Carolyn G. Hart_Henrie O_03 Read Online Free PDF

back door to let out the cat when he heard the shots. Police said Trent was certain of the time because he was watching the ten o’clock news.
    Police said Trent, a retired colonel in the military police, immediately ran outside and crossed a low stone fence that separates the properties.
    Trent reported that he saw a flash of white moving toward the Murdoch house. Trent told police that when he reached the pool behind the house, he found the fatally wounded Murdoch sprawled on a marble bench. Trent immediately returned to his home and called police.
    Police said their investigation is ongoing.
    Calls to the Murdoch residence have not been answered. Other residents of the home include Murdoch’s widow, Candace; his son, Michael; and daughter, Jennifer.
    In subsequent stories, suggestive facts emerged: Candace Murdoch was twenty-three years younger than her husband. It was his second marriage. She’d been a masseuse at his health club.
    The family cook, Cordelia Winters, told police Mr. and Mrs. Murdoch had quarreled that evening over the death of Mrs. Murdoch’s parakeet.
    Candace Murdoch was arrested and charged with first-degree murder three weeks after her husband’s death. She pleaded not guilty, claiming that at the time the shots were fired she was on the telephone. Murdoch claimed that a representative of a local charity had called, requesting that she place donated items on the front porch for pickup the next week. Murdoch said she couldn’t remember the woman’s name or the name of the charity because of all the excitement and turmoil attendant upon the murder of her husband. Murdoch issued an emotional plea for the caller to come forward and confirm the conversation.
    The trial began in February of 1983. The prosecution contended that Murdoch had broken the neck of his wife’s pet and placed it on her dinner plate that evening, and that they had quarreled bitterly. The prosecution claimed that Candace Murdoch took her husband’s pistol from a drawer of his desk in the study and followed him to the garden, whereshe shot him. Her fingerprints were found on the gun, and the white dress she wore that evening was snagged and grass-stained.
    The lead story on February 10, 1983, had a three-column headline:
    MYSTERY WITNESS COMES FORWARD, ALIBIS WIFE ACCUSED OF MURDER
    Testimony from an unexpected witness shocked the prosecution in the Candace Murdoch murder trial today, confirming the accused woman’s statement that she was on the telephone at the time her wealthy husband, Curt, was shot to death last summer.
    Angela Chavez took the stand at two-thirty and swore that she was talking with Murdoch at five minutes after 10 P.M. on the night of Curt Murdoch’s murder. Chavez further testified that Murdoch suddenly interrupted and said, “I hear shots! Someone’s shooting outside. I’ll have to get my husband,” and then hung up.
    When the prosecution asked why Chavez waited until now to come forward, she testified she had left Derry Hills shortly after the murder of Curt Murdoch and had only returned a few weeks ago. Chavez said she had been unaware that her conversation with Murdoch was of such importance until she read the stories in this week’s paper.
    Prosecutor Wayne Hemblee attacked Chavez’s credibility, but, through a blistering cross-examination, the soft-spoken witness maintained her composure. She denied friendship with Murdoch, and, in fact, said, “I’ve never met Mrs. Murdoch.”
    The prosecution faced further troubles when Candace Murdoch took the stand, said she recognized Chavez’s voice, and, with tears streaming down her face, thanked Chavez for telling the truth. “I will always be grateful to you for coming forward.”
    Murdoch dried her tears and spoke up strongly as her attorney led her through the events of the evening. She testified that when she heard the shots from the terrace, she broke off the conversation