 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: pillars of the community. He reviewed the timeline, and he 319 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,120 Speaker 1: considered how Howard's plans began almost six months before the murder, 320 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:57,080 Speaker 1: and the DA came to a very clear conclusion. Howard 321 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: Pearson might have been odd, he might have been stable, 322 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,639 Speaker 1: but he was not insane, at least not from a 323 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:11,360 Speaker 1: legal standpoint. Oliver Perkins is Howard's relative and a retired attorney. 324 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: He says it's clear to him that this was a 325 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: premeditated crime. 326 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 6: It was planned and deliberate, and it's not like a 327 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:23,199 Speaker 6: momentary psychotic break. 328 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,680 Speaker 1: But Oliver also knows it's not often that simple. Some 329 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: prosecutors believe that someone who is insane cannot plan a crime, 330 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: they're incapable of premeditation, but mental health experts say that's 331 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:42,959 Speaker 1: not true. We'll talk more about that soon. The defense 332 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 1: had two choices. Howard could plead not guilty and face 333 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: a murder trial, or he could plead insanity and ask 334 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,200 Speaker 1: for a jury trial. Howard and his team chose the 335 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: last option. He would claim that he was insane when 336 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: he murdered his parents. The presiding judge ordered a competency 337 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: hearing to determine it. Howard could stand trial. A battery 338 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,680 Speaker 1: of physicians examined him in jail, but the prevailing opinion 339 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: came from doctor Wootton, who had known Howard his whole life. 340 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 4: That particular physician knew the family, he knew Howard and 341 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 4: Howard's history, and he had conversations with the brother and 342 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 4: the sister, and I think they all agreed that Howard 343 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 4: wasn't responsible for this and that he should not be 344 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 4: sent to prison. 345 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: And responsible is a hard term to interpret in a 346 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: murder case like this one. Linda Frost is a former 347 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: law school professor and an author. She says that evaluating 348 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: someone for competency should be comprehensive because all patients are different. 349 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,520 Speaker 7: People look at details of offenses and say, well, that 350 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 7: showed planning, that showed sanity, But there often are psychotic 351 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 7: motives that are wrapped up in things, or there can 352 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 7: be maybe not often, but there can be, and that's 353 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,919 Speaker 7: what can be hard to really untangle. And that's where 354 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 7: you need the evaluators who have a good sense of 355 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,360 Speaker 7: what could be going on medically and what might fit 356 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 7: together and what doesn't make sense. 357 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: Krista Chacona is a defense attorney in Austin, Texas who 358 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: handles quite a lot of competency cases, including a high 359 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,359 Speaker 1: profile murder case that we'll hear about later. She says 360 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: that Deciding on competency is a skill that is very nuanced. 361 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,399 Speaker 8: You have to get the right information. You have to 362 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 8: find that information, and you can't have you a fifteen 363 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 8: minute conversation with someone and necessary and they may be 364 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 8: ranting and raving and competent and bouncing off the walls. 365 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 5: That doesn't mean that. 366 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,719 Speaker 8: They were insane once you sort through all that. But 367 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 8: they could be insane, and you don't know that until 368 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 8: you dig and you need to talk to people who 369 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 8: knew them and saw them and heard the things that 370 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 8: they were saying, because yeah, not everybody's walking around advertising 371 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:56,680 Speaker 8: what's going on in their head. 372 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: Chacona often works with Special Prosecutor Michelle Hayley. She's assigned 373 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: to work on these cases involving mental health on behalf 374 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: of the state. She says that well trained evaluators make 375 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 1: well founded recommendations. 376 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 2: Is there a. 377 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 1: Gray area here or is it pretty black and white? 378 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 9: For me, it's pretty black and white because I'm familiar 379 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,080 Speaker 9: with all of the experts in the field, and so 380 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,879 Speaker 9: I trust them, I trust their judgment. So typically I 381 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 9: don't ever contest a competency issue. Now, a lot of 382 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 9: the trial court prosecutors will because they just they don't 383 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 9: understand the nuances of mental illness and the competency and 384 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 9: the insanity laws. 385 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: And Krista Chacona says that das can be suspicious about 386 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: suspects who plead insanity. So are there people who get 387 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: away with murder by playing the insane card? 388 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 8: I mean, I think that would be foolish to think 389 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 8: that there's never anybody that does it. But I think 390 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 8: it is so much harder and it happens so very rarely, 391 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 8: which I think is just such a travesty that our 392 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 8: statute here is so restrictive and the burdens on us 393 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:11,159 Speaker 8: to prove it's like less than ten percent try to 394 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,919 Speaker 8: use the insanity defense here unless a one percent are 395 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 8: successful is a really high barb. 396 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: But that bar might have been a bit lower in 397 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, only because there just hadn't been that 398 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: much research done on mental health yet at the time 399 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: there were no psychiatric drugs and no medical treatments that 400 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 1: were proven to be effective. Doctor Wouton was the evaluator 401 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: who had diagnosed Howard with dementia precox. He told the 402 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: jury that Howard should be sent to a mental institution, 403 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: and doctor Wooton ticked off a list of incidents that 404 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 1: probably should have been red flags to just about anyone 405 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 1: around Howard. The doctor repeated Howard's belief that the Pearsons 406 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: were not his real parents. He thought he was as 407 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: important as Jesus Christ. He thought that he would build 408 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: a machine that would put all other mischieanes out of business. 409 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: Howard wasn't specific about what kind of machine that was. 410 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: He believed that he would discover a way for people 411 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,879 Speaker 1: to live two thousand years, but he only wanted to 412 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: live a few centuries. He thought that he was born 413 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: to save the world. He thought he could communicate with aliens. 414 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: And then he said something really odd. He wanted all 415 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: French people to be banished to Mars. I thought that 416 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: last claim was pretty wild, but then I remembered Howard's 417 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,159 Speaker 1: horrible year in France, where he was bullied by the 418 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: other school children, and it made a little more sense. 419 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: None of the physicians who examined Howard thought he was 420 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: competent to stand trial, and Bill and Alice were compelling 421 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: on the stand. The sorrow of losing their parents was clear, 422 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,160 Speaker 1: but so was their genuine concern for their brother. Jacona 423 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:54,200 Speaker 1: says that some families become almost desensitized to the behavior. 424 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 8: I met with a family the other day, and I said, 425 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,240 Speaker 8: it's amazing what you can become accustomed to. So they're 426 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,199 Speaker 8: kind of telling me about their daily routine and the 427 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 8: things they do. Their son is unmedicated, and just the 428 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 8: things they do every day to try to keep him safe, 429 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 8: to keep them safe, and what becomes part of their 430 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:14,520 Speaker 8: normal routine that you would be like, Wow, I don't 431 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 8: know how you do that. How is that normal? 432 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:16,919 Speaker 3: You know? 433 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: The prosecutor argued that Howard knew the difference between right 434 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: and wrong and that he deliberately covered up the crime. 435 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,680 Speaker 1: The DA said, I grant you that Howard Pearson didn't 436 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: act like a normal person, but he's not insane. He 437 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 1: has a criminal mind. The prosecutor said, Howard deserved the 438 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: electric chair, but there's a big difference between a criminal 439 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,360 Speaker 1: mind and a mind mired and mental illness. Nicki Hume 440 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,200 Speaker 1: can expand on that she's a doctoral student at Texas 441 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: Tech University, where she works on research related to both 442 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: substance abuse and mental health, but she's also personally struggled 443 00:26:55,359 --> 00:27:00,359 Speaker 1: for many years with something called schizo effective disorders. With 444 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: schizo effective disorder experience a combination of schizophrenia symptoms with 445 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,360 Speaker 1: either depression or mania. 446 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 10: So what that means is like I experienced these intense 447 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 10: mood a lot of depression symptoms sometimes on top of psychosis. 448 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 10: When that's occurring at the same time, I guess it 449 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,360 Speaker 10: could get scary more so for others at that time 450 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 10: because I'm kind of out of it and don't realize 451 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 10: the serious nature of it. 452 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: There's a difference between that diagnosis and schizophrenia. Schizophrenics usually 453 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: have psychotic symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, talking incoherently, and definitely agitation. 454 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 1: The person with schizophrenia usually isn't aware of his or 455 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 1: her behavior. Defense attorney Christi Chracona says that someone with 456 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: either of those psychotic disorders can be set off by stressors. 457 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:50,880 Speaker 1: Are we often able to point to something that happened 458 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: that triggers all of us. 459 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:53,720 Speaker 5: I don't know about often. 460 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 8: I think certainly there are some times, because you know, 461 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 8: stress often exacerbates I mean everything that feeling. You know, 462 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 8: in several of my cases there will be there is 463 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,080 Speaker 8: some stressor but not always, you know, I have others 464 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 8: and it's just like a much slower break. 465 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 1: Hughme says that her symptoms are really frightening, both to 466 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 1: her and the people around her. 467 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,240 Speaker 10: If I may be hearing something that is not my 468 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,159 Speaker 10: own voice telling me to kill myself and I'm depressed, 469 00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 10: that could be really problematic. 470 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: And Howard's relative, Gray Pearson, says that Howard might have 471 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: been expressing some common symptoms of schizophrenia from a very 472 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:32,880 Speaker 1: early age. 473 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 11: My father told me that Howard would not eat with 474 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 11: everybody else. He had to go eat by himself. And 475 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,479 Speaker 11: I just remembered that for some reason, he did not 476 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 11: like to be around people when he was eating. And 477 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 11: I don't know why, but apparently that was something my 478 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 11: father mentioned and I totally had forgotten. 479 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 1: Nikki Hume says that food was a trigger for her too. 480 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 10: But I was so freaked out about what was in 481 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 10: my food and what I was eating and not in 482 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 10: the in the aspect of having I do not have 483 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 10: an eating disorder been the aspect of this paranoia and 484 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 10: leading into psychosis. 485 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: But Hume has managed to survive and also thrive. She 486 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,880 Speaker 1: brings her personal experience to help educate people about her disorder. 487 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 10: I will say it took me time. It took me years, 488 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 10: because this doesn't go away, right for me? This at 489 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 10: least for me, this doesn't go away. Whereas an addictionary recovery, 490 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 10: I could be clean, right, and I might have other 491 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 10: symptoms and addiction recovery, but it won't be using drugs 492 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 10: if I'm in an abstinence based program, But with mental 493 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 10: health stuff, if I ignore it, there's no abstinence right. 494 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 10: And so that acceptance was crucial for me even getting better. 495 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,800 Speaker 1: And apparently Howard has not been the only person to 496 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: struggle with mental illness, and that shouldn't be surprising considering 497 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: the statistics. Every family likely has someone with mental illness. 498 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 1: The National Institute of Mental Health finds that nearly one 499 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: out of five Americans currently experience mental illness, and that's 500 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: for the people who have been diagnosed, so that statistic 501 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: is probably too low. Gray Pearson says that his family, 502 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: like most families, has struggled with those issues. In his family, 503 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: symptoms were masked by more positive qualities like career ambition. 504 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: I think the family background part of this is what's 505 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: so interesting is that you all seem to be really successful. 506 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 11: Not being immodest. Because I don't know if it applies 507 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 11: to me, but high intelligence has also been and also 508 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 11: there has been a trait a little bit of schizophrenia, 509 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 11: mental issues. I'm not saying that all of us have it, 510 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 11: but it has been something that some in the family 511 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 11: have had. Very successful, very smart, but I'm just a 512 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 11: little bit some that had some mental issues. That would 513 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 11: be more accurate. 514 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: The Pearsons tended to be very successful people, so mental 515 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: illness has been dismissed as an eccentricity. 516 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 4: You can't argue convincingly to a lot of people that 517 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 4: Howard's harmless. Well, no, look at what he did to 518 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 4: his mother and his father. You can't argue he's harmless. 519 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,360 Speaker 4: And yet what do you do with him? Do you 520 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 4: send him to a place with other people who are 521 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,520 Speaker 4: deemed harmless and put those people in jeopardy or do 522 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 4: you send him to a place where everyone is dangerous 523 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 4: and thereby make his situation worse? They chose option two. 524 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: After two hours, the jury found Howard Pierson to be insane. 525 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 5: The men on the panel. 526 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,360 Speaker 1: Decided that he was incapable of standing trial until the 527 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: time came that he regained his sanity. So if Howard 528 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,080 Speaker 1: were to be cured, so to speak, they concluded that 529 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: he could then go to trial for killing his parents, 530 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: But it was the legal system, not the doctors, that 531 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:49,840 Speaker 1: would decide Howard's fate. 532 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 4: What most people don't understand is that insanity is not 533 00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 4: a mental illness. Insanity is determined not by doctors. Insanity 534 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 4: is determined by a jury or a judge, and that's 535 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:11,840 Speaker 4: based on definitions written by politicians. The state legislature decides 536 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 4: who's insane and who's not. 537 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: Physicians don't ultimately make that decision at the beginning of 538 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 1: the trial, no. 539 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 4: Matter how many doctors get on a stand and say 540 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 4: this person is mentally ill and so forth. There is 541 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 4: a difference between mental illness and insanity. 542 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 1: And this is established, you know, several hundred years ago. 543 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 4: Most people adopt McNaughton or some variation of it. 544 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: Laverne is talking about the McNaughton rules on how we 545 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: establish insanity. I talk about this story in my first book. 546 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: Daniel McNaughton was a woodworker and in eighteen forty three 547 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 1: he assassinated a personal secretary to the British Prime Minister 548 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: in London as he walked toward Downing Street. The Crown 549 00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: prosecutor admitted that McNaughton did suffer from partial insanity, but 550 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: he also said that McNaughton knew the difference between right 551 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: and wrong when he shot the victim. The defense put 552 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:09,920 Speaker 1: medical experts on the stand that insisted McNaughton had no 553 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: control over his actions. The jury came back quickly. McNaughton 554 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: was found to be suffering from paranoid delusions. They were 555 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 1: turned a verdict of not guilty on the ground of insanity. 556 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:27,520 Speaker 1: Sound familiar. Daniel McNaughton was released to a lunatic asylum 557 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,800 Speaker 1: and Howard Pearson was admitted to the Austin State Hospital. 558 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: Howard had escaped murder charges for now. If he were 559 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: ever released, he would likely be tried for killing his parents, 560 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: but that might never happen. Rather than die in the 561 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: electric chair, Howard might just spend his life in a 562 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: mental hospital. Bill Allison as a retired criminal law professor 563 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: at the University of Texas, I talked with him about 564 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: Howard's story how he was sent to a mental institution. 565 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 1: I told him that it seemed to me like Howard 566 00:33:59,040 --> 00:33:59,960 Speaker 1: had gotten away with me. 567 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 3: He didn't commit the murder because at the time of 568 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 3: the killing, he didn't What the judge said was he 569 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,879 Speaker 3: didn't have the requisite mental capacity to commit the act 570 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 3: of murder. 571 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: That might be what happened in court, But Gray Pearson 572 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: says the family called it murder, but it didn't change 573 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:19,240 Speaker 1: how they felt about Howard. 574 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 5: Do you think anyone in. 575 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:24,399 Speaker 1: The family thought, or does think, if you really think 576 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: about it, that Howard got away with murder. 577 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 11: Of course, you know he committed murder, but I think 578 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 11: the family understands that he was sick, that there was 579 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 11: a mental issue, and not fully responsible for his actions. 580 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,400 Speaker 11: I don't sense any hatred or resentment towards Howard. I 581 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 11: never have since that from anybody. 582 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: Gary Laverne says that Howard Pearson's family saved him. 583 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 4: Howard was very lucky to have had a brother and 584 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 4: sister that he had. He was very lucky to have 585 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 4: had the medical attention that he got first when he 586 00:34:58,680 --> 00:34:59,360 Speaker 4: was arrested. 587 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: That sounds like Howard was given special treatment because he 588 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,839 Speaker 1: came from a place of privilege. He wasn't even fingerprinted 589 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:11,240 Speaker 1: because of who his father was, despite being a murder suspect. 590 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:15,800 Speaker 4: I mean, the first hint of medical diagnosis was Howard 591 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,440 Speaker 4: shouldn't be sent to jail. Now, there's a lot of 592 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 4: people out there who would have been arrested who had 593 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:22,840 Speaker 4: done that to their parents, and the first thing that 594 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 4: would have happened was they would be slapped in a 595 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 4: jail cell. But that didn't happen to Howard because Howard's 596 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,319 Speaker 4: daddy was a judge. That family. While they were not 597 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:38,240 Speaker 4: filthy rich, they nonetheless had resources to get good lawyers 598 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 4: and sympathetic judges. There's a lot of people out there 599 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 4: who would have been sent to jail, convicted, sent to prison, 600 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 4: or put in the electric chair. 601 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: So Howard Pearson was hospitalized, Bill and Alice returned to 602 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,479 Speaker 1: their homes, and the nation largely forgot about the murder 603 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,439 Speaker 1: judge and his wife. Now, I don't get to say 604 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,239 Speaker 1: this a lot, but the most interesting part of the 605 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,280 Speaker 1: story isn't what happened during the murders. 606 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 5: It's what came afterward. 607 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: Oliver Perkins and I are trying to figure out my 608 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,959 Speaker 1: next point of contact. I know what happened up until 609 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,399 Speaker 1: the trial, but what happens with Howard after is still 610 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:25,040 Speaker 1: a mystery. He kept talking about revenge, and it sounds 611 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,560 Speaker 1: like all of his rantings were just delusions, fantasies that 612 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 1: were a symptom of his illness. Did he hurt someone 613 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: in prison. Did he ever get out? I need a 614 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 1: lot more information, and Oliver has a good idea. 615 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:41,360 Speaker 6: The blood cells are going to be your best bet. 616 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:44,200 Speaker 5: The blood cells are Alice's two sons. 617 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 6: And of course you've got the names of Bill, Howard's brother. 618 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,040 Speaker 6: You've got the names of his kids from that obituary, 619 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 6: so you might be able to track them down. 620 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 5: Okay, who else? 621 00:36:56,719 --> 00:36:59,440 Speaker 6: Well, did you talk to Marcia in Corpus? 622 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:00,879 Speaker 2: No, not yet. 623 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,239 Speaker 5: I'm not having any luck. I don't think I have 624 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 5: the right number. 625 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 6: Have you talked to her sisters? 626 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 4: No? 627 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 5: What do you think they might know? 628 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 6: All of them used to be in Corpus. I used 629 00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,120 Speaker 6: to reap her to them as the Corpus girls. It's 630 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:17,080 Speaker 6: pat who I think is short for Patricia. I think 631 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 6: Karen's the youngest. And all three of those girls are 632 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:27,480 Speaker 6: daughters of Marshall Pearson. Be very careful. Marshall and William 633 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:32,240 Speaker 6: occur so often in the family tree, you gotta be 634 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:33,320 Speaker 6: real careful. 635 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,720 Speaker 1: I'll also try Anne Pearson, who was Howard's niece, Bill's daughter. 636 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 5: Okay, but I'm going to try the Corpus Christy girls first. 637 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,799 Speaker 1: Hey, Karen, thank you for returning my phone call. You 638 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: had a chance to listen to the voicemail. 639 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 5: I left, Yes, I did. Your dad was Marshall, Is 640 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,000 Speaker 5: that right? That's correct. 641 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,480 Speaker 1: Marshall was working with Howard right in the oil fields 642 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,560 Speaker 1: at the time, right, you know. I just didn't know 643 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,759 Speaker 1: if y'all had any kind of impression from your dad 644 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: or your mom about what he might have been like 645 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:07,320 Speaker 1: during that time period. 646 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 4: I did not know Howard at all. 647 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,720 Speaker 2: I don't know if I was born after the Howard 648 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,720 Speaker 2: thing came about. I was born in forty fives. 649 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,240 Speaker 6: Have you talked to marsh or to Pat. 650 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,560 Speaker 1: On the next episode of Tenfold War Wicked? 651 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:30,320 Speaker 4: Kate? 652 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,080 Speaker 6: The only thing I can say is that I never 653 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:38,720 Speaker 6: heard anything negative and any mention of Will and Lena. 654 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 6: It was always in at least a positive tone. But 655 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 6: I don't remember anybody saying specifically anything good about them either. 656 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 9: This is the Pearson residence. 657 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:54,280 Speaker 2: Please leave the message. 658 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:54,560 Speaker 8: After the feat. 659 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 5: Hi, miss Pearson, my name is Kate Dawson. 660 00:38:58,200 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 1: And Gray Pearson. 661 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,799 Speaker 5: In ten suggested I give you a call. I'm doing 662 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,400 Speaker 5: a story on Oh Hi, how are you? 663 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:11,800 Speaker 1: I'm fine, So I'm doing a story about Howard Pearson's case. 664 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: And Gray Pearson suggested I give you a call. 665 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,440 Speaker 10: Well, I don't know who Gray Pearson is, but. 666 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:19,720 Speaker 7: I do know Howard Pearson. 667 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,520 Speaker 1: If you love true crime, please check out my books, 668 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,920 Speaker 1: American Sherlock and Death in the Air. They're available anywhere 669 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:34,799 Speaker 1: you buy books. This has been an exactly right and 670 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,520 Speaker 1: tenfold more. Media production producers Jason Whaling and Laura Soble, 671 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:45,919 Speaker 1: Sound designer Eric Friend, composer Curtis Heath, artwork Nick Toga. 672 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:51,880 Speaker 1: Executive producers Georgia Hardstark, Karen Kilgarriff, and Danielle Kramer. Clips 673 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: at the beginning of the episode are from the radio 674 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:57,560 Speaker 1: series Tales of the Texas Rangers from the episode titled 675 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: three Victims. Follow us on Insta, k to Graham and 676 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:04,760 Speaker 1: Facebook at tenfold more Wicked, and on Twitter at tenfold more. 677 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,240 Speaker 1: If you're an advertiser interested in advertising on our show, 678 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 1: go to midroll dot com slash ads, and if you 679 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: know of a historical crime that could use some attention, 680 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: email us at info at Tenfoldmorewicked dot com. So please listen, subscribe, 681 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 1: leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Ditcher, or wherever 682 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:26,799 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.