American Monsters: Blanche Kiser
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Sources:
https://www.oxygen.com/snapped/crime-news/blanche-taylor-moore-poisoning-deaths-death-row https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-22-vw-1071-story.html
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-oldest-women-on-death-row-is-90-4c67c8c1c874 https://www.wbtw.com/news/state-regional-news/turning-90-north-carolinas-blanche-moore-is-oldest-woman-on-death-row-in-us/
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Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.
Speaker 1: Warning, Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and
Speaker 1: descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and
Speaker 1: we recommend you stop listening now.
Speaker 2: I heard true crime with a dash of the paranormal,
Speaker 2: the garish, the strange in the darkly comic. I'm Zevan Odelberg,
Speaker 2: host of kind of Murdery, a podcast that's about more
Speaker 2: than just murder. It's my very own pocket dimension, home
Speaker 2: to a curated collection of bizarre and compelling stories, the unsolved,
Speaker 2: the unsettling, and the unbelievable. I cover it all just
Speaker 2: so long as it's kind of murdery. That's right, my friends,
Speaker 2: you heard correctly, just like it says in the intro.
Speaker 2: I am Zevan Odelberg, and this is kind of murdery.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for deciding to spend your precious
Speaker 2: time with me, you know. In nineteen thirty nine, playwright
Speaker 2: Joseph Kessel wrote a black comedy, A dark comedy that
Speaker 2: is about a little old lady who poisoned her borders
Speaker 2: with arsenic so she could collect their pensions. That play
Speaker 2: was forever immortalized in pop culture. By the nineteen forty four,
Speaker 2: Frank Capra film starring Kerry Grant of the same name,
Speaker 2: also called Arsenic and Old Lace. If you're familiar with
Speaker 2: Frank Capra, it's probably for his legendary Jimmy Stewart film
Speaker 2: It's a Wonderful Life. So Arsenic and Old Lace, of course,
Speaker 2: was a little bit of a different artistic path for
Speaker 2: Capra to walk down. However, as you're about to find out,
Speaker 2: seemingly harmless ladies committing murder with arsenic is hardly the
Speaker 2: sole purview of the imaginary worlds created by playwrights and
Speaker 2: movie directors. It happens in the real world, the true
Speaker 2: crime world too. Today I bring you a modern, all
Speaker 2: too real update of that classic modus operendi, and I
Speaker 2: ask you to please join me as we uncover what
Speaker 2: truths we can and solve what mysteries we may kind
Speaker 2: of murderies Arsenic and New Lace. The harrowing Tale of
Speaker 2: Black Widow Blanche starts now in the heart of North Carolina,
Speaker 2: during the tumultuous times of the early nineteen thirties, a
Speaker 2: girl named Blanche Kaiser was born into a world that
Speaker 2: was far from ordinary. She was one of seven children
Speaker 2: in a family where stability was fleeting as the wind.
Speaker 2: Her father, Harker Davis Kaiser Senior was a man of
Speaker 2: many faces and even more jobs. He was perhaps the
Speaker 2: living embodiment of the old label jack of all trades
Speaker 2: and master of none. Among his self assigned roles, he
Speaker 2: was an evangelical preacher, albeit without formal recognition. He had
Speaker 2: no papers to be a preacher, revealed j Ashley, a
Speaker 2: former reporter with the Alamance News, Woker's approach to religion
Speaker 2: was unorthodox, to say the least. He would spontaneously begin
Speaker 2: preaching his sermons, echoing in the streets, irrespective of an audience.
Speaker 2: Like James Dean Bradfield, frontman for the legendary Welsh rock band,
Speaker 2: Parker Davis Kaiser Senior was a manic street preacher. Despite
Speaker 2: his public persona as a devout man, Parker's personal life
Speaker 2: was marred by controversy and contradiction. Ultimately, he would tear
Speaker 2: the Kaiser family apart when he abandoned his wife, Blanche's
Speaker 2: mother for a younger woman. His pension for alcohol and
Speaker 2: his stern demeanor had weighed heavily on the family long
Speaker 2: before he left. Blanche. Growing up in this turbulent environment
Speaker 2: was no stranger to hardship. The family's instability and her
Speaker 2: father's alcoholism, abuse and abandonment left as one might expect,
Speaker 2: a profound impact on young Blanche. As soon as the
Speaker 2: opportunity arose, she seized it, leaving her troubled home behind,
Speaker 2: and that decision marked the beginning of a journey that
Speaker 2: would lead her down a path far removed from the
Speaker 2: chaos of her early life. But, as is often the
Speaker 2: case sadly in stories shrouded with mystery and violence, and really,
Speaker 2: as is certainly the case for all of us, once
Speaker 2: past is never truly left behind. The year was nineteen
Speaker 2: fifty two, and Blanchekeiser, at the youthful age of nineteen,
Speaker 2: was embarking on a new chapter of her life. She
Speaker 2: married James Napoleon Taylor, a man who had just returned
Speaker 2: from the ravages of the Korean War. Taylor worked as
Speaker 2: a furniture restorer, a profession that required patience and precision,
Speaker 2: yet ironically, he was known for his short temper. In
Speaker 2: stark contrast to his week days, Taylor reserved Sundays for
Speaker 2: a devout ritual. He meticulously edited taped recordings of sermons
Speaker 2: from the Glen Hope Baptist Church. These tapes were not
Speaker 2: for his personal reflection, but were sent across seas for
Speaker 2: missionary work, spreading the church's message far and wide. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Blanche carved out her own place in the world. She
Speaker 2: found employment at a Kroger supermarket in Burlington, North Carolina.
Speaker 2: Her dedication and hard work paid off, and she climbed
Speaker 2: the ranks to become the head cashier, a position of
Speaker 2: considerable esteem, especially for a woman in that era. For
Speaker 2: an impressive thirty two years, Blanche remained a constant figure
Speaker 2: at Kroger. She was more than just an employee. She
Speaker 2: was a familiar face, a friend to many who walked
Speaker 2: through the store's doors. Customers would often find themselves gravitating
Speaker 2: toward her checkout line, not just to purchase their groceries,
Speaker 2: but to share a moment of their day with Blanche.
Speaker 2: She was always pleasant and outgoing to customers, remembered Brenda Green,
Speaker 2: a former colleague at Kroger, noticed the emphasis on customers there.
Speaker 2: Blanchekeiser and James Taylor were united in marriage for twenty
Speaker 2: one years and had two daughters together. Yet amidst these milestones,
Speaker 2: the shadow of loss was never far behind. In nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty six, Blanche's father passed away, his death at the
Speaker 2: age of sixty two, who was attributed to heart disease. Then,
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy three, seven years following her father's death,
Speaker 2: tragedy struck again when Blanche discovered her husband, James Taylor,
Speaker 2: lifeless in their bed at just forty five years old.
Speaker 2: He was pronounced dead, and once again a heart attack
Speaker 2: was cited as the cause. The specter of heart disease
Speaker 2: seemed to loom over the men in Blanche's life, casting
Speaker 2: a pall of mystery and unanswered questions. These successive losses,
Speaker 2: shrouded in the commonality of their cause, painted a picture
Speaker 2: of a woman acquainted with grief far beyond the ordinary.
Speaker 2: As our story unfolds, the circumstances surrounding these deaths beg
Speaker 2: a closer look, hinting at a deeper and perhaps darker
Speaker 2: narrative playing out beneath the surface of Blanche Taylor's seemingly
Speaker 2: ordinary existence. In the wake of her husband's untimely death, Blanche,
Speaker 2: at forty found herself navigating life as a widow, but
Speaker 2: solitude was not her destiny. Blanche, with her striking looks,
Speaker 2: keen intelligence and impeccable sense of style soon caught the
Speaker 2: eye of Raymond C. R Read, a divorced manager at
Speaker 2: the very Kroger store where she held the position of
Speaker 2: head cashier. Their budding relationship brought a semblance of normalcy
Speaker 2: to Blanche's life. Mom never expected to spend the rest
Speaker 2: of her life by herself. She had too much to
Speaker 2: offer her daughter, Cynthia Chapman, reflected. Cynthia's sister, Vanessa Woods,
Speaker 2: shared a similar sentiment about Reed. He was a very
Speaker 2: good man. She said he was good to us. However,
Speaker 2: Blanche's long standing employment at Kroger was not without its complications.
Speaker 2: Despite her popularity among customers, her relationships with some colleagues
Speaker 2: were strained. Although Kroger acknowledged her skills, lauding her as
Speaker 2: a good leader and utilizing her expertise to train new checkers,
Speaker 2: not everyone viewed her in the same positive light. A
Speaker 2: coworker who preferred anonymity revealed, if you got on her
Speaker 2: bad side, she could be vindictive. Another colleague bluntly stated
Speaker 2: everyone thought she was too faced, she could be underhanded.
Speaker 2: But the most troubling aspect of her work life involved
Speaker 2: Robert J. Hutton, a top company official. Blanche Taylor alleged
Speaker 2: that Hutton had had been making unwanted advances and inappropriately
Speaker 2: touching female clerks for a long time. The situation escalated
Speaker 2: in an encounter in October of nineteen eighty five. According
Speaker 2: to missus Taylor, Hutton, partially undressed, confronted her in a
Speaker 2: conference room. You ready for this, he reportedly said, after
Speaker 2: grabbing her from behind. In a desperate move, Blanche grabbed
Speaker 2: his pants and underwear and escaped from the store, leaving
Speaker 2: Hutton to cover himself with a meat cutter's smock. This
Speaker 2: incident marked the end of Blanche Taylor's tenure at Kroger.
Speaker 2: She never returned to her job after that day. Three
Speaker 2: months later, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit and understandably
Speaker 2: described the entire experience as debilitating. Blanche Taylor, in the
Speaker 2: eyes of many, epitomized the image of a sweet Christian lady.
Speaker 2: Her involvement with the church was not just a duty,
Speaker 2: but a heartfelt commitment. She actively participated in her church community,
Speaker 2: often volunteering to bring food to those who were ill.
Speaker 2: Mom would have been one of those women who would
Speaker 2: have made a great pastor's wife, her dog, Cindy Chapman, shared.
Speaker 2: Blanche's deep knowledge of scripture further accentuated her devout persona,
Speaker 2: and her lifelong spiritual journey led her to a pivotal moment.
Speaker 2: On Easter Sunday nineteen eighty five, a relative introduced her
Speaker 2: to the Carolina United Church of Christ, a serene place
Speaker 2: of worship nestled near the textile mills on the Haw
Speaker 2: River outside of Burlington. It was here that she met
Speaker 2: Reverend Dwight W. Moore, a man of her age who,
Speaker 2: like her, had experienced the trials of divorce and was
Speaker 2: raising two grown children. Blanche and Reverend Moore's connection was immediate. Moore,
Speaker 2: taking a keen interest in her, began reaching out, telephoning,
Speaker 2: and leaving notes at her door when she was unavailable.
Speaker 2: It wasn't long before their friendship blossomed into something more,
Speaker 2: starting innocently with an ice cream cone and progressing to
Speaker 2: accompanying each other to church events. At this juncture, Blanche's
Speaker 2: daughters believed her relationship with Raymond c Reed, the former
Speaker 2: Kroger manager, had begun to wane. However, Nola Halbrook, Reverend
Speaker 2: Moore's sisters suggested to a more complex scenario. She believed that,
Speaker 2: unbeknownst to Reverend Moore, Blanche was simultaneously seeing both men.
Speaker 2: And here we begin to add another layer of intrigue
Speaker 2: to Blanche Taylor's life, hinting at a tangled web of
Speaker 2: relationships and secrets that extended beyond her public image as
Speaker 2: a devout and caring church member. The darkness begins to
Speaker 2: spread with the sudden illness of Raymond Reed. His admission
Speaker 2: to the hospital for severe and inexplicable nausea and vomiting
Speaker 2: marked the beginning of a mysterious and troubling chapter. Throughout
Speaker 2: Raymond's prolonged hospitalization, Blanche remained a constant presence by his side.
Speaker 2: She would do the nice thing and bring his favorite
Speaker 2: dish or a milkshake, recounted Raymond's son Steve, Her visits
Speaker 2: were marked by gestures of kindness, such as bringing him
Speaker 2: homemade banana pudding, which she lovingly spoon fed to him.
Speaker 2: This particular scene, observed by nurses on October first, nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty six, would later gain significance in our unfolding story. Tragically,
Speaker 2: just one week after Blanche spoon fed him the banana pudding,
Speaker 2: Raymond Reid passed away. His death was initially attributed to
Speaker 2: complications from Gianne Barr syndrome, a rare and severe autoimmune disorder.
Speaker 2: The diagnosis, as explained by the Mayo Clinic, involves the
Speaker 2: immune system attacking the nerves, leading to symptoms like weakness, numbness,
Speaker 2: and potentially fatal cardiac arrest. Despite the complexity of his condition,
Speaker 2: the randomness of his symptoms raised unanswered questions. In the
Speaker 2: wake of Raymond's death, Blanche played a crucial role in
Speaker 2: the decisions regarding his remains. She persuaded his family against
Speaker 2: an autopsy, arguing, as relayed by his son Steve, your
Speaker 2: dad's been cut up enough. He wouldn't want this. Her
Speaker 2: influence extended beyond his medical care to his estate. As
Speaker 2: the executor of Raymond's will, Blanche presented a document to
Speaker 2: his son's stating that Raymond wished to divide his assets
Speaker 2: three ways, including her. The will, signed just a month
Speaker 2: before his death, added a layer of suspicion to the
Speaker 2: already mysterior circumstances. The aftermath of Raymond Reid's death in
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six brought significant changes in Blanche Taylor's life.
Speaker 2: The very next year, the sexual harassment lawsuits she had
Speaker 2: filed against Robert J. Hutton and Kroger, which had been
Speaker 2: a source of considerable stress, finally reached a resolution. As
Speaker 2: the jury was being selected for the trial. The case
Speaker 2: was settled out of court. The terms of the settlement
Speaker 2: were kept confidential, yet it was hinted by one lawyer
Speaker 2: that Missus Taylor received a good sum of money from
Speaker 2: the agreement. Following the settlement, Blanche sought psychiatric help. Blanche's psychiatrist,
Speaker 2: doctor Jesse N. McNeil, in an affidavit, noted that the
Speaker 2: prolonged sexual harassment she endured at Kroger contributed significantly to
Speaker 2: her mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and a serious
Speaker 2: suicidal condition. The text of the lawsuit's complaint further revealed
Speaker 2: her emotional state, claiming that she felt quote completely antagonistic
Speaker 2: towards men and had not been able to maintain any
Speaker 2: meaningful social contacts with members of the opposite sex. However,
Speaker 2: her lawyer, Mitchell M. McIntyre, offered a different perspective on
Speaker 2: her condition. He suggested that the statements in the lawsuit
Speaker 2: might have been exaggerated. She's not a man hater, he stated,
Speaker 2: adding that her response to the harassment was normal and
Speaker 2: not indicative of any profound psychological change. Despite these claims
Speaker 2: and her reported aversion to men, Blanche continued her relationship
Speaker 2: with Reverend Dwight Moore. They remained together for years, although
Speaker 2: they never married. Reflecting on his own father's relationship with Blanche,
Speaker 2: Raymond Reid's son Steve, acknowledged her polite demeanor, but also
Speaker 2: noted her manipulative tendencies. She was very good at manipulating
Speaker 2: people to get her way, he said. At the dawn
Speaker 2: of nineteen eighty eight, Blanche Taylor and Reverend Dwight Moore's
Speaker 2: relationship deepened, marriage was on the horizon. Plans for a
Speaker 2: grand wedding in his church after Thanksgiving were set in motion. However,
Speaker 2: in a twist of fate, just before the event, Moore
Speaker 2: fell severely ill, exhibiting symptoms of vomiting and weakness. The
Speaker 2: severe verity of his condition led to multiple hospitalizations and
Speaker 2: two surgeries on his intestines. Despite these challenges, Moore's health
Speaker 2: gradually improved. Finally, on April nineteenth, the couple exchanged vows
Speaker 2: in a modest ceremony. A stark contrast to their initial plans.
Speaker 2: Doris Pender, a witness and friend, fondly remembered the occasion
Speaker 2: she had on a real pretty dress. They were beaming.
Speaker 2: It seemed like there was electricity there. The newlywed celebrated
Speaker 2: their union with a weekend trip to New Jersey. Upon
Speaker 2: their return, life seemed to resume its normal rhythm, with
Speaker 2: Moore busying himself around their white framed parsonage. But this
Speaker 2: semblance of tranquility was short lived. After consuming a chicken
Speaker 2: sandwich Blanche brought him, Moore's health rapidly deteriorated. Former Burlington
Speaker 2: Policed First Sergeant Dexter Lowe detailed the grim symptoms numbness
Speaker 2: and neuropathy in his hands, in his feet, nausea, vomiting diarrhea,
Speaker 2: shortness of breath, excruciating pain all over the body. The
Speaker 2: mysterious nature of Reverend Moore's illness baffled the medical team
Speaker 2: until a medical student suggested testing him for heavy metals.
Speaker 2: The results were astonishing. Moore's blood contained arsenic levels one
Speaker 2: hundred times above normal, an unprecedented finding. In light of
Speaker 2: this alarming discovery, the hospital contacted the police, who began
Speaker 2: monitoring and restricting Moore's visitors, including Blanche. Remarkably, once these
Speaker 2: measures were implemented, Moore's condition began to stabilize. The focus
Speaker 2: shifted to uncovering how and why this near fatal poisoning occurred.
Speaker 2: As the perplexing case of Reverend Dwight Moore's poisoning unfolded,
Speaker 2: authorities naturally turned to Blanche Taylor for answers. Despite the
Speaker 2: alarming discovery of arsenic in her husband's system, Blanche maintained
Speaker 2: her innocence. She offered an alternative explanation, suggesting to the investigators,
Speaker 2: as recounted by First Sergeant Dexter Lowe, that Dwight was
Speaker 2: struggling with depression and might have poisoned himself. However, Dwight,
Speaker 2: when interviewed by the police, firmly denied any attempt at
Speaker 2: self harm, in express pressed bewilderment at the thought of
Speaker 2: someone wanting to harm him. It was during this interview
Speaker 2: that he mentioned Raymond Reid, prompting a new angle of investigation.
Speaker 2: His sister, Nora Halbrook, reflecting on Reed's death, said, we
Speaker 2: thought it was an accident, but the police saw the
Speaker 2: situation differently. Their suspicions gravitated toward Blanche, leading them to
Speaker 2: delve deeper into her past. In a significant move, authorities
Speaker 2: exhumed Raymond Reed's body for toxology tests, seeking clues that
Speaker 2: might link the two cases. The results were startling. The
Speaker 2: examination of mister Reed's tissues reveal elevated levels of arsenic,
Speaker 2: not just a little more than normal, but in a
Speaker 2: concentration associated with fatalities, said former North Carolina Chief Medical
Speaker 2: Examiner John Butts. This revelation was compounded by the fact
Speaker 2: that Reverend Dwight Moore's arsenic level, as reported by the
Speaker 2: News and Record, was thirty times higher than normal. The
Speaker 2: investigation into the mysterious illness of Reverend DWIGHTE. Moore led
Speaker 2: authority to revisit the past, specifically the unanticipated death of
Speaker 2: Blanche Taylor's first husband, James Napoleon Taylor. His demise, previously
Speaker 2: attributed to heart failure, now piqued the interest of investigators
Speaker 2: due to the recent arsenic poisoning cases connected to Blanche.
Speaker 2: Acting on this suspicion, former North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner
Speaker 2: John Butts recommended exuming Taylor's body for an autopsy. The
Speaker 2: findings were shocking. Taylor's arsenic levels were found to be
Speaker 2: sixty times the normal rate. While the small, close knit
Speaker 2: community of Burlington was rocked by these revelations, Blanche Moore
Speaker 2: now missus Moore, maintained her composure publicly despite the growing
Speaker 2: suspicion and media attention. She continued to visit her husband
Speaker 2: in the hospital until he ultimately ended their marriage, leaving
Speaker 2: her in tears. Dwight defended her and wouldn't believe it
Speaker 2: until the authorities gave him the evidence. On reed, his
Speaker 2: sister Nola Halbrook recounted the unfolding investigation prompted the authorities
Speaker 2: to question the number of unusual deaths in Blanche's life.
Speaker 2: We had a list at the time of twenty two
Speaker 2: people that we obtained court orders to obtain their medical records,
Speaker 2: stated Burlington Police Sergeant Dexter Lowe. In a further twist,
Speaker 2: the bodies of Blanche's father P. D. Kaiser Senior and
Speaker 2: her mother in law, Isa Taylor were also exhumed. Autopsies
Speaker 2: revealed high levels of arsenic in their systems as well,
Speaker 2: although as low noted, not in lethal amounts. These startling
Speaker 2: discoveries painted a grim picture suggesting a pattern that extended
Speaker 2: far beyond a single incident. The authority's deepening probe into
Speaker 2: Blanche Taylor's past was unearthing a trail of death and
Speaker 2: suspicion that seemed to follow her throughout the years. The
Speaker 2: saga surrounding Blanche Taylor reached a critical juncture on July eighteenth,
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty nine, when she was arrested at her home
Speaker 2: and held without bond. She was charged in all three
Speaker 2: of those cases Taylor read and more, two charges for
Speaker 2: murder and one for attempted murder. Blanche's attorney, Mitchell m McIntyre,
Speaker 2: expressed his client's disbelief at the charges. This is incredible
Speaker 2: to her, he stated. She said it was a nightmare
Speaker 2: that seemed to be stalking her. How do they know
Speaker 2: to go to her first husband, and then a friend
Speaker 2: and then her former husband. There seems to be some
Speaker 2: figure that's pointing out where to go. Despite Blanche and
Speaker 2: her lawyer's assertions of an unfathomable mistake, lead police investigator
Speaker 2: Lynch dismissed the idea of an unseen hand guiding the investigation,
Speaker 2: emphasizing that following the trail of Blanche's dead lovers and
Speaker 2: husbands was just common sense. While McIntyre refrained from allowing
Speaker 2: direct interviews with Blanche, he conveyed her stance to the public.
Speaker 2: She said, she is not guilty. She wants the public
Speaker 2: to know that. In a dramatic twist, before Blanche's trial commenced,
Speaker 2: her attorney presented a confession purportedly written by a man
Speaker 2: named Garvin Thomas. In this handwritten note, Thomas claimed responsibility
Speaker 2: for the poisonings, alleging he committed the crimes out of
Speaker 2: love for Blanche. However, this confession was soon discredited. The
Speaker 2: State Bureau of Investigations, after examining various samples of Blanche's handwriting,
Speaker 2: concluded that she had authored the note herself. In October
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety, the case against Blanche Taylor Moore for the
Speaker 2: murder of Raymond Reid proceeded to trial. The state's case
Speaker 2: was robust, backed up by a lineup of fifty four
Speaker 2: prosecution witnesses, including the recovering Dwight Moore, who had barely
Speaker 2: survived severe arsenic poisoning. The verdict was swift and unequivocal.
Speaker 2: On November fourteenth, nineteen ninety, the fifty seven year old
Speaker 2: Blanche was found guilty of Raymond's murder. The Associated Press
Speaker 2: reported that she was subsequently sentenced to death. Following her conviction,
Speaker 2: authorities decided not to pursue the other charges against her,
Speaker 2: including the death of her first husband, Taylor, and the
Speaker 2: poisoning of Dwight. Despite the gravity of her sentence, Blanche's
Speaker 2: familial bonds remained strong. Her devoted daughters continued their weekly
Speaker 2: fifteen minute visits, separated by a glass partition, a ritual
Speaker 2: sometimes joined by one of her three grand children. The
Speaker 2: family grappled with the bewildering turn of events. Nobody wants
Speaker 2: the truth more than we do, Cynthia Taylor Chapman, Blanche's
Speaker 2: thirty year old daughter, expressed, Vanessa Woods, Cynthia's thirty six
Speaker 2: year old sister, added, behind the headlines is a person
Speaker 2: who is not capable of doing this. The repercussions of
Speaker 2: the case extended beyond the courtroom. Dwight Moore was still
Speaker 2: battling the effects of arsenic poisoning, struggling to regain mobility
Speaker 2: in his hands and feet, and the white streaks growing
Speaker 2: on his fingernails stood as a grim reminder of his ordeal.
Speaker 2: The investigation continued to cast a long shadow over the community.
Speaker 2: Authorities considered exuming bodies of others who had known missus Moore.
Speaker 2: I would say it's the most talked about crime this
Speaker 2: county has seen, Lieutenant Steve Lynch commented. The case became
Speaker 2: a topic of intense local interest in the Piedmont region
Speaker 2: of North Carolina, known for its tobacco fields, textile mills,
Speaker 2: and outlet stores. The community's reactions ranged from dark humor
Speaker 2: evidenced by a Blanche Taylor Moore cookbook t shirt with
Speaker 2: ant poison recipes, to frustration and annoyance with the ongoing attention.
Speaker 2: Weeks after Blanche's death sentence, Reverend Dwight Moore filed for divorce.
Speaker 2: He later remarried, moved to Virginia, and passed away in
Speaker 2: twenty thirteen from natural causes. As of April twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: Blanche turned ninety, becoming North Carolina's oldest death row inmate
Speaker 2: and one of only two women in the state to
Speaker 2: be condemned. With North Carolina having not executed a prisoner
Speaker 2: since two thousand and six, it is assumed that Moore
Speaker 2: will spend her remaining days in prison. Despite the overwhelming
Speaker 2: evidence and her conviction. She maintains her innocence. I'm Zevan
Speaker 2: Odelberg and this has been kind of Murdery.
Speaker 1: If you like the show, please subscribe in view and
Speaker 1: tell your friends. You can find us on social media
Speaker 1: at kinder Murdery or email at Kindomurdery at gmail dot
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